Back in Morocco.....

That's me trying to get the battery out of our old Garmin GPS with my DPx pocket knife in the Western Sahara.  We purchased two of these units for a contract in Northern Turkey in 2010 because you couldn't get a database for our Super Puma's ancient FMSs.  Even these Garmin are now getting long in the tooth, and often lockup, the only fix being to pull the battery out and put it back in, but sand had jammed the tracks.  Getting 'er done!

Continuing our journey North over the Sahara, we were finding the incessant radio calls taxing, as every call involved infuriating clarification back and forth and back and forth, so we opted for a low level run up the beach into Morocco. 

Best decision of the trip!

Within a few hundred miles we were back to my old thrashing grounds of Agadir Morocco.  I had managed the base and flew AW139s out of here in 2014, so it was pleasant to be back on familiar ground.  Unfortunately the problems that plagued us in the Western Sahara had reared their ugly heads again, and this time, we wouldn't be going any further without parts.  Once again we were greeted by Moroccan bureaucracy, even though we told them repeatedly that we were already in country, having cleared customs and immigration the evening prior, but no, we went through the full monty yet again.  The allocated "hotel guy" of our little adventure had booked us into the new Sofitel,  under construction when I was last here, and everyone was very pleasantly surprised by the grandeur and opulence of this beachside resort.

An old Moroccan friend stopped by last night with his guitar and we jammed in the lobby for a few hours, and today was spent poolside catching up on my blog, and the parts should be in late this evening.  We'll soon be North bound once again......

I'm sure certain people are wondering why we broke down here in beautiful Agadir, but the truth is, they should be thankful we pushed on to an easily reached International airport as opposed to going unserviceable in the Western Sahara.  We would have been grounded for weeks.