After three nights in the Atlas Mountains, we headed west toward the Moroccan coast.
The drive to Oualidia took about four and a half hours, and we arrived at La Sultana around 3:30 in the afternoon.
The change was immediate.
It was noticeably cooler than Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains, although more humid. The hotel overlooked a lagoon with the Atlantic just beyond it.
We had a very late lunch, settled in, and returned outside at sunset to share a bottle of wine.
We were only staying two nights.
We would soon realize that wasn't enough.
Breakfast on the Terrace
The next morning we had breakfast brought to our terrace.
I'd ordered eggs, fruit and cheese. As we'd already learned in Morocco, that didn't mean those were the only things that would arrive.
They also brought a basket of breads and Moroccan crepes.
I tried one of the crepes with something that looked like butter. When I asked what it was, the steward explained that it was butter with fromage. I'm guessing there was some sort of cream cheese involved.
Something else had been drizzled over the top—perhaps olive oil or thin honey.
I never figured it out.
I only knew that it was heavenly and, as I wrote that morning, probably best that I never figure out exactly what was in it.
Over the Dunes
After breakfast, we walked down to the lagoon and arranged for a small boat to take us across.
From the other side, we walked over the dunes toward the Atlantic.
When we came over the hill, there was a beautiful stretch of beach in front of us with almost nobody on it.
It reminded us of something we love about Keawakapu on Maui: open beach, few people, and the ocean right there inviting us in.
The pull was too strong.
The waves were small, so we got into the water.
The Atlantic was refreshing but not too cold, and we spent part of the next 90 minutes in and around the ocean before finally starting back.
It was simple, spontaneous and one of our strongest memories of Oualidia.
The Long Shuffle Home
Then Shirley's sandals fell apart.
Not one sandal.
Both of them.
The soles delaminated, leaving her trying to shuffle her way back across the dunes to the boat.
Then she had to shuffle from the boat back to the hotel.
Not exactly the elegant return one might envision from a beautiful deserted Moroccan beach.
We made it back.
An Afternoon at the Hotel
We spent much of the afternoon around the pool.
Later we went back to the room, then managed a short workout at the gym before showering and heading to dinner.
There wasn't much sightseeing.
There didn't need to be.
We'd had breakfast on the terrace, crossed the lagoon, walked over the dunes, gotten into the Atlantic, lounged around the pool and exercised.
It was a very good day.
And almost immediately it was time to leave.
Two Nights Is Too Short
That evening, we agreed on something we'd been beginning to suspect.
Two nights at a place was too short.
We'd arrived Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday was our only full day.
Friday morning we needed to be packed and ready to leave by 10.
We were barely unpacked before we had to start thinking about packing again.
When an itinerary is being assembled on paper, two nights can look like plenty of time to "see" somewhere.
Living it felt different.
We didn't just want enough time to see a place.
We wanted enough time to settle into it.
What We'll Remember
We'll remember the beautiful setting of La Sultana and how much cooler the Moroccan coast felt.
We'll remember sharing wine at sunset after arriving.
We'll remember breakfast on our terrace and the mysterious butter-and-fromage concoction that made the Moroccan crepe taste so good.
We'll remember taking the little boat across the lagoon and walking over the dunes.
We'll remember coming over the hill and finding the Atlantic stretched out in front of us, with almost nobody on the beach.
We'll remember that the pull of the ocean was too strong to resist, so we got in.
We'll remember Shirley shuffling all the way back after both of her sandals came apart.
And we'll remember realizing that we'd barely unpacked before it was time to pack again.
Would We Return?
Yes, we'd happily return.
But we'd do it differently.
We'd stay longer.
Oualidia wasn't somewhere we needed a list of things to do. The pleasure was the setting itself: the lagoon, the Atlantic, the hotel, the quiet and enough time to enjoy all of it.
Unfortunately, we had given ourselves only one full day to discover that.
On July 10, we packed again and headed for Casablanca.