Before beginning our sail trip for 2022 we had decided to take Curare to Tunisia to allow us time out of the Schengen area and as a change of scenery from mainstream continental Europe. It certainly was a cultural contrast but the two marinas we stayed at were typical marinas like everyplace else we have visited.
We booked a month long stay at Marina Monastir using the Navily app. This app has worked seamlessly for us in the past and this time was no exception. With our yacht parameters stored in the Navily database we simply have to select a marina and dates of visit and a request is sent off. If space is available the marina confirms through the app and by email, along with the cost of the moorage. Besides the booking service, Navily provides user comments on the marina and nearby anchorages.
Marina Monastir was a well run marina, relatively clean and most everything functioned most of the time. The shower block was clean, plenty of water and was co-ed. Garbage collection was an odd affair with a large block separated by the ubiquitous doors of separation for glass, metal, plastic, organics, refuse. Of course it was all just one big bin that got loaded onto a hand drawn trailer and carted away everyday. The marina made an effort to remove plastic garbage from the water and this was appreciated.
The docks were concrete with Med style mooring of lines taken to anchor blocks in the fairway. Most boats go stern in with the lines off of the bow. On Curare we prefer going bow in with the mooring lines off of our stern. This protects our Hydrovane rudder from accidentally hitting the dock but also allows us to climb off the boat using the anchor platform. Marina Monastir is part of an older established resort community with apartments and restaurants lining the entire marina walkways. There is even a gym that the crew was considering signing up for until they realized that it wasn't air conditioned. The marina itself is well protected from winds but a strong storm surge out of the south causes a lot of rolling at the docks.
The other marina that Curare visited while in Tunisia was Marina Bizerte on the north coast. Leaving from Malta we were headed for Sicily but when we realized the weather conditions were not going to allow that to happen we chose to go to Bizerte instead. Again using the Navily app we sent off a request while still in cell coverage and quickly received a confirmation reply. Unlike at Monastir, when we radioed Bizerte on our approach they replied and were waiting at the dock for us when we arrived.
This is a brand new, unfinished marina. It was started in 2012 and the docks have been operational for a few years, but the entire marina complex of hotels and restaurants is a long ways from completion. Police, customs and marina office are housed in the main building by the fuel dock along with a restaurant and shower facilities. Everything was kept very clean. A doctor was called to check us and declare us fit for arrival but in reality all he did was look at our vaccine passports!
We were taken to a concrete dock where a couple of other small boats were moored. Taking the mooring lines to our stern to hold Curare off of the dock, GG kept pulling hard on the messenger line trying to get to the larger diameter line that would secure Curare. There wasn't anything larger. The only mooring line was a 5 mm diameter string covered in sea life that seemed extremely inadequate, but that's all there was. We rigged a secondary line to a bollard further up the dock to relieve some of the strain on the skinny lines. After discussing this situation with others in the marina, what typically happens with longer stay vessels is to get a diver come and attach a proper sized mooring line to the anchor blocks in the fairway. We were only staying a couple of days so didn't bother with this. With a large breakwater protecting the marina it seemed quite secure inside.
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