Tired from Granada return at 1 am....we drag out of the Marriott Marbella at 11 am, faced with missing our 1 pm ferry to Tangiers. Sometime the first day at the Marriott, a maid or the maintenance guys fixing our drain took $300 I left on our credenza in the Master bedroom. Being a vacation ownership, I didn't realize they'd have room service each day to refresh towels, otherwise I'd have locked it up. The Marriott namesake gives a false sense of security. This was the money I'd expected to take to Morocco to exchange for dirhams. I noticed it was missing after returning from the pool 6 days ago but.....in denial..... avoided until today to tear apart the room or complain to the management. Stupid...lesson learned.

 Its a complicated pack-job. We'll take 2 small backpacks..total...to Morocco, so we can keep everything with us. Returning from Morocco next day, I  fly to Frankfurt via Madrid and cannot check my bags w/ the girls through to the US as I'm staying in Europe a week longer. The girls will stay overnight in Frankfurt so need a "community" bag to carry on day and the US flight.   Plus we're washing clothes and waiting for stuff to dry.   This is like managing a traveling circus.  

 Friday morning, I'm still working out arrangements & accomodations. Lyn has mildly objected to Morocco all week due to safety concerns, so I've put off guaranteeing stuff. We discussed the issues with the girls and made them read the travel books about Muslim countries, culture etc. on way back from Granada last night. We decide to go for it.  I'd looked at options for overnight in Tangiers weeks before. Weighed the comfort of a national chain Sheraton or Moevenpick at city center with the chance to give the girls a real-life experience and stay in a "Dar" or converted Morroccan bed & breakfast type home. I firm up my original choice and email the proprietar of Dar Nilam this morning to tell them we're on the way. Only problem with Dar Nilam is it's not near Medina/old town and I wonder if we'll lose time to see the sites in transfer.  Rachel agrees to save time by arranging for a full course Moroccan dinner to be prepared and served to us at Dar Nilam at 7:30 pm. Idea is that we won't need to find a restaurant. I go over menu options and even guarantee a vegetarian preparation for Katie. That gives us 5-6 hours upon arrival to see everything and then relax for the evening. 

  I've emailed 2 different guides (Aziz and Nezha) in Tangiers. Additionally, the proprietar at Dar Nilam, Rachel, has another guide (also an Aziz) he says will meet us at Port.   I've done a lot of reading at www.travel-guides.com and various Google searches of the guides names for first-hand feedback.  Both online and R.Steves caution that guides are more interested in commission from merchants than giving you a good cultural experience. The stops on tour are "staged" and don't offer much freewill.  Guides can be a la carte where you arrange your own RT ferry passage (51e) and pay cash up to 30 e per person    OR   79 e w/ RT ferry ride inclusive.   Aziz tells me he can have a confirmation waiting at the FRS Tarifa Port w/ our tickets paid if I advise which sailing we're taking.  My Google searches show a lot of booking links for Aziz, but not as many traveler blog comments, so I am suspect that he works on the commission plan. He also doesn't return email this morning, while Nezha does, so I'm comfortably leaning towards Nezha while deciding I'll just wait and see who shows up at Port, then make the decision. I've very directly told all the guides in email that we don't want  the typical tourist runaround and map out the exact sites..we'll see.  

We hustle out the door, stop by the one bank to continue our ATM adventures. Of course it doesn't work, so we find another and decide the 300 euros it dispenses for Tangiers will be enough. 

We have 90 minutes to drive 80 km to Tarifa, park, buy our ferry tickets, clear customs and board for a 1 pm departure. The next one is at 3 pm and would severely cut into our time to see Tangiers. We decide if we miss the 1 pm, may just call it off and find a hotel in Tarifa.   We pass Gibraltar with 30 minutes remaining, but find the balance of drive through Algeciras and down to Tarifa is on very windy roads. We pull into Tarifa at 12:50pm...resigned to fact that Morocco isn't going to happen. Its easy enough to spot the big FRS jet catamaran ferry port, but Tarifa is a quaint surfer/windsurfing town and by the time we wind around the old town and crumbling fort, it's 1pm. We pull into a parking lot and the girls sprint down the street. A policeman doesn't like my park job and calls me back..insisting I move the car to another spot. I oblige with visions of the girls standing on the ferry deck waving good-bye to me.

Fortunately, the ferry is running 10 minutes late in departing. Some stowaway from Morocco has escaped Spanish customs police and we watch as half the force sprints out of the Port offices after this guy and the subsequent cuffing. Lyn buys our tickets and we head through customs, board the ferry w/ a few minutes to spare.    Once into the main cabin, the girls are amazed. This is more a 1st class cruise liner than the junked up leaky ferry they'd expected. We speed out of port. Unfortunately the camcorder tape is expired, so we take a few shots, but can't do the view justice with the wind, spray, sun experience of departing Tarifa for Tangiers. Girls buy lunch on board, we pick up a couple things in their duty-free shop we excitedly anticipate our arrival in Tangiers.