19th July Ocean Blue Camping, Near Mahommedia

19^th July. Ocean Blue Camping. North of Casablanca

Been a bit slack the last few days. Been here at Ocean Blue for three days now and haven't written a post since Essaouira.

Nice campsite except for the salty showers, hard to get a lather up. The wi fi is good though, very quick. Ramadan began today and all the locals seem to have upped anchors and left. Just a few Europeans spread about. It is an ideal place to escaped and clean the van both inside and out and sort out a few things to take back to AU or leave here. The wind has dropped as well and there is good shade from the eucalypts. Just like being back in Australia.

Strong winds continued on leaving Essaouira. It was intended to make it to Oualidia, a place we had fond memories of 7 years ago. But what was once a small fishing village with a couple of hotels is now a beach resort over run with locals. The campsite is now a car park with a sound shell alongside. A rock band was tuning up for the night's concert. Traffic jams on dusty roads, it was a nightmare. We escaped and headed further north until we noticed some cars alongside sand dunes. The track to the area ran across water ways filled with waders. At the dunes tracks led off in all directions meaning we could find a place on the cliff top with 180 degree views of the raging surf. Once the fishermen had left for the night we were left alone apart from a shepherd, his donkeys and herd of long tailed sheep. During the night the wind eased, in the morning the Atlantic mist had moved in cutting visibility to a hundred metres or so. The land here remains flat for 500 metres or so then rises up a couple of hundred metres. The lower section is filled with market gardens watered, I think, by the mist that arrives every night apart from when the wind is blowing. Early on we passed through barren country, the land covered almost completely in flat whitish rock that shimmered in the heat.

It was then on to where we are now. Rabat is not far away and Tangier less than a days drive. There is meant to be a nice campsite south of Tangier which we might head for tomorrow.

As mentioned before, Ramadan started today. We were in a supermarket a couple of days back and managed to grab a couple of bottles of wine before they were all removed from the shelves for the holy period. It may be a time when we do more cooking ourselves. We get lazy at times, just enjoy the tagines so much.

This could be the penultimate post on the blog. I am in the process of writing tips for fellow Overlanders especially those heading north and also a spreadsheet of our overnight stays. We found other peoples spreadsheets very useful and hope others find ours just as much.

The blog will also have a resume on the trip.