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Tea on the Mysterious Island of El Firaoun
Essauoira, Morocco
March, 2003
Just off of Essaouira there are two ancient islands. They create a safe bay that has been used by the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Portuguese, the Spanish and the French. The bigger of the two is the Isle de Mogador. It has lots of ruins, little forts with cannons, an abandoned mosque and an old French prison. It is also a bird sanctuary with many nesting birds, mainly sea gulls. The smaller island, that from a distance looks attached, is the Isle El Firaoun. It is hollowed out with so many caves that I call it the 'Cave Island'.
Mogador is easy to get to, has a Quay, and I have hiked on it many times. But El Firaoun is tricky. There are always big waves smashing around it and no possible way to reach it by boat. Many times, in our boat Rubaiyat, Captain Chris and I would pass by the island looking through the big caves that lead to the center. A fantastic place, very mysterious. I dreamed about reaching the center, finding the entrance to a series of caves, and then, in the back corner of a dark cavern, I find a little metal box wrapped in chain, Treasure!!
Last year on the Isle de Mogador Chris and I took a walk over to the south end to get a good look at El Firaoun. She is a small circular island with about a half Kilometer diameter. Very rocky, big north and south natural bridge entrances and a hollow dome. And caves, so many caves, and I love caves. There must be a way across! There is a tide pool bride that separates the two islands but at the time we were there there were 4 feet waves breaking across it. The tide was fairly high so, I thought, it could be possible to cross at a really low tide. We only had a few days left in Essaoiura, and luckily, the moon was full so at the next really low tide we went out to see if we could cross.
When we arrived at the quay on Mogador it was high and dry. The tide was so low that there was no possible way to dock the boat. I didn't want to give up the mission so I had Chris take me in as close as possible and I jumped overboard and swam into the empty Quay. Without a moment to spare I made a quick dash across the island still wearing my life jacket and my tee shirt on my head. The tidal bridge was dry and I easily crossed on to Firaoun. I agreed to meet Chris back at the quay in 1 hour so by the time I was on the island I only had about an half hour to explore.
I ran the whole time. My heart pounded as my dreams were realized before my eyes. I found four cave entrances on the south side, a large cave that leads over 50 meters to the sea, a blow hole cave that leads some distance to the east side, all kinds of wonders, but I didn't have time to explore them as much as I wanted. And definatly not enough time to find the treasure.
When I left the island the tide pool bridge was still easy to cross. I was late so I ran all the way back to the quay. When I met the Captain, I spouted all kind of fantastic descriptions and since there was now just enough water to get Ruby in, he decided he wanted to take a look. We tied up Ruby and hiked quickly to the bride. The waves were just barely crossing over, still passable. We knew we were short on time, but with the island so close, and Chris really wanting to see the center, we crossed over. I knew the quick route to the center, through one of the four south caves, and in about 15 minutes we were in the center. We could see and hear the tide rushing in so we really hurried. We only spent 10 minutes in the center. Chris called his girlfriend Anita, had a smoke, took a few photos, looked around a bit and we were on our way back.
When we arrived back at the tide pool bride the waves were starting to completely wash over and it was getting worse. The sets were rolling but the bridge was still dry between sets. I looked at Chris and said, "It's now or never," and started to cross the bridge. At first it was dry but suddenly a set of waves came in. I turned around, back to the waves, braced myself by putting my stick in the rocks for some leverage, and was hit by four 2 foot waves. When the set ended I looked back at Chris, he was fine, so I ran as fast as I could to the other side. I got caught by one more set on the way over. When I reached safety, I looked back at Chris and he was about half way across. He was getting pounded by a 3 foot set but he was holding his ground fisherman style, crouched over, back to the waves, with his stick firmly stuck in the rocks. When the set ended Chris was barely moving. He was tired but he had to get going because the surf was coming up. Another 3 foot set. He was really getting pounded.
I started to yell encouragement, "Run, man, run, its getting worse RUN!!" The set ended and he started to move. I kept on yelling.
"Quick man, hurry up or you're gonna die....!" Then he really started moving fast. Soon he was at the end of the bridge with only a short 3 foot jump between two rocks to safety. But, he was soaked and too tired to make the leap. A big 4 foot set was coming in. I yelled, "Come on man, Jump!"
He looked at me, shook his head, reached into his pocket and grabbed his camera. He quickly handed it to me before a giant wave came and washed him into the sea. Luckily the wave didn't take him far and he was able to swim a few feet to the rock I was on. I helped pull him up and soon he was on dry land.
That was a close one. Incredible adventure and everyone safe. That evening on our terrace we discussed the trip over some brews. Anita, Chris's fiance, cringed as we remininced about the trecherous trip across the bridge. A few days later Ruby was out of the water and we were on our way to Paris.
A year went by, and soon enough, we were back in Morocco planning our second trip to El Firoun. Things would be different this time. We had 9 months to plan. We researched the tides finding the perfect days to go in March right around the lowest spring tide of the year. We spent February practicing docking during low tide in the quay on Mogador. We found a guardian, Falzi, to watch Ruby while we went to the island.
Falzi is a cool Morrican guy that Chris has known since he was a child. His father was the principal of the High School in Essaouira and Falzi speaks perfect English. We told him that there was definatly a potential to find Treasure and that we would share it with him. He was sceptical. "I do not think there is treasure," he said smiling. He got a more serious look on his face and said, "And, if we do find treasure, you know, it is the property of the King."
We laughed and asked we would really give the treasure to the King. "Of course not," he stated. With tone of sarcasium he said, "The king is very rich and he would not miss this little treasure of yours."
We all laughed and assured him that there was treasure.
The day before the trip, we purchased all the materials we needed for a perfect day on the Island. March 19 was the day, a very magical day indeed.
Chris, Falzi and I left the dock at 6 AM while it was still dark. We docked at the Quay on the Isle De Mogodor at sunrise. The first thing we did was hike over and check the level of water on the tide pool bridge. There were still waves rolling across so we would have to wait at least an hour before crossing. We returned to the quay and proceeded to watch the tide go out until Ruby was resting on the sand. While we were waiting, Falzi told us that people weren't allowed to go on the islands anymore and the Douane had stopped giving permission for visits. When Chris asked him why he didn't say something before we left, Falzi, with a big smile said, "But Chris, we are not people."
Ruby being safe and sound on the sand, Chris and I returned to the north end of the island to check the bridge. Everything was clear and we easily crossed over with out even getting our feet wet. Then we entered the center of the island through a little cave and found a place to make camp. We had 2 full hours to explore and we were going to make the most of it including making tea. We figure that not many people since the time of the Phoenicians have had tea on the island, come to think of it we may have been the first.
The island is really incredible. It's round and when you enter the center, there is no roof so the entire center of the island is hollow. Everywhere you look there are different size caves. While Chris was busy getting the charcoal going with a couple of candles, I explored the caves on the east side of the island. There is one really gigantic cave that leads out to Shamou Rock that is unbelievable. Over 100 yards long, 20 feet high and constantly awash with waves. I could only go in a little way even at this extremely low tide because of the surf, but I did make it far enough to get some good pictures.
When I returned to camp tea was ready. We also had a baguette, butter and cheese. The most spectacular Morrican breakfast I have ever had. Tea type, Earl Grey. After eating and stomping out the coals, it was time to cross over and explore west side. The last time I was on Firaoun I found a cave on the floor of a cave on the west side that sounded really large. It was too dark to see where the cave went but it seemed to me that it definatly had treasure potential. So with flashlight and rope in hand we crossed through about a foot of water to the other side. While Chris was putting his shoes back on I rushed to the cave that contains the floor cave. When I arrived I was quite disappointed. The cave definatly went a long way, but it was only about a foot in diameter. If there was a treasure, it would be quite small and put there by lillipucians. Oh well, there were still alot of incredible little caves and we had a great time looking around.
With about an half hour left to explore, Chris and I decided to walk around the outside of the island. This was also incredible. Besides the incredible views of Essaouira and Mogador, there was a multitude of little caves and natural bridges. The nesting seagulls put up a big stink, but we hiked all over and got lots of spectacular photos.
Soon our time was up and we hiked back over the tide pool bridge (dry feet), across the North end of Mogador and back to the quay. Ruby was still resting on the sand with the sea just starting to lap up on her side. Falzi was disappointed to see us return with out any treasure, but was in a good mood anyway. The sun was blazing so we all relaxed, visions of the cave island dancing in our heads, and listened to the tide slowly rise until Ruby was again afloat.
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