Tunisia
20th March - 8th April , 2021
We had a very interesting passage from Il Marbat, Malta to Hammamet, Tunisia. It started with no wind so we motored for 14hours straight. Then the wind picked up and we had a nice beam reach. We got into some nasty squalls early morning with a big wind shift 180 degrees. Now happily docked at the quarantine dock waiting to take our Covid tests on Monday, not allowed to leave the boat until then.
And believe it or not...we bless the rains down in Africa And we love Dolphins
Fun fact:
It took us 1.2 days. We averaged 6.4 Knots. The shortest great circle distance is 186 Nautical Miles. We sailed 190 Nautical Miles to get here. We ran the engine 14.8 Hours (49.3%) during the passage. We got 133.3 Ah/day from Solar, 66.7 Ah/day from Wind, and 200 Ah/day from Hydro, a total of 400 Ah/day during the passage.
We also logged 21000 Nm during the passage
After two days in quarantine on Horizon here in Hammamet, Tunisia, we did a PCR Covid test. We got the result the same afternoon. We were both positively negative, in fact we were so negative so they said that we don't have to do the second test in two days which has been the norm here So now we are cleared in and have moved to a regular slip in the marina and we're free to go and explore Tunisia. Everything went pretty smooth.
Yay and Cheers is in order
The doctor came to the boat for the testing. Very convenient. Not very comfortable though since she only took one test through the nose all the way down your throat
The test result!
Biked to one of all the fruit and vegetable stands on the side of the road
There are even liquor stores in Tunisia. Was a little hard to pick out what you wanted since all was behind the desk. They saw our confusion and let us go behind the "scene" :-)
You can load up a lot of beer, wine and groceries on our two bikes and the cart ;-)
Nice meeting over drinks with OCC's Port Officer in Tunisia, Mike Turner. Also here is Peter and Mohammed Ali. Mohammed Ali was our guide for our three day road trip...more later
Super cool Pirate party ships in the marina
View from the mast over the Pirate ships and the beach
Mike is a great mechanic and has his won Yacht service company. Doing all different type of boat work. This is his workshop. A little messy but very functional
This is why we needed Mike, his workshop and the turner. Repair and adjustment to the boom vang.
Behind the workshop you can find exactly that little metal part you need, and it will fit perfectly
This is the local turner's workshop. That is the only thing his doing and he is very, very good at it
Another boat project. Anders thought it was so nice and quiet when I was up in the mast, so he thought he would wait a while to let me down ;-)
Out at the first spreader to tejp the end
Doing the same at the second spreaders
View over Hammamet marina from the mast
Always fun with a bird view over the boat
Yay, got some horse riding in. This is a 6 years old stallion. Very well trained. We galloped on the beach for a long time. Just wonderful
Anette is out swimming, a little hard to spot in the waves
Got to get your exercise in. Plank on the beach after a swim, feels good
First stop of our three days road trip to the southern part of Tunisia, the amphitheater in El Jem. The third biggest one in the world
The history of El Jem Amphitheatre
Crew Horizon and crew Raven together with Mohammed Ali, our tour guide, at the El Jem Amphitheatre
Inside the theater
View from inside the theater
These old Amphitheaters are built very similar to todays big arenas
Another view of this amazing amphitheater
Down below the arena where they kept the animals, the slaves and even the dead bodies. They lifted up the animals so they came up from the ground to make it more spectacular
Next stop the museum of Mosaic, also in El Jem
Another big Mosaic Painting. This represent the different seasons, You can find the winter, spring, summer and fall. Also it has the moon and the sun. Can you pick out the different characters ?
This is just amazing. Looks like a real painting but is made out of small pieces of mosaic with all the different shades
This mosaic painting is stunning as is...but look at the next close up...
This is the close up. Which part is it? Just amazing how they could color code this with all different shades of mosaic
We are now in Sidi Idriss Hotell, where the episode 4 of Star Wars was filmed
In the middle of the Star War scene
The Sidi Idriss Hotell, and Star War movie scene seen from above
At the bar from the movie
On the way to our lodging for the night we stopped by this berbar village. This is one were they still live. Here is the beautiful entrance
They use this tool to dig out and build the house. It took around a year to build it
When we walked in this opened up. Huge common area that you can't imagine from the outside. All the different rooms are surrounding this
They weave beautiful rugs
The bedroom, with storage under
The kitchen. Beautiful pottery
They offered us tea and almonds. And we bought some delicious honey from them. Very friendly happy people
Our hotell for the night. Dug out into the mountain
View over the hotel, with all the rooms surrounding the plaza
This is the cozy room.
No windows
Anders is on his phone and behind him is the restaurant
Evening view over the hotel
Morning mist is lifting
Visit to one of the many Berber villages in this area. Inside the Berber village. The first generation built the first floor. Then their kids the build the next floor...and so on. So if you see four floors that mean four generations lived there
These three are all Berber villages that we visited
Very harsh land here. Rocks, sand and small bushes
Here you scan see how they use the water, when it rains, from the mountains. They build terraces so they can grow olive trees etc so they keep the water on the terraces
Another, on top of the hill, Berber village
Found this creepy rope hanging from the ceiling ina cave under the fort
The gate keeper. Look at the stunning portal ceiling
Have to explore the top level
Storage area for food etc in the rooms
Another beautiful Berber village. Of course on top of a hill. With a Mosque. This one is active today and people still live here.
Same Berber village. Some Bed and Breakfast here
Here are some old pots. They stored food in them but also you can see how they dug them down under the ground
Last Berber village. Another stunning one at the top of a ridge
On our way to our Hotel in Douz. The Gateway to Sahara
Our Hotel in Douz
We went camel riding into the Sahara desert
We're riding with the Force
This camel is broken...just kidding this is how they like to rest
One of the great Salt Lakes, called Chot el Djerid, and no we're not in Utah
We got very close to the Algerian border, lots of militaries in this area
Oh oh, Flat tire. Quickly repaired by Anders and Mohammed Ali
Next stop Chebika Oasis. we visited the old town. below you can see the new town
Our local guide is pointing out The village of Algeria. We are pretty close to the border
Chebika oasis . Love the colors of the clothes
Our local guide at the Chebika oasis. This is his grandparents house. He lived here for four years before he moved to the new city below
Our guide is leading the way through the rocky mountains down to the oasis
Beautiful water in the oasis. Lots of frogs
Beautiful color of the water in the oasis. Lots of frogs
One of the waterfalls in this oasis. The water comes from the nearby mountains
My handsome husband in the middle of the Sahara desert
This is called the camel neck. Anders and I are running up to the top
Selfie at the top of the camel neck. Look at the mirage behind us..
From the top you see our 4x4, tracks of people having fun making donuts. But look at the mirage... it's not water
So unreal. Another picture of the mirage
Approaching the Star War village of Ong Jemal
Inside the city. Everything is intact, but need some maintenance or else it will quickly and sadly detoriate
Contrast
Like in the movie...
On the side of the road you see sheep with their cute lamb
Camel warning everywhere here in the Sahara
Camels crossing the road
After three days on the road we are now close to Hammamet and the marina. Greeted with this wonderful sunset
After two weeks in Hammamet we sailed to beautiful Sidi Bou Said, and the Carthage area. We anchored outside the marina. The town of Sidi Bou Said is situated high above the sea level, and the marina. Some 200+ steps to get up here. This is from the town overlooking the harbor and Horizon at anchor
A stroll along the beach. Taking the opportunity to take some nice pictures of Horizon
Typical alley in the town. All buildings are white and all doors are blue
Some of the blue doors are very pretty decorated
The cats have a feast after the guests are gone
Rounding Cap Farina and the lighthouse
Funny looking island outside the coast on our way in to Bizerte
On our way in to Bizerte we got company from some dolphins
Marina Bizerte is huge, and pretty new. This is one of the super yachts coming in from Malta just to fill up cheap Tunisian diesel. There were at least 4 trucks coming up to the ship...
We visited square Dag Hammarskiöld here in Bizerte. Unlucky this famous Swedish guy died here in a flight crash. We couldn't find any signs that this park was dedicated to him, but in Google maps it said so
Leaving Tunisia. Next stop Menorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. Back to EU. 300nm.
