29th March-
Sudan
Can't say that we are glad to be in the Red Sea. From Bab-el-Mandeeb
to Suez there are 1200 miles of adverse wind and currents, increasing
in strength as we reach further north. The predominantly NW winds started
well early, 200 miles into the Red Sea and the only way to get NW, which
is the course to Suez, is going W or NE. Motoring is useless and a waist
of fuel as progress is painfully slow against the swell and strong winds.
So the 500 miles passage from Aden took 7 long days. Now we are anchored
behind reefs on the Sudanese coast and waiting for the winds to calm down. There are 2 other
boats in the anchorage, Orca Joss and Chulugi. We met both boats very briefly,
even though, Jenny from Orca Joss invited us for dinner, such a treat
having someone else cooking for you after a frustrating long passage!!!
According to the weather
forecast, the following 7 days will be week NW, best time to get going,
only problem is that we don't have enough fuel until Port Ghalib, next
available fueling station. But decided to take a gamble and go for gold.
04th
April- Dolphin Reef
Furry reef is the home of a
huge pod of dolphins . We stopped here very briefly just to swim with these
animals and to pounce some fuel from another yacht. Luckily Yagoona
was able to sell us 40 litres of fuel. The tropics are well behind us ,
result of this is that the water is cold, but we plunged in and braved it
out. About 40 dolphins live in around the reef, there is no
fish for food but as most of them are calves and mother we guess that this is
where they stay until they are big enough to face the big sea. Keeping up
with the pod was hectic, they swim fast and non stop. Despite the calves,
the dolphins were very tamed but kept at a distance, still we were able to
get 1 metre or less close.
06th April -Entering
Egypt
After 2 weeks at sea ,we
stepped on terra firma, the excitement of being on land just wasn't there.
That's because we entered Egypt, the land of Baksheesh. In Port Ghalib all
arriving yachts , there were about 10, were directed to quarantine whilst
formalities were being processed by an agent at a pace of turtle. Half a
day later we got our passports back and had to wait another day or 2 for
a clearance!!! In the meantime we were requested to stay in the marina and
enjoy their facilities all at our expenses. Together with Chulugi we
decided to leave the same day to catch the last of the calm weather to
make Hurghada for Graham's birthday, the clearance could be faxed to Hurghada
Marina. Things are not so simple in Egypt and making exception to rules is
unheard off. A pompous and uncompromising manager came to
sabotage our plans. He even made some comments that yachties are known
to be winging penny pinchers, which made us laugh, not far from true. We
decided to try the Arab style of arguing, rose our voices a few decibels
and threatened to publish on Noonsite (the cruisers website) some bad
reviews about the Marina. He, then backed off and made a quick call,
must have been magic, but our papers were ready in 30 minutes.
As soon
as we left the marina we were almost regretting it... The wind wasn't at
all becalmed and progressively throughout the night increased to 30 knots
of headwinds. First time experience of the famous boat stoppers, these
are typical of the Red Sea and as the name says ,the waves stop the boat
dead on the water. Of course we would rather die then to go back to Ghalib.
Half way to the destination, the seas were impossible and again we were wondering
about the fuel situation, so turned back to Al Quseir, 18 miles behind us.
The "port" was less then adequate but that will have to do until
the weather settles a bit. Some guys from a diving boat came by, we asked of possibilities
of getting fuel. The diving boat could sell us fuel and water would be
free, if needed. "How much?" ,we asked. "Up to you". We don't like
that sort of answer... After fuel was delivered Graham got taken to
the diving boat, given 100 ltrs. of water and 2 bags with food, which we
didn't ask for. We paid $50, which given a nice little profit on the fuel.
A while later they came back asking for money for the fuel
(again!) and now the water. The image that we are forming of Egyptians are
of dodgy merchants, money do talk here very much so and corruption is imbedded
deeply in their culture. The guys asked a nice round figure of$100!
We told them to take the water and food back, paid another $20 and no more. After all this they felt a bit embarrassed and asked to keep
the water and food as a "welcome present"...
08th April-
Early morning
noticed extremely calm weather, so we pocked our nose out and 4 miles up
the road we got hit again with 20knots and increasing and nasty choppy
seas, so limped back to Al Quseir. Now we settled for the
waiting game and to enjoy Graham's birthday, Happy birthday, Mr. Captain!!!.
10th
April
Amazing that out of all Arab countries we have visited, Egypt is
the one that receives more tourists yet the red tape is unbelievable. Have
been told by Coast Guard that we are not allowed ashore after 6pm and now
found out that can't go ashore on Friday, being their prayer day.
From our boat we can see the tourist coaches arriving and tourists around in
the evening and Friday. Foreigners are welcome once they spend a lot
of money in expensive marinas or hotels, but we may just be winging penny
pinchers...
11th April
Left with some trepidation, the weather looked
settled but that changes very quickly in the Red Sea. When the wind increased, luckily we
were already behind reefs and not far from Hurghada. The sun was coming
up, approaching the town. This is a huge tourist resort, hundreds of power
boats and hotels after hotels. Yacht Nadezdha was just leaving and
told us that the weather is good for another 3 days, so this was a pit
stop for us, although we longed for a stop, internet , shops and
restaurants... After getting more fuel (Red Sea is eating our fuel away),
water and some food we left for Port Suez.
13th April
Arriving into
Suez has a great feeling, the Red Sea is behind us, although overall we
had a good trip. A lot of familiar faces in the yacht club. As soon as we
tied the boat to the dock the agent was on top of us to take money for the
canal, no chance of rest. Unless you are a masochist, an agent have
to be used to arrange the transit or any thing at all. Captain Hebbe
charged $80 for his services, but he also found a very good engineer to
deal with our multiple engine problems. The engineer turned out to be a reliable and trustworthy Egyptian, probably the only
one! He did work hard on getting parts and to get us ready to go quickly,
Zaki thanks for your help and honesty!
16th April
Bought the necessary Marlboro cigarettes for the pilots, they not only
expect gifts of cigarettes but are very choosy with the label, hence the
canal has a nickname of Marlboro Canal ! Also have
some small denomination in dollars for the baksheesh, again for the
pilots. So ready for the transit. Getting fuel is impossible, the police
is keeping guard outside the Club and are demanding so much baksheesh that
prices are going up to much.
17th April- Transiting Marlboro Canal, first
part.
The day started with request of baksheesh from the chap that release
our mooring lines. I gave him a hard time, told Graham to stay down bellow
, he was very uncomfortable asking money from a woman... Eventually
the words came out and he got his money but took a bit of abuse from me,
which embarrassed him. They are not going to have easily with Nomad Life.
At 5 am sharp 10 yachts left. Our pilot was not an early riser, as
the morning went by he became more talkative, especially on the radio,
which he kept always in his had. Bearing in mind that Egyptians don't talk
but shout, so our ears were sore after some time. While we were transiting, there was a continuous flow
of cargo ships all heading North. In the afternoon it's the turn for the
Southbound transit. The Canal is 165 km long and the transit is done over
2 days, with a stop in Ismailia.
18th April - Ismailia
Optionally yachts can remain in Ismailia for a few days, for us it was
necessary as we still need to get fuel and wait for a good weather window
in the Mediterranean. Quickly we realized that this is not such a great
idea, in fact we are being held hostage of the Canal. There are at
least 30 yachts here and all waiting for good weather, but not enough
pilots to take the boats through. Additionally is illegal to get fuel from
petrol station and the guards to the Yacht Club make sure to stop it. So
now we will have to devise a way of smuggling fuel in, another of
the many jokes
that Egypt play on us.
20th April- A day trip to Cairo
By now we are so fed up with Egyptians that we would have given Cairo and
the pyramids a miss. But a friend of us recommended Mohamed as a good
driver. Indeed he was pleasant and didn't ask for presents. It was an
early start, Cairo is only 130 km from Ismailia but the sun gets
unbearable after 10am. Together with Geisha, Herbert and little Yannic we
took off at 6am. As soon as we crossed the river Nile and entered Giza
(outskirts of Cairo) we had the first glimpse of the pyramids standing
very tall and impressively against the skyscrapers and smog. The
area were the pyramids are is fenced off and full of tourists. We paid 60 Egyptian
pounds (£8) to enter, once inside came the chaps selling camel rides,
horse rides, trip of the Nile and all sorts of tacky souvenirs. But
our driver, Mohamed, dealt with them all and we hardly got hassled. It
took 3 hours to walk around and visit some of the burial chambers that
were free. Kar, the architect who designed the pyramids, has a very nice
chamber with statues and hieroglyphs over the wall. It was absolutely
amazing to see one of the 7 wanders of the world. Couldn't help to think
that the Egyptians were so advanced during the days of the pharaohs, what
went so wrong with the country?
In the afternoon we visited the Egyptian Museum. The most interesting
part was the pharaoh Toutenkamon's exhibition, all
three of Tut's mummy cases including the golden sarcophagus itself
and a good explanation of his huge burial chamber and mummification
process. The rest of the Museum was a hit and miss, lots in exhibition but
no explanation of what things are. Cairo
itself is a mayhem of cars that will happily run you over if the opportunity
arises,
stuffy hot and dirty. Now we feel that Egypt has been done and will be glad to leave.
But tomorrow the President is visiting Ismailia, so may be still here held
hostage, Insha'Allah.
21st April
The President came and left, but we still here...
22nd April
Got up at 5am and found out at 10am that we are not going, no
explanations. Baksheesh may have solved the problem... So far all we done
was to pay baksheesh to almost everybody, but for what? Just for them to
do their jobs.
27th April
It is too frustrating to write down our last days in Egypt, frankly not
worthy. Suffice to say that we will never come back here and the feeling
amongst other yachties is the same.
28th April
The second part of the transit was uneventful and long, by the time we
arrived in Port Said it was dark and we had to negotiate the very busy
waters at night, thanks to the Suez Canal authorities for putting us there
at night! The pilot was a sweet man until baksheesh time. We gave him $15
and 2 packs of cigarettes, that just wasn't good. He got quite aggressive
for more money and a whole box of Marlboros, before that he asked for
t-shirts, caps, present for the wife. After 3 weeks in Egypt our patience
was running thin, so we refused and all ended up in a shouting match. We
were very relieved when we dumped him on the pilot boat. Now we are slowly
realizing things missing on the boat, mugs, razor blades...
Words cannot describe the feeling of entering the Med. Partly because
we finally got out of Egypt after 5 attempts of transiting the second part
of the canal. But it is nice to be back to familiar culture and people and
some kind of "home" . The sad part is that very quickly our
travels are coming to an end.
