Marina Cap Monastir takes very good care of its customers. Even when you arrive unannounced and simply ask to stay for a month, they find a place for you. What a nice place to be, it is clean, well organised and very quiet despite it is located in the center of Monastir. A lively circuit of world cruisers who winter here and many French and Canadian liveaboards.
The month became 5 and then 8 months and the staff created a new spot for the boat. Every Sunday a cruisers barbeque and many other activities throughout the week: yoga, kickboxing, sewing, organised by the cruisers themselves. The first four months where spend enyoing the country by train and shared taxi (louage), a cheap and very safe opportunity to meet people.
Palm trees overlooking the entrance of Cap Monastir marina
tunisia is, like Jordan, one of the most liberated, tolerant, free and open muslim countries. People will tell you their opinion freely and their respect and tolerance towards eachother struck me. A true eye opener for us western people, we can learn a lot from that! But many poor people too, yet very few beggers and the crime level is very low. The temperatures are moderate throughout the year. In Greece and Turkey it is often much hotter. Healthcare is good with most doctors trained in France or the Monastir dental and medical university. Made 5 visits to the local dentist, including a new zirkonium crown, very good work delivered for a fair price. I cannot say it enough: Go to tunisia, do not miss this wonderfull place!
A rooftop in the center of tunisia's capital Tunis
Ancient mosaics in the Bardo museum in Tunis
Sailors from Tyrus in Libanon founded the city of Carthago
These artifacts found in Cartago are 2300 to 2600 years old
The Phoenicians sailed the whole Mediterranian sea, Cartagena in Spain was one of their strongholds
2300 years old...simply incredible
The amphitheater of El Jem, second largest in the world but in much better shape than the Collosseum in Rome
The weekly market near the fishing port of Monastir
Very good quality vegetables and fruit for sale in this small local shop
The ribat of Monastir, a religious center from the 11th century, is the oldest ribat in tunisia
View from the ribat towards the marina
When covid arrived in tunisia the ports and airports where immediately closed for 3 months. There was a country wide curfew at night with limited travel between cities. Non essential travel by car was fined. No gatherings and it was only allowed to go out to the little island within the marina. Only the big supermarkets remained open. The town was deserted, no traffic, no engines could be heard, just the sounds of nature…
The tunisian government and their citizens handled the Covid-19 situation very well by responding well in advance in a clear and strict manner. Consequently, the number infections stayed very low. I say it again: tunisia is an exellent, very safe place to stay, even in such an exceptional situation as this.
No crazy people storming the super markets and stashing up like in our western world
New bimini, work in progress, finished just before covid started
More work for the sail makers, just before the curfew
1 winch done = 10 more winches to go....
Overhaul of the bow thruster motor
Decalcifying the engine cooling system
cleaning the fuel system
Installed a megapixel day/night camera on top of the mast
And a high definition LED screen in the masters bedroom
So the winter time was well used: almost 70 different jobs where done such as oil, coolant and filter changes, impeller replacement, clean the fuel tank, clean flush and repair the heat exchangers, replace the thermostats of the fridges and recharge them, repair the electric heaters and fan speed control of the 3 air conditioners, replace lines, rigging, overhaul of various pumps, and so on….
