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Somewhere between Spain and Morocco, Strait of Gibraltar. December 2019
Passing between worlds without seasickness and a little help from Hokusai
After some tense time in Tarifa, Spain, worried that the ferries to Tangier might be cancelled for a few days, the ticket kiosk opened again and I booked myself on the first ferry, departing shortly after lunch {see: Tarifa}. The boarding was orderly, Spanish immigration a breeze, and soon I was on a very crowded ferry (standing room only) for the slightly more than one-hour ride to Morocco.
Mukashi, mukashi (Japanese: once upon a time) I was exploring Japan (I would guess mid-1980s) on a slow ferry from Sendai to Nagoya. The land of bullet trains would have allowed me to do that trip in a very short time, HOWEVER, it would also have been expensive. The huge car ferry was an overnight odyssey for a fraction of the cost, especially in the wide-open "tatami class". As Georgetown friend and alum, CN, readily reminds me, we all do things in our youth that we would never consider now. Sleeping in a cavernous room on bare tatami on an overnight ferry in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan should be included on that list. This is just the backdrop. A typhoon had passed near Japan and was creating heavy seas. The boat moved in crazy directions all over the place. No sleeping was possible since I would have just rolled around like a log. I puked....and puked....and puked. I looked in such bad shape the crew invited me to the bridge to "look at all the pretty instruments" to take my mind off how shitty I felt. People really try to be kind everywhere. Somehow, I managed to survive.
More amazingly, I also viewed one of the "36 Views of Mt Fuji" by Hokusai during this horrible voyage. The wind had cleared the sky off the coast of Kanagawa. As we passed by, huge windswept waves curling in great arcs framed Mt Fuji in the distance. I was too sick to take a photo - such a shame. In the midst of my seasickness I experienced one of my best travel memories of Japan and most certainly the finest view of Mt Fuji of all my travels. Whenever I see Hokusai's iconic print, I feel some pride in thinking "I actually saw that".
Great Wave off Kanagawa, Hokusai (1831)
Back to the boat to Tangier.
If the Japanese ferry had been empty, this ferry was fuller, smaller, and EVERYONE was getting seasick. A few times I needed to go outside for fresh air, not due to seasickness, but just to get away from the sights and sounds of it all. Yuck. As for me, I was quite OK. That terrible ferry ride in Japan had cured me of seasickness permanently thereafter. I felt for my fellow passengers, but then again this ride was only an hour. Try to be sick for 36 hours! I believe my body just said, "never again".
The views coming up on the African coast were disappointing. I don't know what I expected - I was going to another CONTINENT after all. Something more dramatic I suppose, like the view of "Bali Hai" in the film South Pacific, might have been more appropriate. I was passing from one world to another. Moroccan immigration was handled on-board (very clever) so when it came time to disembark, I simply walked off the boat.
I was in Morocco.