Agadir Port de Peche 11 November 2011

Friday 11 November we visited Agadir's Port de Peche just to the west of the marina

This is the one of largest fishing harbour on the African Continent and this was the right time to see it as the whole fleet of several hundred fishing vessels were in port for the Aide holidays.

The first boats we saw were a huge fleet of small wooden coastal fishing boats

These boats catch many different types of fish - Dorades, Red Snappers, Jack Dories etc.

Seeing the sheer number of these coastal boats made us feel thankful we had arrived here when we did - when they were all safely out of our way in port - the thought of having to wend our way through them and their floating nets at night is a bit of a nightmare.

with piles of nets drying on the rocks

 

A cat finds a peaceful place for a snooze on the nets under some crude anchors 

 Many fishermen were busy repairing their nets

The fisherman below had agreed to take me with him on his next fishing trip - however, I unfortunately decided to cancel as the weather looks as though we may have to bring forward our trip to the Canaries and there are many other things we wish to do

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Their only lights seemed be this bulb on the end of a horizontal stick

 Walking further down the harbour wharf , the boats get bigger. On the right are various warehouses and workshops

including a very large ice making plant - below are the stainless steel shutes for loading the ice lorries from a hatch in the ceiling

 We passed row after row of these rusting trawlers

Some in better shape than others

  

Steel gave way to fleets of old wooden boats

some with stainless steel chafe protecting sheets over the gunwales

We understand that many of these boats fish mainly for sardines and have a look-out-chair welded into the prow

Everywhere crew were busy provisioning, filling the water tanks, fueling-up and generally getting their boats ready for the sea after the holiday.

eggs 

Bread

The larger boats, which stay at sea for a few months at a time, have onboard refrigeration. The smaller boats rely on ice which they were busy taking on board

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 A couple of guys taking a break with a hastily sketched-out board on the concrete

and markers of shells and bottle tops

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Mobile cafes serving drinks and soup

 It was lunchtime for us as well so we visited the onsite fish cafes. Each small kitchen is just the width of one long table with benches either side.

A friendly Berber student from Quarzazate (town to the east of Agadir) latched onto us and guided us to cafe Nr 21. He shared our meal and was a useful source of information - however, he managed to spoil things a little at the end of the meal, in unfortunately typical Moroccan style, by not thanking us for the meal but  instead asking for money  - a bit dissappointing but by now we have come to accept that most displays of overly friendly friendship from people on the street are a cover up for begging.

 Our tastey lunch - Jeannette had to put her foot down at the end however, as the waiter, either through inability to add-up or deliberately, tried to overcharge us.