Aisling I

On Saturday, we made the hot, dusty walk to the souk. Our path takes us along the water, past the Great Mosque, toward the fishing harbour. As we pass the public beach, children splash in the waves while their mothers wade or swim nearby, fully clothed in headscarves, long sleeves and long skirts. In a small cove below the road, a young woman is swimming, also fully clothed, while her husband stands guard. As we get further from the town centre, the amount of garbage on the side of the road increases exponentially. We step around a dead bird that no one has bothered to remove, and the carcass of a dead cat, so flat that it looks like it has been run over by a steam roller in a Looney Tunes cartoon. In real life, this is not very funny.

By the time we reach the souk, my feet look like this.

At the souk, our senses are bombarded by the brightly coloured vegetables and fruits, the shouts of the vendors and the smell of fresh herbs. Near the entrance, stalks of garlic are neatly stacked in the back of a small pickup truck, the heads forming a mosaic pattern. The vendor cleans garlic heads with a shingle, and the silvery skins float in the breeze. Green almonds, still in their shells, are piled on a blanket. Cherry tomatoes cost the equivalent of 25 cents a kilogram, and a friendly woman translates from Arabic to French to help us distinguish whether the shiny red peppers are the mild variety, or the dangerously hot ones that we once purchased accidentally. We buy a kilogram of dates, a bunch of fresh dill (impossible to find in Sicily!) and a big bag of sweetened nuts that several vendors reach out to taste as we walk through the crowd.

A large section of the souk is given over to the sort of junk that is found in flea markets around the globe. But here, the quality is even lower than usual, and the piles of used clothing and shoes have seen better days. A carpet salesman pursues us as we make our way between the stalls, wanting to give us a "prix d'ami". We escape to a shaded café to get out of the mayhem.

As we drink our cappuccino and bottled water, I do a quick count of the number of women wearing headscarves (hijab). When teenagers and tourists are excluded, roughly seventy five percent are wearing scarves. While I am certain that this is a higher percentage than in 2009, Rick is unconvinced. But we also see four women wearing black garments that hide everything but the eyes (niqab) which we did not see here at all during our previous visit.

Why am I interested in the headscarves? After all, they can be quite chic, and the young women who wear them with tight pants and figure-hugging blouses do not appear to be at all oppressed. But both the first president of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, and his successor Ben Ali, were opposed to the hijab. Bouguiba went so far as to call it an "odious rag". From the early 1980s until 2011, Tunisia's laws banned the wearing of headscarves (hijab) in public offices and schools. With that ban now lifted, it seems likely that more Muslim women in Tunisia will reclaim this right. Whether or not this turns out to be a good thing for Tunisian women remains to be seen.

On our way back to the marina, we drop in to the Orange shop in the medina to top up our internet data. We've already used a gigabyte in about 5 days. If you think you're immune to culture shock, try navigating the cellphone and internet system in a foreign country. It's a bewildering process when the clerks do not speak English, French is their second language and the rules of the cellphone company are convoluted. The clerks are helpful and patient, but we never do get a real grip on what happened to the second gigabyte that we thought we had paid for on Monday. We walk away scratching our heads, but with 750MBs added to our account.

It's time for lunch. We treat ourselves to seafood salad, pizza and cold beer at the Calypso restaurant and spend less than $15. As we are walking down the dock, we run into Kara and Phillip, who have hauled Fabuloso in the Port de Peche. They are looking for someone to do a tour of the south of Tunisia, similar to the one we did in 2009. Depending on the weather, that might just be a great idea! As we climb back on board Aisling, Paul, next door asks if we have plans for the evening. Would we to join them for dinner at the Calypso Restaurant?

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Vessel Name:	Aisling I
Vessel Make/Model:	Slocum 43
Hailing Port:	Halifax, NS, Canada
Crew:	Rick and Bonnie Salsman
About:	Crew from Halifax to Horta: Bonnie and Rick Salsman, Dave Morse, Wally Fraser Crew from Horta to Spain: Bonnie and Rick Salsman, Al Salsman, Rob Salsman We left Halifax, N.S. in June 2007, sailed to Horta, and explored the Azores for a month. [...] More
Extra:	The info below is a copy and paste from some literature about the Slocum 43. Please excuse the platitudes. Although I may like them , they are not truly mine. Aisling I is a 1987 Slocum 43, designed by Stan Huntingford. She has been designed to satisfy the sailor who wants the blue water, "get [...] me there" ability with the amenities for great comfort at anchor and at sea. It's a combination of engineering, performance, comfort and safety, wrapped in high quality Burmese teak finish, teak and holly cabin soles and rich upholstery. She is meant to be easily handled by a couple under almost any conditions. She was built in Taiwan to exacting standards using some of the latest technologies of the time that are still admired today. LOA: 42'6" LWL: 35'10"" TYPE: Sailboat - Cutter Rigged BEAM: 12'11" DRAFT: 6' 5" BUILDER:SLOCUM DISPL: 28,104 lbs. SAIL AREA: 808 Sq.Ft. DESIGNER: Stan Huntingford BALLAST: 9,000 lbs. HULL MATRL: Fiberglass ENGINE: Perkins 4108 TANKAGE/FUEL: 120 gal TANKAGE/WATER:150 gal GENERAL INFORMATION: Naval Architect Stan Huntingford has incorporated into this sturdy double ender, both seaworthiness and ample interior space that offers steady and comfortable cruising. Below the water line, the hull shows a fine entry with a long cutaway forefoot followed by an efficient and modern keel section and a deep profile skeg hung rudder, just forward of a tapered stern section. This design combination readily separates the Slocum 43 from other traditional yachts and offers ease of handling and lively performance. This yacht is a perfect example of a classic offshore design and has a warm, roomy and comfortable interior . Incorporating a tumble home stern, bulwarks, dorades, opening ports, oversize rigging and quality construction, This yacht is a modern classic. ACCOMMODATIONS & LAYOUT: Headroom is 6'4" or better, throughout the boat and storage capacity can only be noted as "more than ample". Beautiful Burmese teak joinery throughout, solid teak staving , all doors are beveled and hand fitted, lockers are teak lined and the glossy varnished cabin sole is teak and holly plank. The interior is finished with a satin varnish with high gloss accents on the trim. Teak doors are louvered. This yacht sleeps up to six people in accommodations with the forward cabin, main salon and owners quarter berth cabin. The forward cabin design is a signature of the Slocum and incorporates an upper and lower twin bunk to port, with the top berth extending into a a settee and to port, there is extensive storage in the form of shelves, hanging locker, drawers and louvered doors. Naval Architect Stan Huntingford has incorporated into this sturdy double ender, both seaworthiness and ample interior space that offers steady and comfortable cruising. Below the water line, the hull shows a fine entry with a long cutaway forefoot followed by an efficient and modern keel section and a deep profile skeg hung rudder, just forward of a tapered stern section. This design combination readily separates the Slocum 43 from other traditional yachts and offers ease of handling and lively performance. This yacht is a perfect example of a classic offshore design and is one of the warmest, roomiest, most comfortable interiors available in a 43' cruising yacht. Incorporating a tumble home stern, bulwarks, dorades, opening ports, oversize rigging and quality construction, This yacht is a modern classic. Underneath the starboard countertop is a Stainless Steel automatic internal lighted freezer controlled by an opening top or door. Additionally, the refrigerator box opens from the front. The refrigerator and freezer have large capacity plates which were built to be easily removed for future servicing. There are 2-deep stainless steel sinks, fully gimbaled stove and generous counter space. Overhead cabinets have a moveable peg system, which allows you to custom fit spaces inside to the size and shape of your dishes. Over the galley is a large opening hatch for light and ventilation, also, there are two opening ports over the stove area for added ventilation. Directly across from the galley, to starboard, is a proper offshore, forward facing navigation station and chart table with tremendous room for an exceptional compliment of navigation and electronic equipment for easy use while navigating. The large nav table/desk has a generous storage locker under the desk top and room for the additional electronic navigation and communication equipment outboard. The nav seat is contoured for ease of use underway and the electrical panel is flush mounted here, on a swing-out door for easy access. Overhead are two additional opening ports for excellent cross ventilation with the galley and Nav area. Just aft of the nav station and to starboard of the companionway, is a large pilot berth that will be your favorite berth when offshore. There is a teak grate built into the teak and holly floor at the bottom of the companionway, to catch water from wet gear. With the wet locker and teak draining grate, which drains to the bilge, all foul weather gear is kept aft and away from the main living quarters. All locker doors are ventilated. At the bottom of the companionway stairs is additional storage behind bottom two steps. Next, to port is the owners aft cabin with a queen sized berth with storage below as well as drawers for him and her. Various shelves and locker with removable shelf and enclosed storage locker, as well as ample book storage and large teak framed mirror, mounted on the bulkhead. The aft stateroom also has excellent ventilation provided by two opening ports and an opening hatch overhead. There are 11 Stainless steel opening ports with screens and 5 opening deck hatches, plus the companionway hatch, with screens, which provides a tremendous amount of light and superior cross ventilation. There are also 2 dorade vents, one over the head and one over the chart table. Below deck ventilation far surpasses the standards in the industry. There are light colored curtains at the ports for privacy, interior cushions are a blue HULL AND DECK Hull hand laid-up Fiberglas with 20mm R62-80 Airex Sandwich. Cast iron ballast - 4.08 tonnes, flooded with resin and 100% glassed over ( encapsulated keel). Deck- hand laid-up Fiberglas with 3/4" Baltek balsa-wd sandwich core. Teak side decks - seasoned timber, quarter sawn with black bedding compound below and in seams, secured to Fiberglas by 1" sheet metal screws, countersunk and plugged. Inlaid teak on cabin top. 1 1/2" s/s shaft, tapered to ABYC std ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Conforms to United States Coast Guard and American Bureau Yachting regulations governing wire type, coding and load capacity FRP battery box, ventilated cover with quick release tie down NEWMAR (USA) electrical panel with panel light, circuit breakers with "ON" light and battery test switch, both 110v AC and 12v DC, volt Fuel tanks - New April2000, 120 gallons in 2 Aluminum 60 gal tanks with baffles, clean out ports, complete with dipsticks, inter tank connectors with valve, take off from top with s/s ball valve on each labeled and grounded More
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Aisling I

A Trip to the Souk

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