Oualidia Lagoon

Oualidia sits behind a natural sandbar that breaks the Atlantic swell and leaves a crescent lagoon of calm, shallow, warm water, which is why Moroccan families have come here to swim for generations while the open coast either side stays rough. The lagoon is farmed for oysters, and the wooden racks and low buildings of the oyster parks stand out in the water at low tide; the numbered parks have been worked since the middle of the twentieth century and the oysters, mild rather than sharply salty, are opened at the table with lemon and bread all along the shore. Behind the lagoon are salt marshes and reed beds that draw flamingos, herons and waders in winter. Small boats take visitors across to the sandbar and out towards the gap where the ocean comes in.

What you actually see

• The lagoon - calm, shallow water safe enough for children to swim in.
• The oyster parks - numbered trestle beds and shellfish sheds farmed in the shallows.
• The sandbar - the dune barrier between the lagoon and the open Atlantic.
• The marsh birds - flamingos, herons and waders in the reed beds behind.

When to go

Summer is when the lagoon is warmest and busiest, filled with Moroccan holidaymakers in July and August. Late spring and September give the same water with far fewer people. Winter is the birdwatching season and the quietest, though many places close. Tides matter: at low water the lagoon drains to mudflats and the oyster racks stand clear.

Honest expectations

Out of season much of the town shuts and it can feel empty and half built. In August it is the opposite, with a packed beach, loud music and inflated prices. The lagoon shallows smell strongly at low tide, and water quality varies with the season. Oysters are cheap but are better bought at the farms than from beach hawkers.

Nearby

The walled Portuguese town and cistern at El Jadida lie an hour north, and the pottery town of Safi is south.