SUN AND SURF RESORT
By Bob Van Leer

  (AGADIR, MOROCCO, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001) - This is a resort city 288 nautical miles southwest of Casablanca.

  After looking over both cities, Agadir would be the best choice for a week of sun and surf.
The city is not large, about 200,000 population, and is located on a pleasant bay.

  The city is mostly new. The old city was leveled in an earthquake in 1960 and the new city was built on more stable ground just south of the old city.

   Fishing is a big industry with hundreds of fishing boats and several canneries and processing plants. A booklet from the National Tourist Board said this is the most important fishing port in Morocco. It has a fleet of spruce trawlers hand-built down on the docks.

  Our ship, Pacific Princess, didn't arrive here until 1:00 p.m. and leaves at 6:00 p.m. so our time in town was short. Betty and I rented a taxi and drove around town. Our driver was one of the few that spoke a passable English. French is the commerce language here.

  Our driver, a Berber, located several shops in the Berber area of the city where we wanted to do shopping. The Berbers don't seem to trust the U. S. dollar and our driver had to finance our purchases. Street peddlers are pushy as we remember from our last visit to this country.

  Agadir, and the other ports we have visited on this trip, does not have separate docks for tour ships as some ports do. We are right down with the containers waiting to be loaded on container ships.

  We were given one of the better welcomes. A group of young men and women in native dress serenaded us and each woman passenger was given a rose as we left the ship. The native women, in their singing, sometimes do a trilling, ululating sound that is impossible for me to even attempt. There mouths are partly open and their tongues vibrate from side to side while they are making the sound.

  Tonight we sail for Dakar, Senegal, 1127 nautical miles and two days away from Agadir.