12 - 14 October 2014

We picked up some croissants for breakfast and some bread, olives and fruit for lunch on our way to Bab Doukalah to catch a bus to nearby Sidi Kaouki - an idyllic little beach bay, a lot quieter than Essaouira's plage.


Again the only tourists on the local bus, we hopped off and found some beach loungers for the day. We munched our croissants and spent the rest of the day until 5 reading our books, snoozing, nibbling olives and cooking in the hot Moroccan sun. The highlight of the day was having water squirted at us by a defensive octopus we discovered in the rock pools! Sufficiently burned we headed back to Essaouira on the 5pm bus. We showered and watched another spectacular sunset through the sea mist from our balcony before heading to the same eatery as the night before - excellent fish tajine and veggie couscous! After an evening stroll through the medina we retreated back to our room.

Looking forward to a day of chillaxing in the small seaside town Moulay Bouzerktum, we headed to the bus station nice and early. After half an hour of waiting we discovered that the first bus wasn't leaving until 1pm. We decided to head back into town to spend our morning on a sunny terrace slurping juice/coffee and reading our books. We returned to the bus stop, this time armed with avocados and bread for lunch, and hopped on a very full bus towards Moulay Bouzerktum. We got dropped off at the turn-off for the village and walked along the dusty road until we reached the sea.

On first sight, the village seemed quite desolate but soon a few curious inhabitants appeared to show us rooms in their empty surf shacks. After a short wander we tried our chances with one particularly young (max 14 years old) business man, who opened up his father's empty guesthouse for us. As the bargaining developed, we realised this was probably the boy's first bargaining experience ever, due to the peculiar offers he made... "Okay, okay, 120DH for two people with either breakfast or water to wash in". Whilst Alby nearly agreed on a deal without water, we declined his offer and were immediately charged 50DH for our tea (30DH) and toilet visits (2x10DH). His mom arrived at that moment and the teenage business man shrunk immediately back to a shy school boy. We gave him some pocket money, grabbed our rucksacks and headed around the corner to a wiser guesthouse owner. Although he spoke no French, we managed to get a little rooftop apartment with a stunning view on the sea.

Between April and June, this place is the Walhallah for surfers, but today we were the only tourists around. We jumped into our swimming costumes and headed across the rocks to the sea for a paddle and to check out the surfing possibilities. There was no beach here, only a rock shelf which extended into the sea and with big waves, we decided the level was too high for our amateur surfing skills. We headed back to our flat for a bucket shower and a welcome cup of tea. After enjoying a stunning sunset over a big boiling tajine on the open-air terrace, we headed to bed.


Keen on finding some surf we woke early so we could make a swift departure to Sidi Kaouki where the beach is more moderate and accustomed to amateurs like us! After some fresh bread and tea we walked back to the main road just in time for the bus... which unfortunately was completely full and drove straight past! We spent the next hour waiting for a hitch until a friendly lady picked us up and gave us a free ride to Essaouira. We immediately hopped on a bus to Sidi Kaouki where we found ourselves another empty surf hostel and some fresh sardines for lunch. After renting some surfing gear and discovering the free extras (a live cockroach hiding in the sleeve of Clara's wetsuit) we ran into the surf and spent the next three hours in the water.

Exhausted by the shore dump waves we staggered out of the sea and headed straight to the shower. Over a delicious Italian/Moroccan dinner we looked back on a fab day and enjoyed a good mint tea before bed.