What a beautiful week we have had at Imsouane. Every day we have been parking the Landie in front of this whale, 🐋 and going surfing. I've been in struggle town a bit, giving myself a black eye with my paddle and second guessing myself. More on that later. This post is a little bit about the week in Imsouane - a bit of another ramble. I'm finding it hard to write cohesive posts as I'm doing it all on my phone and half the time forgetting Hive exists, because I'm living this magical adventure in Morocco.

As the surfers paddled out in the line up, the fishing boats made their way through the swell as well. The jetty was busy with trade and a couple of fish restaurants.

After a surf we would eat banana and Nutella pancakes and drink expresso and I'd want to be in the water again. I felt frustrated a lot being an older woman and watching the younger woman with their boundless energy and natural fitness. And of course I was battling frustration at the crowds and my lack of ability to get waves. I just couldn't figure out what was going on with me. At home I can surf pretty much all the breaks with no issue. What was it with me and Imsouane?

For lunch, vegetable tagine. We have got into the habit of eating out once a day. It's not too expensive. Whilst we ate I expressed to Jamie how upset I was at being an utter kook. If there's one thing about my husband it's his ability to reassure me. It was super crowded, he said, and perhaps I'm just holding back and hesitating too much. I talked about how I was worried about the power in the waves and how steep the drops were and how I kept stiffening up. Wtf, though? I don't do this at home!!

Two nights before we left I went on YouTube and watched a heap of SUP videos on powering through the line up without getting smashed, and how to catch waves. That was kinda ridiculous because I KNOW how to catch waves though, right? Except I think I just do at home because it's instinct - I've been surfing those waves for years and don't even have to think about it. If you asked me HOW I surfed, I couldn't really tell you. I just do it.

What I realized is that I wasn't really COMMITTING to the wave. This wasn't rocket science - Jamie had said as much. I somehow forgot that it's much safer and easier to just go for it. Dig your paddle in HARD and just meet the wave with the same momentum. Because once you are ON the wave, that's the easy bit. Secondly, I realized the steep drop needs strong thighs - you start off with a bit of a half squat almost and then you slide into the bottom turn, head down the line and away you go.

Lo and behold, that little bit of THINKING about my technique and kinda visualizing it worked - I got out and got a few waves. It was crowded so we surfed down the beach a little which was just fine.

The last day was HOT - 33 degrees. We parked up to get the sea breeze and talked to some other van lifers.

Some guys had got bitten by a protective mama dog and had to go get rabies shots. There's a LOT of stray dogs around doing what they can to survive.

There's also a lot of cats. One can't seem to eat dinner without some animal getting in the way. It's a bit of a problem and the authorities do need to do something about it.

One other annoying thing was the donkeys braying at 6 am. Jeez they make a racket. We are getting used to the noise at night though, particularly barking dogs. Once you train your brain to not hear the barks as a dangerous warning it's not too bad.

Big takeaway from this week is how persistent I can be with things that matter, like surfing, but also how grateful I am for a husband that wholly supports me. He came to my rescue when I was scared in the heavy shore break and being battered by waves on the rocks, and he came to my emotional rescue when I was so frustrated about how I was failing at surfing this week.

Every night we would walk over to the cliff to watch the sun go down. What a blessing we have had this little pause in this small town on the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

And we also talked about how lucky we are to be still married over 18 years from the last time we were in Morocco, and how lovely it is we are enjoying our brief months of freedom together.

With Love,

Are you on HIVE yet? Earn for writing! Referral link for FREE account here