Ferry ride from Algeciras to Tanger Med

We rose early this morning and prepared to depart Spain. We had walked to the ferry terminal last night to figure out exactly where we needed to go this morning to reduce confusion. It wasn’t needed. First, there was decent signage. Second, the ferry was late. It was due to depart at 12:00, but at 12:45, 5 min after the skies opened up, the line started moving. To the ticket booth. As we had pre-purchased our tickets, we just showed our reservations and received a boarding pass that, just like on BC Ferries, was never looked at again. Then we went into the lanes to wait for boarding.

I’m not sure who took a page out of whose playbook, but just like with BC Ferries, we were pushed to the head of the line. Then we watched the trucks.

The ferry we were to take only had one door to embark/disembark, so the trucks, which boarded first, backed onto the ferry. One. By. One. It was 1:50 when we rode on board. We obviously weren’t the first bikes they’d ever hosted – they had a spot set aside for us, and helped us secure the bikes to the deck. We finally set sail at 2:15 under sunny skies.

90 minutes later, we exited the ferry. Signage wasn’t nearly as good, but we found and followed the exit signs in disbelief, wondering how it could be so easy (a guy checked our passports as we left the ferry; they had been stamped while on the ferry).

We were not to be disappointed, as 2 km up the road we stopped at customs to have our bikes temporarily imported. Predictions on the length of this process ranged from 1-5 hours. We were done in just 1 hour, and were finally on the road, just after 4:00. In Morocco! On to Rabat!

Photos include us waiting for, then on the ferry, some of the incredibly over laden vehicles bringing stuff into Morocco, some vehicles being searched at customs, and our first “meal”, taken at a rest stop part way to Rabat.