Category: Tunisia

When we embarked on our kitchen remodel, the local team was very hesitant about being able to get everything done by the time we needed to depart Tunisia.  The first problem was that they were all on vacation until August 12th (we were talking to them on August 6th).  The owner of the Corian company sent his architect to our boat the following day despite it being her vacation.  They assured us that the design would be sent to the fabricator, and they would put a rush on our order to begin as soon as vacation was over.  They said we should have our counters by the 15th or 16th (Thursday or Friday), and our installer said he only needed a day or two.  If you will recall, we had to be in Sicily to pick up our kids, and we were watching a weather system once again.  We were on the ragged edge of being able to leave on time.  I think they saw our worry because our architect and the fabricator drove out a second time to take final measurements and design details.  Three days later (August 11th….still during their vacation), they arrived with our brand new counters!  We were in shock!  Our galley was completed by Monday.  Talk about an amazing work ethic.  We will forever be grateful for the speed and quality of everyone involved.

We were still bound to Tunisia for a bit since we were having some canvas work done as well.  We had a guy making us chaps for our dinghy (they are made of Sunbrella fabric and covers the PVC pontoons to protect them from sun damage).  They need to be custom fit and take a fair amount of time to make. He was also doing some repair work on various things on board.  Once he was done, we would be on our way. 

While we were waiting, we explored a few different restaurants that were quite good.  We went to one in the old port that the marina had recommended to us.  We sometimes forget that you have to be very careful when asking about dishes when dealing with language barriers because they think you are ordering it.  We had asked about a dish called Brik Thon.  I knew that Thon was tuna, but I did not know what Brik meant.  I still didn’t understand even after I asked.  In the end, we ordered two lamb dishes that sounded interesting.  To start, they served up this spicy fish soup and some sort of vegetable mix (at least that’s what I think it was).  The soup was very good, but I didn’t care for whatever the vegetable stuff was (very bland with not much flavor).  I didn’t want to be insulting, so I dumped it into my soup.  That helped.  Next came the Brik Thon…..yep, didn’t order it, but ended up with it.  It was this paper thin, tortilla like thing (I think made from cheese) that was folded in half with a large tuna filet and egg inside.  It was then deep fried and came with a wedge of lime.  Well, I guess I would be trying it after all.  I was really glad that we “accidentally” ordered it….it was quite delicious.  When our lamb arrived, it came slow cooked in a large pottery amphora.  Talk about exotic.  It was quite yummy as well.  Since Tunisia is a Muslim country, alcohol is forbidden except in resorts and places like that. So, most of the restaurants we frequented did not serve wine or beer.

As we spent the day lounging around on the boat, Dan tells me that an American flagged boat just came in to port.  What????  We rarely see American flagged boats in Europe, so seeing one in Africa was a real shock.  The next question is always whether or not it is a “real” American flagged boat.  You may be wondering why.  We have seen many boats flying tiny American flags off their back (mostly in Montenegro) and showing a Delaware registration.  Turns out this is a huge tax dodge used by many Russians.  The thing that always bothers me is when we go to say hi, they act disgusted that we assumed they were Americans.  Don’t fly my flag if you’re disgusted by Americans!   Anyway, back to the story.  It turns out that these were legit Americans!  They had sailed a long way over from Key West, Florida via the Azores. We invited them to stop by and say hi, which they did.  We agreed to meet up the following morning in order to show them where all the necessities were in Bizerte like our Swiss friends did for us. 

The following morning we met at the dock and walked them to the bottle shop.  This was a special little shop next to the grocery store with very specific hours each day, no windows, and behind a steel door.  This was where you could go to buy beer, wine and liquor.  As far as we knew, this was the only one in Bizerte…..very clandestine, as you can imagine.  We showed them the mini market next door, several ATM’s, and then we headed to the huge outdoor market.  We all bought various fruits, vegetables and meats.  We decided we were done (the experience here can be quite overwhelming) and started back to the boats with our haul of goodies.  All of a sudden, we were stopped by this older man.  He claimed that he knew us from the marina and that his fishing boat was there.  I’m thinking, “Of course you know we are from the marina.  We don’t look like locals, and you probably heard us talking in American English.”  After all, Tunisia is not a typical American tourist destination.  So he proceeds to insist on showing us the market and around the area.  We try to explain to him that we’ve already been to the market and our backpacks are full of food.  He leads us back through the market and meat area explaining things to us.  He then takes us away and down a narrow alley.  Hmmm, this could get interesting.  Before we know it, he is playing tour guide and showing us these hidden gems of a Turkish settlement area, the Kasbah, and local trade shops in these tiny stone rooms.  He explained that the door knockers on the homes had specific meaning back in historical times. The number of hands on the knocker showed how many families lived in a house and others were circles that showed that there were no children in the home.  He showed us homes that were once stables for the horses and dromedaries.  That was another piece of learning….they are dromedaries if they have 1 hump and camels if they have 2 humps.  Both are still camels, but they are differentiated in Arabic.  Who knew?!

After about an hour of exploring, we tried to extricate ourselves (remember, we had meat in our backpacks).  He finished our tour and when we offered a gift, he demanded 20 euro!  Our friends gave him the 20 euro, and he tried to get more.  Grrrrr…..I don’t like being fleeced.  I knew money was going to be expected but certainly not THAT much.  We finally broke free and headed back to the boat. 

Since we were planning to leave Tunisia the following morning, we made plans to have our new American friends and our two UK boat neighbor friends over for drinks later that evening.  We had a great time hanging out on Zoe swapping stories and sharing drinks with our new friends.  Before long, it was time to say goodnight since we (and the other American couple) were leaving Tunisia in the morning.  Although we were headed in opposite directions, we both had a long overnight passage ahead of us.

The following morning, we headed to the fuel dock to fill up and start the check out procedures.  This was quite the process.  Since Zoe is less than 12 meters, we were supposed to have free electricity and water.  The girl looked at our boat document which said Zoe is 40 feet.  She kept saying that our boat paper says 40 and Dan kept trying to explain to her that the measurement was in feet not meters.  He finally said, “look at my boat….does that look like 40 meters to you?!”  Yeah, we’d love to have a 40 meter boat….haha.  In the end, they sorted it out.  Then came, my least favorite part….the officials.  In the end, the whole process took us almost 2 hours, AND we were asked for a “gift” for creating the paperwork for our tax documentation.  Grrrr….now I’m mad and disgusted.  I was so pleased with the officials when we arrived.  Now, they left a bad taste in my mouth.  He ended leaving with nothing.  Yep, that was a big enough turn off for me that I will not be returning to Tunisia.  As you can imagine, this left us feeling very flustered and out of sorts.  We finally cast lines and started on our way.  We had been underway for about 20 minutes and just about to raise our sails when Dan received a phone call.  Uh oh.  The same official who we didn’t receive a parting “gift” informed us that they still had our passports!!!  Damn it!  We had to turn around and go all the way back!  Normally, we are really good about checking that we have all our documentation, but the little “gift” episode left us flustered.  Two very nice, young officers (not the gift seeker) were waiting at the end of the fuel dock as we pulled up and made the handoff of our passports.  They were very apologetic and told us to double check that these were in fact our passports.  They were good, and we were off once again.

We were happy to be able to get out of Tunisia on Friday because another weather system was due to arrive on Sunday.  We wanted to be sure we were able to get ourselves to Sicily for our son’s arrival and get there before the weather came.  As it was, the wind from the past few days left us with some rather rambunctious sailing conditions anyway.  For the first 5 or so hours of our passage, we had winds of 20-25 knots on a broad reach (behind us) and we were surfing 6 foot waves.   Zoe was hitting 10 knots surfing these waves which is a speed we have never seen on her.   It was all quite loud (from the large wake we were leaving at that speed) and a bit stressful as the autopilot was working very hard to keep us from broaching on the surfs. We also had a nerve wracking chunk of time where we were playing frogger with huge cargo ships and ferries.  We ended up calling one of the cargo ships on the VHF radio as we were on a collision course, and they assured us that we were okay to hold our course and speed, and they would take necessary action to avoid us.  As nice as it was to be flying along under sail, we were ready for the winds to come down a bit and the seas to tamp down.  Luckily, that came at nightfall.  As I’ve said before, I do not like night sailing.  In the 4 weeks we have been on Zoe, this was our 3rd 24+ hour passage!  The nice thing was we had an almost full moon which cast a nice glow across the water.  There were a lot of storm clouds as well which sometimes hid the moon, but we got no rain or thunderstorms.  Moonlit night sails aren’t so bad since the sea is illuminated.  When it is pitch black out, the sensory deprivation is very unsettling.

As the sun began to rise, the Egadi Islands off the coast of Sicily came into view.  By now, the sea was very calm and the winds began to die off (always a good thing when you are planning to dock).  We rolled into the city of Trapani where we were met by marina personnel who dinghy escorted us in to our spot.  Two guys were on dock to assist with lines and before long, we were all tied up.  We were definitely in good company in the sense that we were the smallest boat on the dock.  We were surrounded by very large boats complete with staff.  The border police came to the marina office to check us in which was quick and easy.  We both felt a huge sigh of relief that we were home.  Wait, we are not Italian or home.  It’s just that we finally felt relaxed and back in our comfort zone after a few weeks in a very exotic locale.  We headed below deck for some much needed sleep after sailing for 24 hours on very small cat naps.  Later that night, we headed into the city for some dinner and exploration.  I have to say, we really like Trapani.  The alleyways were all lit up with bright colored lights and bustling with activity.  We definitely plan to spend some more time exploring this wonderful place.

So, we are happily sitting in a very nice marina in a very nice town in Sicily.  We are awaiting the arrival of the next Mistral (wind storm) and the arrival of family.  We plan to meet our son and his wife by rental car in Palermo.  We will spend some time showing them around before bringing them back to Zoe and heading out for some more sailing fun.  Stay tuned for more highlights from Sicily as we make our way to the Amalfi Coast.

After saying goodbye to our friends Chris and Heather earlier that morning, we departed the marina in Cagliari, Sardinia at 11:30 a.m. on August 2nd.  We had originally planned on spending a few days exploring this town but the marina fees were quite steep -over $200 per night! So rather than ride out a multi day windstorm coming our way, we decided to leave after just one night. Our destination was 20 hours away in Bizerte, Tunisia, and we had a great window to cross and outrun a nasty Mistral wind complete with thunderstorms. 

We were kind of coming full circle.  Back 6 years ago, we had bought Zoe in Hammamet, Tunisia.  Over the past years, we had always taken Zoe to Montenegro or Albania to reset our tax clock as an American flagged boat.  Since we had moved from the eastern Mediterranean to the western Mediterranean, those locations were no longer an option (way too far away).  Given where we were (Italy), Tunisia was really our only logical option for taking Zoe out of the EU.  I can’t say I was super excited about going to Tunisia, only because we are American on an American flagged boat.  We had already been warned by an Italian sailor we met in Cagliari that Americans were not liked here…..go figure.    

It wasn’t long before the winds had begun to kick up.  The nice part was the winds were from a great direction, and we were able to sail. The down side was that it was really gusty and not consistent.  We put a reef in our main (to reduce the amount of sail in case of higher winds) ahead of time, so that we were prepared for the winds as they continued to rise.  Our reef line system has a lot of friction which requires Dan to be up on the coach roof to work with them, so we didn’t want to wait until things got dicey for him to be out on top of the deck.  This turned out to be a smart idea as we did encounter some very gusty conditions, and at times we were hitting boat speeds 0f almost 9 knots (which is fast for Zoe).  I took the first shift from sunset into the dark which would also give me the dark shift into sunrise….2 damn night shifts….yuck!  Dan’s reasoning (uh huh….I think I’ve been scammed) was because I have a sharper eye for seeing fish traps in the water, and we would be closer to shore at that point.  Whatever.  As I came on for my first watch, the lightning was already flashing in the distance….great.  There was also a tremendous amount of boat traffic between the island of Sardinia and Tunisia.  Oh boy, more fun.  Luckily, all the boats appeared to be broadcasting on AIS, so I was easily able to monitor where they were in relation to us.  All the boats in the middle of the sea turned out to be fishing boats.  I was very grateful that they were the large ones that broadcasted their position instead of the unmarked small ones we sometimes come across.  We were barely ahead of the incoming wind which allowed us to sail and then motor sail the entire way.  

I finished my 6 hour shift, and Dan came up to take his turn.  As I went to lay down to get some sleep, the wind decided to get finicky which meant Dan was fussing with the sails a lot causing a great deal of noise.  Needless to say, I got very little sleep before my next shift which meant I was getting very grouchy at this point.  I was NOT having fun!  The fishing boats were now no longer around, and the cargo ships had arrived.  Again, they were very visible on our screen but seeing them on the sea was tough since the lights on land, as we approached Tunisia, were now visible.  This is one of the reasons I hate sailing in the dark.  I feel like I have a hard time seeing things and determining if they are boats or lights on land since the land is black like the sea.  I was super grateful as the morning glow began, indicating that the sunrise was not far behind.  As we pulled into the bay outside of Bizerte, we were greeted by some dolphins (what a nice welcome)!  We rolled into the marina at 7:45 a.m. (over 20 hours after casting lines in Cagliari,Sardinia the day before).  The wind had moderated and tie up was easy.  We waited for the officials to show up so we could do the check in formalities.  We were very nervous about this as well.  Others have posted about corruption, need for bribes or “gifts, and confiscation of things when they search your boat.  In the meantime, the Mistral had arrived in full force.  The wind was howling and thunder booming.  We had arrived 1.5 hours before it all began…whew!

The Tunisian border police showed up and escorted us to their office where we began formalities.  There was a lot of paperwork to do with them, and then we were processed with a customs officer.  They told us to check in with the marina, and then they would come to the boat for a search.  All in all, it took about an hour and a half to do the formalities, everyone was super friendly and professional, there was absolutely no corruption or confiscations (other than our drone which they hold until you depart the country, and we already knew that was going to happen).  The officials bent over backwards making us feel comfortable and welcome.  We were very appreciative.  With a huge sigh of relief, we headed below deck for some much needed sleep.  The Mistral was now in full force with dark, ominous clouds all around.  The marinero was frequently checking everybody’s lines to make sure we were all tied up snug.  At one point, he jumped on board so that he and Dan could use the motors to really shank our lines down tight.  The surrounding town looks quite tired, poor and dilapidated, but the marina is very nicely done.  Everyone here at the marina has been super kind and helpful, making us feel extremely welcome.

The next day, we wandered into the heart of town to get some cash and bottled water.  We don’t know if it was because it was Sunday, but we stumbled on this huge street market. There were colorful and fragrant fruit and vegetable stands as far as the eye could see.  There were also stands peddling local merchandise.  We saw a number of meat markets and walked into one.  I was quite shocked when I looked over and saw crate after crate of live chickens….just laying there in a catatonic state.  Oh geez, talk about fresh!  The words of Dan’s dad came flooding into my mind.  “Where do you think your meat comes from?!”  Me:  “On a styrofoam plate covered in Saran, and I’m keeping it that way!”  I might have to become vegetarian….haha.  Nah, I love meat too much.  We then found the biggest fish market I have ever seen!  Everything was so fresh and looked amazing.  There was every kind of fish and seafood you could imagine.  It was still too windy to grill, we were still tired and a bit overwhelmed, so we decided to come back another time when we are able to grill the fresh fish.

We figured we would look into having some work done on the boat while we were here.  Everyone has talked about how affordable it is to get things done in Tunisia, and we had things that we have been wanting to do for years, but it has been too expensive in France and Italy.  We had the great fortune of being docked next to a boat that was having some major reconstruction done on her, so Dan called the supervisor over to our boat.  We talked to him about redoing our kitchen countertops in Corian and redesigning the layout.  This was an adventure in and of itself since he only spoke French and Arabic.  We managed to muddle through and by the end of the day, he had already made wood templates of our design!  Incredible!  It turns out, he is the owner of a company that builds and rebuilds boats.  He asked if we would like to come see his shop.  I was not super thrilled with the idea.  I always feel a little squishy (uneasy) about getting into a car with a stranger in an unfamiliar country and going somewhere unknown.  Think about it….we are taught our entire life to not get into cars with strangers…..yet, here I go again!  Despite his shop being fairly close, the traffic was horrendous, and you have to cross a big drawbridge.  The problem here is that 4-5 lanes of traffic, from every imaginable direction, funnel into one lane to cross the bridge.  This chaos happens in both directions!  We made it to his shop in a shipyard, and he showed us the boats he was working on, and the molds of some he was building.  He showed us a multitude of photos of the many boats he has worked on.  He was definitely very proud of his work (and it was in fact, quite impressive).  We made a plan with him to drive to the capital city of Tunis the following morning in order to pick our new countertop material.  I wasn’t overly thrilled with this plan either.  It was an hour and a half drive each way!  

Our contractor picked us up the following day and we were on our way.  It was a pleasant drive once we got out of the city.  The landscape was interesting as it went from lush and green to dry and barren desert.  We entered the city of Tunis to the hustle and bustle of a large city.  Our first stop was down an alley to a marble shop.  We were shown 2 pieces of quartz.  Very pretty, but we were confused.  We wanted Corian and more of a color choice.  We were quickly becoming disappointed.  As we handled the piece of quartz, we were very concerned by its thickness and weight.  You might wonder why we would be concerned about weight on a counter top.  One of our counter tops houses a drop in refrigerator which requires a lid that has to be lifted up.  We were also putting a drop in trash bin and sinks with covers  over them.  All of these “lids” would require regular lifting.  Nope, quartz was not going to work for our project.  Our contractor was understanding and took us to another place to look at Corian.  Not sure why we didn’t go there in the first place.  The next place blew our mind.  This was a very elegant showroom….uh oh, I’m seeing dollar signs piling up.  This place had lots of samples to choose from, and we quickly found what we liked.  Soon, the CEO walked in.  He spoke great English and proudly showed us the models of their work.  He also told us that they were the supplier for some major catamaran companies in France.  The stars were aligning (he wasn’t suppose to be in the office that day), his assistant was going to drive down to measure our kitchen despite it being their vacation time, and he was going to put a rush on our fabrication because we had a departure date already set.  At this point, we still didn’t know a price.  Eeesh.  At the end of the day, they sent us the quote.  It was 1/3 the price of any other place we had been quoted for a much better design.  Woo hoo!  We also have a number of other projects underway, and we are super excited.  Stay tuned for how everything turns out!

Our next adventure was back to that crazy, huge street market.  This time we went with our new Swiss friends on the boat next to us.  They had already been several times and knew their way around.  Once you understood how it worked, it went quite smooth.   We walked away with at least 5kg (10+ pounds) of the freshest vegetables you’ve ever seen for a fraction of the price we are used to back home.  We then headed to a stand selling local products.  We picked up some harissa paste, some sort of spicy pepper mix, and locally made olive oil. Everyone was very helpful and kind without any kind of pressure to come buy their things.  Everything had prices clearly listed and the vendors were all friendly and honest. We then went to the bakery for fresh made baguettes and learned there were two lines – one for government subsidized bread (the long line) and normal.    Before heading to the fish market, we stopped at a cafe to experience Arabic coffee.  Dan ordered and thought it was the strongest espresso he ever had but still enjoyed it.   It was already a hot day so I ordered a cold tea.  Unfortunately, I received hot tea (this may have been a blessing in disguise since I have no idea if bottled water was used).  It was spiced with some mint leaves (and unfortunately, some sugar) but it was quite delicious.  I think I may have to buy some mint leaves now.  Our final stop was the huge fish market.  There were so many kinds of fish and seafood.  At this point, we were low on cash (I told Dan he didn’t bring enough!) so we only bought a kilo of yummy prawns.  I really do love them, but I can’t stand having to pull off all their heads.  I plan to go back another day for some other goodies from the sea.

At this point, we had spent nearly a week with our new Swiss friends having a great time hanging out and swapping stories.  We also met a fun gentleman from the UK and a very nice couple from New Zealand.  One of the best parts of sailing is all the interesting people you meet from all over the world!  We thought we would be leaving Zoe behind to do some inland tours, but that is not shaping up like we had hoped.  The people doing the work on Zoe have been out nearly everyday making sure everything is perfect and that the jobs will be finished on time. So, we will leave you here for now, and be back for an update soon.  We are once again watching a weather system come in and will be threading the needle of leaving Tunisia after our work is done.  Our challenge is that we have our son and daughter-in-law coming in very soon to Sicily where we will pick them up, and then we need to get to the Amalfi coast of Italy for our nephew’s wedding.  We don’t like to sail a schedule, but that seems to be the theme so far this year.  Wish us luck!