We are at sea again after a 5 day stop at Salalah, Oman and currently 180 miles into the 570 mile hop down the Gulf of Aden (GOA) to the old Port of Aden. This is the biggie, the leg between Somalia and Yemen where the Pee-rats congregate.
But first backtrack to Oman....a really interesting experience and for us both the first taste of an Arabian desert environment. We will never again see the Desert Road as a mini desert or be convinced that Alexandra gets hot and dusty in summer. Salalah was a good entree to the arid lands ahead and gave us a feel for the hard environment these people exist in. Many of the locals knew of NZ doing their best interpretation of a shiver and talked of rain and lambs. If they have oil in abundance we will still take the liquid gold thanks. On the back of the recent oil spike this place is really on steroids with huge development projects underway particularly around the Port of Salalah. They are opening a freeport zone that attracts foreign companies to come in and setup with minimal taxation barriers. To kick- start the project the Oman
government is constructing a new industrial area in the desert with petro-chemical plants and other heavy industry plus on the coast nearby a mammoth cutting edge technology Reverse Osmosis desalination plant converting saltwater to fresh. The real kicker for this area is the Port of Salalah which is strategically at the
cross roads between Europe, Africa and all points in Asia and Australasia.
Already the shipping giant Maersk is using Salalah as a trans-shipping port moving 20/30,000 containers a week through the port. Thats right 20/30k a week.
government is constructing a new industrial area in the desert with petro-chemical plants and other heavy industry plus on the coast nearby a mammoth cutting edge technology Reverse Osmosis desalination plant converting saltwater to fresh. The real kicker for this area is the Port of Salalah which is strategically at the
cross roads between Europe, Africa and all points in Asia and Australasia.
Already the shipping giant Maersk is using Salalah as a trans-shipping port moving 20/30,000 containers a week through the port. Thats right 20/30k a week.
Talking of food these guys like us love their meat and dairy....but what they call mutton is in fact Somalian goat and these were being shipped in day and night adjacent to our anchorage in the Port.
B was most perturbed at the lack of humanity being shown for the goats as they were literally thrown from high up on the motorised Dhow-like wooden boats down into trucks, on top of each other bleating and crying like babies, legs caught in the truck railings - horrible sight. But in this part of the world if she had
protested as a woman she would likely been castigated big time by the local Muslim men and maybe even spat at.
B was most perturbed at the lack of humanity being shown for the goats as they were literally thrown from high up on the motorised Dhow-like wooden boats down into trucks, on top of each other bleating and crying like babies, legs caught in the truck railings - horrible sight. But in this part of the world if she had
protested as a woman she would likely been castigated big time by the local Muslim men and maybe even spat at.
The dairy food experience has been good with goats cheese and feta type cheese very popular and scrumptious but not an ounce of conventional cheddar, just the ubiquitous processed cheese.
Salalah is very much a backwater compared with sophisticated Muscat but they sure are trying to improve things with the main highways all tree lined with hardy colorful flowers, shrubs and even the odd bit of grass. The major roundabouts are attempting to replicate Paris with impressive structures, waterfalls and pieces of art in the center of each. But elsewhere it was wide dusty streets and roads full of late model autos and more concrete trucks than you can imagine. We as usual hired a car and zapped around doing our repairs,
maintenance and shopping chores. After Sri Lanka it was a breeze albeit driving on the right hand side. The price of diesel was the best yet at just US.39cents a litre.
Salalah is very much a backwater compared with sophisticated Muscat but they sure are trying to improve things with the main highways all tree lined with hardy colorful flowers, shrubs and even the odd bit of grass. The major roundabouts are attempting to replicate Paris with impressive structures, waterfalls and pieces of art in the center of each. But elsewhere it was wide dusty streets and roads full of late model autos and more concrete trucks than you can imagine. We as usual hired a car and zapped around doing our repairs,
maintenance and shopping chores. After Sri Lanka it was a breeze albeit driving on the right hand side. The price of diesel was the best yet at just US.39cents a litre.
The wildlife is sparse but accessible... camels strutting around on the desert and roadside on the outskirts of town. They were even on the forecourt of the Shell station when P went to fill the jerrycans. On one occasion we decided to take the rental car off road into the desert to get up close and personal with a group of camels being herded by their owner.... in his Toyota 4wd. The Omanis seem to be well off but do not appear to be motivated or work very hard. The real grunt work is done by imported labour from Indian and Pakistan who work long hours 6 days per week with Friday (Muslim holy day) the only day off.
In new as opposed to old Salalah they are building a grand mosque of monumental proportions and of a quality to behold with its spires glistening in the sun....no doubt the petro dollars have helped this project.
In new as opposed to old Salalah they are building a grand mosque of monumental proportions and of a quality to behold with its spires glistening in the sun....no doubt the petro dollars have helped this project.
In conclusion we enjoyed Salalah and even found the only establishment in town that served a cold beer and good steak...the 'Oasis Club' run by a Sud African named van der Merve and frequented by ex pats. They had a big Silver Fern flag to make us feel welcome.
So now after 5 days we are back on the water heading down pee-rat alley. We got together in Salalah with a French boat and an American boat to form our 3 boat convoy and develop a plan for the passage. The French skipper had direct dialogue with the commander of a French warship in Salalah and came up with a
route that resonated with our thoughts. So here we are motor sailing in flat calm seas in a v shape 200 metres apart, with the slowest boat (FR) in the lead, the (US) on his port aft side and (NZ) on his starboard aft side.
route that resonated with our thoughts. So here we are motor sailing in flat calm seas in a v shape 200 metres apart, with the slowest boat (FR) in the lead, the (US) on his port aft side and (NZ) on his starboard aft side.
The Frenchman and his crew member are good value. As NZ has no naval presence in this area and the French and US do, we felt we could do worse than go with these guys. The big concern is the yank has the surname of the immediate past-president of the USA and gossip says a distant relative (we haven't asked)...we hope not too distant if we all get pee-ratted and a ransom is required.
We can tell you that on this leg we are having no trouble finding the reserves to stay awake through our watches with eyes peeled and binoculars at the ready.
We communicate between yachts by low frequency vhf radio and have emergency numbers on speed dial on the satphone to call the security co-ordinators should trouble loom. Roll on Aden....
We communicate between yachts by low frequency vhf radio and have emergency numbers on speed dial on the satphone to call the security co-ordinators should trouble loom. Roll on Aden....
All at sea in the GOA
B&P
B&P
