May 2009 Egypt.... Part II

To the Suez Canal

After 36 hours plugging into headwinds avoiding shipping on the edge of the shipping lane and keeping clear of oil platforms we arrive at the top of the Gulf of Suez at midnight to join the queue of other 'ships' communicating by radio with Suez Port Control and get directed to moor at the Suez Yacht Club.
Picked up mooring in the dark at 3.00 am and collapsed into the bunk only to be woken with a rap on the hull at 8.00am by the port agents to set in motion our canal transit documentation and measuring appointment for later that day.

Canal Measuring Games

The morning proceeded to heat like an oven in contrast to the previous few days.A nice young chap came to the boat at 10am to commence the measuring game which results in calculations that estimate the cargo carrying capacity of the vessel as the means by which the canal authority charges for a transit.
The fact that as a pleasure vessel we don't carry freight is immaterial, this is the way it is, so play the game. Amongst cruisers there is widespread concern at the resulting overcharging because they measure from the bottom of the keel and not the bottom of the hull. The closer we got to Suez cruisers have been comparing anticipated rates that will be charged and we were expecting about USD$350 ++ based on our deep 2.70m keel draught.   P decides this official obfuscation is not on and lets said measurer know there is a 'present' for him pending, and whacko he conveniently uses the hull draught figure not the keel and we get charged just USD$138. We finally beat Egypt by playing the time honoured B&C game too!!

Pilot Games

5.00am next morning our official pilot by the name of Atea comes aboard and we are immediately off in the dawn light on the 40 mile hop up the canal to the halfway point at Ismailia where we intend stopping and going off to visit Cairo, the Pyramids and lower Egypt.

We have a quiet and uneventful motor with Atea who is very courteous having extracted his first 'gift' a packet of cigarettes (especially purchased as we don't smoke) within 5 minutes of departure as he had conveniently left his at home. Early in the piece he asked the non commital B if he would get a nice gift but did not raise the subject again until 15 minutes out of Ismailia when he asked P if there is a 'gift for pilot' in a way that suggests the pilot is a third person, presumably so it doesn't come across as a direct demand. We tell him we will give it to him in an envelope when he steps off.

Arrival Games

The arrival at Ismailia Yacht Club is still a few minutes off and what was about to unfold ended like we might have been seeking medical assistance to get him off..... Apart from one other yacht with no one on board the marina is cruiser free. As we arrive we commence reversing in to tie up Med-Style to the dock with P on the
helm and B on bow attaching the bow line to the outer bouy, with Atea twiddling his fingers and itching for the gift and to get off.  Next minute all hell lets loose with three guys on a nearby wharf yelling at us in Egyptian and Atea initially ignoring them but eventually responding as voices started to rise.
They gesticulate we must anchor off but we say no as we want the security of being alongside when we are away in Cairo.  Next the three guys are jumping into an official looking motor boat and commence motoring over to have this now yelling match face to face with our man Atea who is now really starting to earn his pilot fee. The boat approaches our bow at speed and is about to crunch us when B now gets into the act with fender in hand giving her best assertive plain English interpretation of 'move away and understand we are going to tie up to the dock'.

Muslim men cannot handle a woman like this in full flight so they reconcentrate their efforts on Atea who by now is jumping up and down on the foredeck with the look of a major coronary explosion on his face, screaming at these guys and at the same time talking to the harbourmaster on his cellphone. Motor boat duly
backs off, the screaming subsides and we stay put. Throughout P has remained at the helm controlling Muskie as the stern lines were still not fast. The security guard on the dock had been refusing to let us tie up and then when we do comes over and asks for a present of a pack of cigarettes. We establish the ground rules - "no". The whole exrcise had been real theatre that only Egypt can deliver. On-lookers sort of ignored it as if its an everyday occurrence.

No sooner are we tied up the mercury hits 40c and then at dusk a sand storm blows through at gale force dropping the temperature but is thankfully all over after 30 minutes. B is not at all happy with the goings on and thinks we should hi-tail it to Port Said and out of Egypt but P says lets sleep on it and not feel pressured. We do and next morning we establish the furore was all about 'Swine Flu'. Without establishing where we had come from or how long we had been in Egypt these misinformed, self-appointed gatekeepers assumed, being foreigners, we had arrived directly from overseas and may be a risk. This is a country that in a panic response has apparently slaughtered all it pigs in the last three weeks upsetting the non-Muslim pig eating and keeping minority.

Fuel Games

We spend the next day topping up the fuel tanks by ferrying diesel in 20 litre jerry cans at 100 litres a time from a nearby petrol station because there is no fueling service at this yacht club. The incentive is that we need fuel plus it costs only USD19 cents a litre compared to 10 times that in Turkey. The disincentive, apart from physically having to lug it about 250 metres from the taxi to the boat, is the B&C shenanigans at the security gate.

As the Ismailia Yacht Club is inside the canal zone it is in international waters so you have to carry your passport and clear in and out with Immigration. We had heard from previous cruisers that the Immigration security guards on the gate would not let fuel bearing cruisers in or out without baksheesh being paid, and with fuel movements by cruisers obviously being their major source of illicit income the amount of baksheesh being demanded would increase with each load. And we are not talking small baksheesh...try 4 to 5 times the value of the fuel !!

Well, forewarned is forearmed, Musketelles skipper simply stood his ground and uttered that universally understood word - "no". Admittedly he had to utter this several times including when summoned by the Head of Security and told it would be a good idea to pay a gift to the "good men on the gate". Which signalled he was also head of the scam. But P showed strong presence of mind and stuck with "no" even though the Head was holding our passports and looking like he did not intend giving them back. However he had no answer when P simply held out his hand and said "passports please".

Cairo, Pyramids and Bazaar

Egypt is not on everyone's must visit travel radar. We included ourselves in this category but we are really pleased we have made the effort on this voyage.
We have achieved what we planned and quite some as we have been captivated by the ancient history. Our latest 2 day land tour to Cairo has been a nice conclusion to our month in Egypt. Lets tell you about it....

We went in company with Californians, Marvin and Ruth from 'Toucan Tango' and travelled the 120km from Ismailia to Cairo by train at 6:45 am. The train was filthy inside and out (and we were in the most expensive seats - all of Egyptian 13 pounds about USD$2.30). P had to take his shoe off to kill a cockroach that was
striding menacingly towards B along the carriage wall.

On arrival in Cairo we caught the metro (underground) direct to a recommended hotel, the Hotel House Ismailia - cheap, nondescript, clean, perfect for a night or two and located right over the metro in the center of the city overlooking the Nile and within walking distance of the museum.

By midday we were on the outskirts of Cairo at Giza oggling at the Pyramids and other attractions after declining a hard sell for a camel, horse or carriage tour. One of the highlights at Giza was a huge 60 metre long boat, 4500 years old !!. The mummified Pharaohs were conveyed by barques rowed by 20 men down the Nile to Giza to their final resting place within the pyramid. The barque that carried them on this last journey was then dismantled and buried in a deep pit beside the pyramid to provide transport for the pharaoh to the next world. The one we viewed was that of the Pharaoh Cheops. Made of the finest Lebanese Cedar
timber, it was only discovered in 1954 and carefully and painstakingly reassembled over the next 20 years.

Back in Cairo (after one small bus, one ordinary bus and one metro) we rested then headed for the Ramses Hilton with the intention of watching the sunset from the 'Windows on the World' lounge on the 36th floor, reputedly one of the must do's in this city. Also since reading '1421 The Year China Discovered the World'  P was wanting to view from the Hilton the still faintly identifiable path of the first canal (100ft wide x 40ft deep) linking the Red Sea and the Nile dating from 600BC!!! 2700 years before the current canal.
We only have one night in Cairo and as luck would have it the lounge was closed for a private function. Tough. However we treated ourselves to a very good meal in the cafe in the Hilton - nicest lamb chops we have had for ages. We walked back to the hotel through the Cairo traffic, taking our lives in our hands at each intersection. Pedestrian crossings have no meaning in Cairo nor is a speed limit apparent. As Ruth said, it was like the Running of the Bulls!

Next morning we visited the highly respected Cairo Museum, opened in 1854 and housing the most enormous array of Egyptian antiquity including Tutankhamon's stunningly beautiful and intricate treasure trove. The Tut excavations uncovered literally thousands of pieces of his personal accoutrements including his clothing and footwear, bed and furniture, artwork and pottery, throne and crown, chariot and fighting bows, models of his homes and boats, jars containing his organs, even remains of his stillborn children etc etc, all left stacked around his mummy, for use in the afterlife. The actual mummified body was enclosed in the smallest inner solid gold sacophagus (case) that had his mummified body lying on its back with arms crossed on chest and finally the famous gold face mask was then placed over the head. The top lid of this first asacophagus was then wired closed and another 3 wooden gold plated sacophagus each slightly larger were fitted clam like to leave a larger than life godlike image the young King represented. The complete sacophagus was then placed in a series of 4 elaborately decorated and gold leaf sheathed shrines (very similar to a common shipping container) that fit into each other with 1cm to spare. Each was built in kitset form and carried down into the underground tomb and reassembled around the sacophagus. The outer shrine is literally the size of a 20ft shipping container and has similar end opening doors. These 4 huge shrines are all on display in the Cairo Museum. Having visited Tuts tomb in Luxor, we were able to put it all in context.

In the afternoon we visited Al-Ghoury the home of Khan el Khalili the famous bazaar flanked by 25 mosques and a massive Islamic University before returning by bus to Ismailia by dusk and the comfort of Musketelle, sort of  Egypted out.

Out of Egypt

Spent the next day provisioning for our passage north up the remaining 40 miles of the canal to Port Said and out of Egypt. At 5am the next morning we were off with pilot Mohammed. He requested and got his first Pepsi at 6am and must have thought he was onto a winner because next minute....could he have a cap, my sunglasses etc etc. He was not impressed when were non-responsive to his calls for this that and the other
so to pass the time we settled down with a geography lesson and played him some Maori music to remove the image he had that we were Dutch from Zealand.
As luck would have it he got a bigger than normal 'present' getting all our residual Egyptian cash. On arrival at Port Said it was a beaming Mohammed that alighted onto the canal pilot boat that collected him direct from Musketelle and without stopping we too were also very happy as we popped out into the Med and the next phase of our meanders.

B&P@SEA

May 2009 Egypt..... Part 1

We apologise, we are getting worse writing these blogs, its a month since we last tickled the keyboard. Our only excuse is we have been thoroughly captivated immersing ourselves in country #16 on our meanders.... . Egypt, land of Antiquity, Pharaohs, Tombs, Pyramids, Temples and ancient civilizations beyond any simple measure of comprehension to mere mortal sailors.
In contrast Sailing north up the Red Sea into Egyptian waters from Sudan we reached a spot off the Egyptian coast commonly called Dolphin Reef where as the name implies dolphins abound.

Pic Dolphin Reef

The reef is mostly submerged at both high and low tide and as we sailed towards the reef all we could see was a flotilla of large and small boats anchored as if on a painted ocean. As we got closer the outline of the surrounding reefs just under or just breaking the surface became clearer and we found our way through to

anchor in flat water in the center of a very big beautiful white sand bottomed lagoon.

We were here solely to swim with the pods of dolphins that inhabit the reef and planned an overnight stop and swim. We departed 5 days later !! as the place just grew on us with the snorkelling and swimming with the dolphins just such a treat. Who does not like dolphins... they are amongst the prettiest sleekest mammals so we could not help but dive in whenever we could to join them. Each morning they would return to the lagoon following their evening at sea feeding outside the reef. They seemingly enjoyed the company of humans and allowed us to swim among them freely and they among us. It was one of those special experiences. One cruise yacht stayed 3 weeks.

Big white 80/120ft long white mini cruisers carrying 15/30 mostly European divers and snorkellers would anchor for 2/4 days and the dolphins seemed more than happy with this endless stream of human invaders. On arrival we anchored near a particularly flash white cruise boat and P flippantly suggested we could enquire if we could buy dinner aboard to give B a break. Would you believe the next day they came across and invited us to come over that evening for sundowners. Turns out the guests were all French with one token Brit couple, all living in Monaco and Nice and they ask us to stay for dinner.

Next day we joined them and their resident dolphin expert for dolphin swimming including lessons in dolphin etiquette to maximise the experience. We returned the hospitality with B making morning tea and a big bake of pikelets with jam & uht cream which went down a treat.

Med Moored Port Ghalib

We sailed from Dolphin Reef to Port Ghalib. The wind was continuously strong from the NNW, the direction we were going, and the sea state typical Red Sea - short big swells that suddenly slow the boat. Motoring rather than sailing means bashing into these winds and seas. Sailing means a smoother ride (sort of) but
involves tacking out towards the middle and then back in, large zig zags as shown by the track on the chartplotter, so takes twice as long and twice the distance.

We formally cleared into Egypt at Port Ghalib and had our first taste of modernity for some months at this massive new resort and marina development on the southern Red Sea coast of Egypt. This place is on a marsa (inlet) on the edge of the desert with its own international airport handling wide body jets from

all over Europe and even the Philippine Presidential jet flew in whilst we were there. They have built their own power station, sewage treatment and salt to fresh desalination plant so its totally self sufficient. It also sports it's own wrecked yacht at the entrance to the marina, a German who came in at night with no engine in 25 knots of wind and now is arguing over the huge fine the authorities wish to impose on him for damaging the reef.

A sad expensive tale

Stage one of five already includes 4 major hotels and a traditional Egyptian Souk (shopping bazaar) plus Eastern and Western restaurants on a waterfront boulevard setting around the marsa. Sun, sea and diving are the drawcards but it was not anywhere near as busy as it should have been. Global meltdown is clearly affecting everyone everywhere. The whole complex is owned by one very very wealthy Kuwaiti Arab, one of 10 he is developing throughout Africa and the Middle East. So this is where all those extra petro dollars are going when we fill the tank.

We berthed on the main boulevard Med style with the stern onto the dock and the bow connected to a mooring. For the first time since Thailand we connected up to power and water and were able to run all our systems including the washing machine. No wonder 8 days flew by even if for the last 3 we were both grounded well and truly with some sort of Egyptian tummy eruption....to put it mildly. We feel lucky to have got through Indo, Asia, Sri Lanka and Yemen etc bug free only to be flattened in Egypt.

Hurghada

Entering Hurghada Marina 

We elected to do an overnight motoring hop to Hurghada even though the wind and waves were not fun. Hurghada is the center of the Egyptian dive industry which is simply huge and based around the large number of islands and reefs in the crystal clear waters of the Red Sea adjacent to this port. As a consequence there are a large number of hotels and a tourist shopping and services center that is entertaining to walk around particularly of an evening.
With Europeans being the customer base everything is open until the wee small hours. Parked up in a good marina with good security we decide this is the spot to leave Muskie for some eagerly awaited land travel.

Land Tour Observations

Time for immersing in the ancient Egyptian culture with a land trip to visit the upper Nile River Valley, Luxor, Valley of the Kings and Tuts Tomb etc etc. We elected to take a local air-con bus 250km inland to Luxor and spend a few nights at the recommended 3 star Hotel Emilio with a splendid rooftop pool and outdoor restaurant overlooking Luxor Temple, the Nile and the Valley of Kings in the distance. Even the bus trip through coastal mountains and desert to the brilliantly fertile plains beside the Nile was a visual treat.

It was harvest time in the fields and the methods are still very traditional with those ever present hard working little donkeys popular and clearly still efficient. You can use a donkey all day in the fields then use it to trot into the village in the evening or go shopping. You don't need to worry about fuel spikes, you don't need to pay registration or a licence to ride and all ages can take the reins. We even saw five year olds in control. Since Yemen we've been getting to like donkeys!!! but must admit they would not cut it on the Auckland

Harbour Bridge or going up the Ngauranga Gorge.

The use of irrigation canals to spread the Nile waters is very impressive and probably thousands of years old. The land use is comprehensive with every fruit and vegetable you can think of being grown. We saw wheat barley, lucerne, sugarcane, strawberries, grapefruit, kiwifruit, peppers, nuts etc. They have a dairy industry and even a good wine industry and its not a bad drop. In preparation for Europe's renowned prices we have stocked up on some pleasant whites and rose plus their beer, Sakara Gold and Stella is as good as the best.

Everythings BC

BC Definition 1: Bribery & Corruption

So far Egypt and her people have been more pleasant than we were expecting despite the B&C. Everything here is B&C for tourists and locals. Egypt is a country that created civilisation as we know it along with so many discoveries and firsts for humanity, yet Egypt is sort of still back there at the back of the pack.

If in doubt ask a taxi driver - we hired a taxi driver for the day to take us out to the Valley of the Kings and we very respectfully asked him about baksheesh. Over lunch in a restaurant he lowered his voice and said that bribes & corruption are endemic at all levels for everyone and hold Egypt back.

Relating to our travels he said simply getting a passport, opening a bank account, wanting to transfer money in or out or just travelling overseas would involve questions from the authorities and a necessary "gift". Another example, the best students don't necessarily get to study or become academics or professionals. Degrees or certificates can be "acquired" by payment of a "gift" at the end of the study period, even if the student has not passed the course.
Others told us that wages in Egypt are so low that baksheesh is accepted as the standard way to upsize earnings.....puts the Western concept of minimum wage laws into context!!.

It was disconcerting to wander around town or tourist attractions and not be able to speak to a local as even making pleasant conversation or asking a simple question would result in the hand being held out with the request for a tip or gift. Even eye contact would get the frenzy started.

Buying things/services (even a taxi ride in horse and cart) generates some real theatre as prices are negotiated and baksheesh wheedled out of you. They want your money and stop at nothing trying it on...they are masters at it but with our exchange rate we have to be firm. We often say "not american" and they do a double take and back off.

BC Definition 2: Before Christ

At anything up to 5000 + years old Ancient Egyptian culture is more BC than AD. That's hard to come to grips with but when walking around above and below ground you soon get to feel that you are treading on special ground. The monuments and temples and tombs with their story carving artwork and hieroglyphics in stone are truly impressive and we were most impressed by the colorful painted stone some of which is still vivid if out of the direct sunlight. The peak of the Pharaohs and their Priests power was 2000 years BC.








You've got to marvel at it all.... for us Tutankamon's Tomb and his actual mummified body and Hatshepsut's Temple were highlights in the Valley of the Kings, whilst the mammoth Karnak Temples and the Museums in Luxor were highlights in town. We visited Karnak both at night for a spectacular 'Light and Sound' show among the ruins and then in the day. The interesting thing about the ruins is that clearly the Pharaohs and Kings and Queens built over the top or around their predecessors in an effort to honour their gods and in some cases even plundered their forebears tombs to enhance their own.


All in all a pretty self-idolising lot we thought. Cremation sounds much fairer and better for the planet. War and looting has sadly taken its toll on many treasures and some major monuments or bits thereof have found their way around the world. Can't help but think the decent thing would be for those to be returned to Egypt.



Today

We have left Hurghada and are currently at anchor at Bluff Point 27.40N 33.48E at the top of the Red Sea at the entrance to the Gulf of Suez waiting for the 30 knot breeze and wave patterns to drop before slipping the 150 miles north to Port Suez to enter the southern end of the Suez Canal. So far we have been here 2 nights. Its pretty cool too, we have put on two T-shirts in the evening and we are asking ourselves why we are heading further north to winter in Europe.

Its only mid May and we feel like we have really achieved some mileage under the keel compared with last year as we measure crossing the Indian Ocean, the pirate infested Gulf of Aden and now the Red Sea as milestones.  We plan to stop halfway through the canal for a few days at Ismailia and go off to do Cairo and the Pyramids. The Luxor visit has really got the juices going and we have purchased a few books to enhance the knowledge. We will be real Egyptologists when we slip out the northern end of the canal into the Med.

mailto:P@SEA

Apr 2009 We Sea Red

Three weeks back we turned north to pass through the Straits of El Mandeb to enter the Red Sea and take a further step back in time in this historic sea that borders some of the worlds oldest but still among the the most troubled and impoverished countries. We must admit that our knowledge of this part of the planet is somewhat limited as the countries we will be visiting with the exception of Egypt are not exactly on the top tourist trails. We are however learning there are great sights and experiences to be had as these first three
weeks show.

Our first stop was an anchorage at the volcanic Hannish Islands, Yemen, smack in the middle of the busy shipping lanes at the south end of the Red Sea. We anchored in an open bay surrounded by the stark beauty of a largely treeless island backdrop dominated by lava flows from the rolling sides of old volcanoes
right down to the waters edge. One volcano had even lost a side to the sea and the crater was exposed to the open sea. The backdrop reminded us of White Island and Mt Tarawera but clearly this now dormant exhibition was far more ancient as not a wisp of steam or working vent is visible.

Next we sailed northwest to catch our first glimpse of the African Continent on the Eritrean coast before anchoring at the even more impressive volcanic Abelait Island. We went ashore here to walk around and take in the stunning landscape and birdlife including proud eagles nesting in the most exposed spots. We saw
evidence of turtle tracks where they come to lay their eggs but no turtles on this occasion. The interesting thing about this island was that there were little mini extinct volcanoes everywhere and you could literally walk up and around the rims. Being extremely dry any vegetation was crackly under foot but mostly the
surface was volcanic scoria and sand neatly wind blown into amazing wavelike patterns. We felt as if we were disturbing natures artwork as we walked around.
We met our first Eritreans here, fishermen who had come ashore with a shark to remove its dorsal and tail fin but wastefully leave the rest wallowing in the surf for the birds. We later established this is common practice due to a lucrative trade with, guess who?, those environmentally focused Chinese.

Eritrea

Its always exciting arriving in a new country and arriving by sea is just that much more real and authentic compared with the sterile airport arrival. Eritrea was no exception as we motored into the port town of Massawa and tied up alongside a block wall and put the fenders out to stop damaging the hull of Musketelle. This port is surrounded by bombed out buildings and first impressions are this has been a grand old port town before madness struck.

Clearing Customs and Immigration is a breeze and in no time we getting the good oil on the local deals for exchanging local cash, internet, water, diesel, food etc etc. From here on the US dollar is paramount and obviously very negotiable...official bank rate 15 Nafka/1$, we got 30 Nafka through 'Mike the Middleman' and heard one could get 34. But in reality there was not much to spend it on after the aforementioned essentials. Moving around on local buses, taxis and camel was cheap and a meal at the best restaurant in town was just $6 for 2 and the dreadful Chinese beer was $2 a can whereas the very questionable
local spirits just .50cents a big nip. Eritrea is apparently the second poorest nation on earth and it shows after the numerous wars with Ethiopia.

Unlike Yemen the Eritrean people are very subdued and positively docile by nature but clearly also very proud. The country is 50/50 Christian and Muslim and Sunday is the day of rest. Neither the churches or mosques dominate the landscape as they do on the Arabian Peninsula. Eritrea was an Italian colony when colonialism was voque and you have this oddity of coffee shops with grand Italian espresso machines in
otherwise drab cafes but they only serve thick black coffee and nothing else. The Italian flare has also left a mark on the populace who wear colorful clothes and smart footwear even if it is largely secondhand from the west as aid and then onsold at the local market.

By far the majority of people are desperately poor living in squalid conditions in tumbling down structures however foreign aid is slowly rebuilding the infrastructure and people were out cleaning some of the main thoroughfares and we even saw a group weeding a roundabout. There is a noticeable lack of traffic
on the roads but a good number of camels. Typical of these countries is their statement monuments....the biggest and grandest in Massawa has 4 battle-worn tanks mounted grandly on high ramps celebrating no doubt the last battle with their neighbors Sudan or Ethiopia back in 2000.

The old port town of Massawa has fine architecture with a distinctly Italian look and is a World heritage site but is in absolute ruins due to shelling. The two most impressive bombed buildings are a grand old bank and Emperor Haille Selassee's palace both of which a local told us will be left in ruins as memorials of corruption.

The grand bank, now a bombed out ruin.

Peter on local transport.

We would like to have spent longer in Eritrea and gone up to the capital Asmara but Musketelle was at risk of being damaged alongside the stone dock in the strong NE swells and so after 2.5 days we slipped the mooring lines for the hop north to Sudan.

                                                                                  Sudan          

We sailed north hugging the coast of Eritrea with one day hop and an overnighter before reaching the border with Sudan. We then had a couple of day hops on the Sudanese coast anchoring at reefs and islands offering shelter from the predominantly northerly winds.

We entered Sudan at the small port town of Sawakin rather than Port Sudan which is 30 miles further north. If we thought Massawa was in a state, then Sawakin wasjust a crumbling dust bowl with its claim to fame being a major old Ottoman Empire (Turkish) town in ruins, this time due to decay not war. We anchored
just 50 metres off the ruins in a little sheltered harbour and soon spotted the local yachties agent 'Mohammed' on the shore ready to relieve us of USD$130 for the privilege of anchoring and coming ashore. For this we received a 'crew pass' that allowed us to stay for up to 30 days in the local area including Port
Sudan. If we wanted to go to the capital Khartoum it was another USD$115 each for a visa, no doubt with a clip of the ticket for Mohammed. Even so he sucked in his breath when we asked about the possibility and shook his head as apparently things were a bit tetchy up there with the President under pressure
to go before a world court for war crimes. Westerners were not flavor of the month so we decided on staying down on the coast. You might think as Kiwis we come under the radar but we are finding that all westerners are considered the same in these parts and we detect many think that like Nu England and Nu Hampshire, Nu Zild is just another US state.

 
 

Our man Mohammed also exchanged the much sought after USD for the Sudanese Pound at a rate which ironically is the same cross rate for the NZD. So that made us feel really proud.....NZ and Sudan are on the same fiscal footing. The name of the currency reflects the colonial role Britain had in Sudan with Kitchener and Gordon of Khartoum as names that come to mind in shaping yesteryear. Like everywhere else the colonials built grand structures and installed political systems and solid infrastructure that has in all cases been overturned as these countries all step back in time under corrupt military dictatorships and tribal
power sharing regimes that they cannot escape. Its very sad. The lack of solid
honest tax systems mean no welfare is available for children or the elderly other than stop go bandaid relief from the west.

Apart from shopping forays into the Sawakin market for vege and bread we did a daytrip by bus to the chaotic metropolis that is Port Sudan primarily for internet access but it was slower than slow so that was a waste of time. Had a nice lunch at the Palace Hotel then visited the local market and experienced a
real treat...an ice cream, then bused back to Sawakin. The bus ride gave us an insight into life on the coastal desert strip with hundreds of huts made of sticks covered in plastic or torn bits of fabric - nothing waterproof but then no sign of rain. These constructions really do not even merit the name "shacks".
Also lots of goats, and donkey carts are big business. You must have a goat, a donkey or a camel in Sudan to have made it we concluded. We also spotted the prolific multi colored national flower of the Sudan...all over the desert...the plastic bag ! A wind blown blight on the landscape.

On departure from Sawakin we had to dodge an old English Channel ferry, the 'Lady of Cherbourg' which has a second life carrying a never ending stream of muslim pilgrims the 150 miles across the Red Sea to the Saudi port of Jeddah which is just a short distance from Mecca. The port of Sawakin has probably been serving this role since time began. It was interestingly also the port that the last shipload of Black Africans were sent to America to begin a life of slavery.

Our primary reason for stopping in Sudan was to purchase diesel fuel because we are reluctantly having to motor more than we anticipated in the Red Sea.
On occasions we do overnight hops if the wind is favorable but by necessity onthe Sudanese coast we use marsa's (inlets) that are gaps in the coral reef opening into often very big marsa up to 5 miles into the coastal desert plain.  They are deep and afford good anchorages on relatively flat water compared with the reef anchorages that can cut up rough very quickly. As we write this blog we are currently at the top of Marsa Shinab 21.21N 37.00E in 25 plus knots of wind from the N.

It ain't Red folks

The Red Sea is definitely not red, its a very deep blue and even color deficient P can see that. Its also more saline than the planets other seas and oceans with better buoyancy so much so that Musketelle is floating higher on her waterline and when we dive over to scrub her bottom it takes more kicking to go under and
we noticeably get bounced back to the surface faster too. The surrounding deserts and the fact no rivers empty into it are the main reason for the high salinity.

It is said the red sunrises and sunsets assisted by the bordering deserts is the reason its attracted the name but more likely its the red algae that blooms and floats around at certain times of the year. Whatever its a fascinating stretch of water and the coral reefs are pretty if not quite up to Indo or Pacific
standard. The one thing that is not pleasant is the Red Sea Chop which the gutsy winds develop. The waves are only 1-1.5m high but there is no distance between the wave sets making sailing very frustrating. You can be charging along at 7 knots bouncing over wave sets and then the bow will drop into a trough and the yacht decelerates back by 2 or 3 knots with a shudder before launching off again on another speed sequence before the same thing happens a few minutes later. If you are racing you can lookout for such waves but as
cruisers we cannot spend all day and night looking for rogue wave sets. The Red Sea is very deep in places and also has a counter current that changes with the seasons flowing below in the opposite direction to the top to make for confusion.

Now waiting for a weather window for the 300 mile hop to...Egypt!

All at Sea B&P

Checking in with Mohammed

The Best and Worst of Aden

It was a great relief to arrive in Aden and put the pick down in the center of this old port 100 metres off the dock where thousands of Antipodeans would have stopped on ships in the 60's and 70's en route to Europe on their oe's.

The grand old Entrance at Port of Aden

The dock itself dates back to 1919 when this was an integral link in the British Empire and Suez was key to world trade and commerce. Then in 1967 the Yemenis turfed the Brits out and the Russians became the flavour of the region for a decade before Yemen started fending for itself and slowly melting down to the relative state of mismanagement evident today.

Once cleared of immigration and customs formalities the next task (as at almost every arrival port) was to locate a taxi driver who spoke reasonable English.   With the benefit of advice from fellow cruisers we connected with the more African looking than Arab, Salem (as it turned out his mother was Tanzanian).
This guy might not have had the flashest car (in fact it was totally clapped out to the point that Peter had to get out and push it several times) but boy did he open doors and pave the way for us getting our spare parts, fruit and vege, groceries etc showing us the backstreets and alleys as we went. Good for us good for him.

Frenchman Erik, Peter and American Bob Bush obscured, squashed in back seat
of our Aden Taxi with the charming 'smile your in Yemen' Salem

When it came to his fare he always said pay what you feel appropriate...this way he always comes out on top because he knows we are impressed by his service and do not want to be mean fisted. (In passing Salem did let us know that some cruisers were inclined to expect his services for next to nothing and based on years meeting cruisers visiting Aden he could accurately rate levels of generosity by nationality.)  

Everywhere in Aden the people we met were very friendly and accommodating with the standard greeting "Welcome to Yemen" and the question "What do you think of Yemen". The locals (those not holding "official positons") were quick to give us their opinion on their President (photos of whom hang all over the place) who has apparently been ruling for 30 years despite a theoretical democracy and operates the usual system of privilege and graft benefitting only a section of society.
Thus the people seem to be largely disposessed of a viable future. It is a sad state of affairs when the country is clearly undermined by a very privileged minority.

One of the escape mechanisms for the general masses is 'khat' a mild narcotic plant leaf that is chewed and retained in the mouth for many hours providing the extraordinary sight of thousands (mostly males) going about their business of sitting around doing very little with a golf ball size lump of chewed leaf bulging in the cheek. It is also expensive and apparently takes up a significant portion of the family budget. Not that different to the use of Kava in Fiji.

Yemeni man at work chewing 'Khat'

Couple the stupifying 'khat' with up to 6 mosque visits a day, the heat and dust you get a surefire recipe to permanently stall the country.  Of course we were not surprised to find that all the women (with a single
exception that we saw) wore the burkha.  However we still found ourselves agog at the sight of thousands of women in 32C temperatures, dressed in black burkhas (often over western clothing including trousers and jeans as far as we could tell from the hems) faces covered except for a narrow slit for their eyes. Even more disconcerting were the women fully covered with a veil and not even their eyes visible, and even gloves on their hands!

Yemeni lady in full Burkha in 32c

An impromptu night tour with Salem saw the little Toyota wreck meshing perfectly into the mayhem of the old town whereas a flash air con car would have had the Somalian beggars all over us. We experienced a magic meal with him in a big cafe serving traditional meats, bread and salad with B the only female in a huge

dining room of males while the local women and children were isolated in an adjoining room. This was another example of muslim women being segregated and confirms the second class citizen role this control society has them destined to follow hidden under their black veils.

Salem called women in burkhas "ninjas" (even though his wife and daughter wear the burkha) - not sure whether it was his standard comic line for tourists or whether that is a slang term the locals use. B was talking to Salem on social order and he seemed to be progressive in his thinking, telling us about his children and in particular his daughter who would be going to university. But when we got on to driving he proudly told us his two sons could already drive but his wife and daughter would never be permitted to drive.

The shopping in the old town was all go up to 10pm at night with people everywhere and B did her fruit and vege shopping here around the main square rather than the sterile (but well stocked) supermarket. The shopping was very traditional with specialist streets and lanes for copper, jewellery, clothing, hardware, electrical etc.

Barbara night shopping in Aden under watchful eye of Salem

We spent an afternoon traipsing around an industrial area 10km from Aden itself looking for a new engine temperature sender and an oil pressure alarm sender for Muskies Ford engine and it was like finding a needle in a haystack, but what a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon visiting retailers, wholesalers and even junk
yards. P was part-hunting aided by Salem and B was busy clicking the camera at camels, camels and carts (for grandson Noah) and street scenes.

    

Back street scenes Aden



Driving around with Salem, Somalians get the blame for all Yemens woes and although Yemen is poor with an economy in tatters Somalians still see it as nirvana and pay people smugglers to get here. When they arrive

they are forced into menial jobs like street cleaning and according to Salem, the woman go into prostitution. Which leads on to the following....... 

Tragedy in Aden  

Sadly we must tell you of a tragedy that took place Sunday 22 March that would not have even rated a
mention in western media but is commonplace in these parts. An 8 metre open fishing boat with a broken engine crammed with 95 Somalian refugees was towed into Aden and berthed alongside the old dock just 100 metres from where we were anchored. The refugees had paid people smugglers to take them to Yemen. We were told the people smugglers were also pirates and halfway across the 150 mile wide Gulf of Aden had cast them adrift and gone off to board and seize a tug boat in the shipping corridor. The Somalians were found drifting by a French frigate.
They claimed refugee status, so the French took their unstable craft in tow taking 2 days to get them the remaining 50 miles to Aden where they passed them over to the Yemenis on the harbour limits to be towed in.   On arrival alongside the dock the Somalians all rushed to one side of the boat to get off and the already unstable boat capsized and 7 unlucky Somalians drowned. It was around 7pm local time and the mosques were chirping away into the early evening as usual and although only 100metres away we did not hear or
notice anything different as we were down below on Musketelle sorting out a software issue on a laptop.

The scene on the dock from Musketelle at just 100metres

We only noticed about an hour later when we looked out and saw emergency flashing lights and a bigger than normal mass of humanity on the dock. Erik the skipper of the French yacht Genesis that we convoyed with was on the dock and saw it happen. Being a diver he jumped in his dink sped out to his yacht got his scuba gear and went back and dived in to help. When we caught up with him later he was a bit distraught as when he got into the half sunken boat there were just 4 bodies with 3 having floated away. There was one
girl still alive in the hull when the French Navy who had just heard of unfolding events turned up with divers, underwater spotlights and other rescue gear but the Yemenis would not let the French Navy enter the water. The Yemenis completed the rescue with free divers and hand torches, but at least they got the girl out. The saddest thing is all the Somalians were youngsters in their 20's just looking for a way out of what must be a terrible life in the homeland.

Morning revealed the shoddy 8m long craft
95 Somalians sought freedom on, ending in tragedy

We felt rather out of place that evening as passing visitors sitting in the comfort and security of our floating home until then only worrying about a small software problem.

Its only Money

At somewhar lesser level Aden turned out to be a jinxed stop for us but we shouldn't blame Aden, it just happened that things went wrong here. The day we arrived B goes to the supermarket to stock up and tenders our primary Mastercard to be told it would not accept the charge so she uses a Visa card. Thats strange because we have an auto payment setup on the Mastercard so next day go to an internet cafe to check the account and whamo its been compromised to the tune of NZD$17k. Some low-lifes have gone on a shopping spree through the UK buying laptops, cellphones and the odd classy restaurant meal on us over a three day period 02/05 March when we were at sea between the Maldives and Oman. In retracing where we had used that card we think it was copied in Sri Lanka, possibly at the car rental outfit in Colombo where we hired the car for our Sri Lankan road trip. They did a manual swipe of the card for the deposit at the pickup which they ripped up in front of us when the car was returned in good order. We assume qhile we were merrily touring Sri Lanka the imprint was immediately on-sold, a bogus card made and then used until the limit reached. The good news is Mastercard have accepted the activity was fraudulent and have agreed to credit the disputed charges without question. Top marks Kiwibank and Mastercard !!

Difficulties Departing

Our final tale of woe relates to us departing Aden Thursday 27 March for the Red Sea. Attempt 1 consisted of us getting about 6 miles out where, the wind having dropped, we decided to motor sail but the starter motor would not operate (although it had 60 minutes earlier). Decided to return to the Aden anchorage
to find the problem but this necessitated coming back in without motor under sail and anchoring under sail.

Due to a misjudgment in timing we ended up on a lee shore to close in and had to pay a local boatman and his crewman to come alongside and tow us to a better position. After negotiating a deal they towed us to the new spot (the entire time hassling us for the money) and quickly departed as we anchored but as luck would have it the 40kg anchor and 40m of chain did not hold and we drifted back maybe 75m until it finally dig in. We should not have paid them so quickly and insisted they stayed until we had completed anchoring. Result was that we ended up too close to a huge ship mooring buoy (so big they are viewable on Google Earth).

B was forced to stay in the cockpit armed with a large fender in case we swung onto the buoy while P is below trying to fix the mechanical problem.  Now this is where things really go pear shaped as P hears the Port Pilot boat going by and hails him over to tell him we think our anchor and chain are snagged on the
mooring chain for the shipping buoy (domestic harmony prevents us from writing that all this time B is saying, leave it, we are fine, just fix the engine, we do not need them to do anything). No problem says the Pilot boat man and proceeds to come alongside the fenders on our starboard side and commence an ill-fated attempt to raise our anchor by simply putting a line around the chain at the level of our deck and and pulling backwards, in the process scoring the chain on our bow paintwork and nearly taking out the pulpit (domestic harmony
prevents us from writing that all this time B is saying, that will not work, we will damage the boat, leave it...). To add insult to injury the pilot lef his steering position to check the situation and let his vessel drift around with the sharp edge of his aft starboard corner hitting and doing major damage to our starboard teak cap rail at which point we scream at him to move away fast before more damage is done.

We were both very upset at this.  B was rightly furious that this unavoidable collision had occured and as it was clearly a misjudgement by P to get the bloody big steel tug involved. He removed from the line of fire to quickly fix the mechanical problem by replacing the starter motor with a spare we carry which resolved the
problem and partly diminished the stress levels aboard. We had lunch then decided to have a go at trying to liberate the anchor from the bouy chain using our own power. Can you believe the engine does not start. Back to the engine bay and turns out our starting button has an intermittent fault. We fix that more or less and try to jiggle the anchor free under power with no success. By now its late afternoon and this time we jointly agree we need a diver but light is fading. We ring the trusty Salem who promises a diver. We decide to stay the night firmly attached to Aden but having to stand 2 hour anchor watches because we don't want to hit
the bouy and do more damage. Then at 2am in the morning the Pilot is back hovering as the big port tugs park a huge rusty Egpytian freighter 40 metres from us using the same buoy we are attached to !!!.

Next morning holy Friday 27th March Salem has a local bloke alongside with his shonky scuba gear with a starting price of USD$300 to relieve us of our woes which were now widely known on the waterfront. We settled on USD$100 and the guy jumped into the dank and murky waters completing the task in 2 minutes !! You have to laugh but at least we were free.

Attempt 2 departure therefore consisted of us pulling in the newly freed anchorand departing straight away. As usual the Harbour Master called us on the vhf radio as we left the harbour entrance. We reported we were departing and gave our original clearance number as we had not been ashore since returning. Instead
of being wished a pleasant sail we were ordered to return as the regulations required us to check in again. We protested reminding them we had returned for emergency repairs, not gone ashore and only delayed departure further because we had snagged on one of their mooring chains etc etc. P consulted the legal
advisor and concluded the Yemeni gunboat might prevail so we reluctantly returned, anchored sweetly and traipsed ashore to go through the pointless paper trail once again. Luckily we encountered a very obliging official who confirmed that all that was required was a renewed harbour clearance document, so another taxi
trip to the also very pleasant harbourmaster was undertaken. Other yachties in the anchorage came over saying they had enjoyed the verbal jousting over the airways and talked us into staying the night for drinks on one of the yachts (the renewed clearance giving us 24 hours within which to depart).

Attempt 3: We finally departed noon Saturday 28 March and sailed away for the fabled Straits of Bab el Mandeb - Gates of Sorrow and entrance to the Red Sea and the next stage in our meandering. Timing our arrival to the Gates at about 0600 next morning. But more of that next blog...

All at Sea
B&P



Progress in Pee-rat Alley 13.09n 46.16e

Well nothing wrong with our convoy selection process... even if it is the Frogs that have come up trumps rather than Uncle Sam or the Brits.  Erik and Sebastien ftom the French yacht Genesis did the hardyards talking to the French Navy back in Salalah and it is those discussions that shaped our in-shore passage down the Yemeni coastline at an average of just 15 miles off the coast.

As a result Genesis has been reporting the position of our three boat convoy to the French Control Center 3 times a day. Whilst we have also been reporting to the British even though they wanted us to sail down the center of the corridor at 50 miles off and not at all happy we were doing the inshore route. They even sent us a curt e.mail saying they could not guarantee speedy deployment of assets if we called in an emergency.

We looked at the options and we agreed the French approach was better as most of the attacks have been near or even in the corridor and anyway thats halfway to Somalia where the pirates would take you.

So in short we were very happy with the French solution...particularly when 2 days into the passage a French frigate comes over the horizon and announces through communication with Genesis that they will track our progress all the way to Aden. Then to top that off they did a flyby in their ships chopper at dusk last night to wish us well and take pictures of us for their records.
We proudly held out our big silver fern flag (from The Warehouse) for the pics. This gave us a pleasant sense of security and no doubt Erik and Sebastien a shiver of pride. Maybe justification for us forgiving the French for their past misdemeanors against us....of which there are a few...turfing us out a successive rugby world cups is hard to stomach!!. We will think up some ze appropriate gesture when we get to Aden. Maybe roasting that leg of Kiwi lamb we bought in Oman!.

We penned this piece of verse to record our thoughts of this passage.....

SALALAH to ADEN  GOA by SEA

In convoy of yachts THREE
Under proud flags of the FREE
Stars'n'Stripes, Tricolor, and KIWI

Endless motoring at revs LOW
Bows to the gulfs ebb and FLOW
Dawn noon dusk and dark we GO
Willing Pee-rats to NO-SHOW
Bonjour French Navy frigate we SEE
Compliments of SY Genesis we AGREE
Chopper fly-by fills us with GLEE
Great to have such friends at SEA

SY Musketelle (NZ)
19 March 2009

Relieved just one more night at sea before reaching Aden dawn 20 March.

B&P All@Sea

Photos of the GOA

All GOA in the Gulf of Aden 14.50n 50.52e

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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....

All at sea in the GOA
B&P

Arabian Sea off Socotra Is Somalia - 15.38 N 57.30 E

Night watch, when the wind is gentle, sea kind and moon lighting the way is quality time to think. In these waters "think" means things like....are we going to make it through these pirate infested waters, is that light on the horizonone of them, how will we respond to an approach, have we got our emergency procedures sorted etc etc etc.

The emergency VHF radio channels have been jammed, presumably by these pirates, hurling abuse at all and sundry passing sailors, their mothers and their countries of origin. These "pranksters" (to give them an unduly polite name) intercept bonafide calls and even make bogus mayday calls, thereby voiding this form of communication in a real emergency. They also play soundtracks of lurid sex scenes from b rate Hollywood movies for some unfathomable reason....maybe distractive entertainment for sailors on merchant ships. We have paid them the greatest compliment and now turn off our VHF at night.

However in daylight we recently tuned into an entertaining conversation between ships to hear a Mexican officer telling his counterpart on the other ship that this was his first transit through the Gulf of Aden for some time as he has been sailing the Pacific between Asia and the USA. He said he did not know who was
worse to have on his ship, the US Coastguard paranoid about the terro threat over there or the "pee-rats" here. We have adopted his Mexican/English "pee-rats" as it is so appropriate.

Other day time chatter between ships indcates a general concern with the piracysituation, with the ships forming convoys through the Gulf of Aden (GOA) in accordance with their speed. One watch captain told another that the transit corridor (which is 500 miles long) is becoming fairly safe now but the result of
this high level of security is that the pee-rats are moving their activities further offshore.

As we mentioned in the previous blog we have registered with the security forces control centre for the GOA and we communicate by e.mail at noon each day with our position as they are currently tracking our progress to Salalah. Their guidelines make it clear that vessel owners should make their own security arrangements to minimise boarding as appropriate to your own vessel, which in our case with barely a 2 metre height from water to deck is not much of a challenge for a tall athletic pee-rat with long legs. So P has been postulating
about deterrent and self preservation options, albeit a little late now. The best he could come up with....... Deterrent - maybe we should have electrified the safety rails with a Gallagher electric fence system.

Self Preservation - maybe we should have converted the aft deck to become a temporary live sheep meat
carrier. This way we could make genuine sacrificial offerings to people we know appreciate live meat (B - I have edited this line out 3 times now but it keeps getting back into the blog....). B had the idea of inviting a friend, a soon to be retired accountant who shall remain nameless, along as crew. Unfortunately he declined. B's rationale was not that he would bambozzle the pirates with numbers, no, rather that he would be good for the ransom money and thus we might all get out safely...

As an added measure we have a list of basic words and simple phrases in Somalian....we are going to have lessons in the cockpit over morning tea (yeah right). However, based on the VHF broadcasts from the pee-rats we know they have a good grasp of the more colourful and less polite english words - these form a true international language and phraseology it seems.

This leg has as usual for Musketelle and her herculean but aging crew has been a voyage of three parts....

Part 1 - the beginning as per normal was very trying with variable head winds testing our resolve coupled with B getting her motion issues stabilised.

Part 2 - The middle section has been a full week of sailing in consistent and at times strong winds forward of the beam on the starboard side for the whole time. This means the boat has been continuously leaning at 10/15 degrees for 170 odd hours on its at times rolly course without respite in winds up to 30 knots.

Part 3 - Now the third part as we close within 200 miles of the Oman coast the wind is finally backing to the East to come onto the aft starboard quarter to hopefully push us into Salalah.

Since departing the Maldives we have had a developing moon which generally makes for great sailing. At this point in the voyage however this is now a burden to us and a benefit to the pee-rats who apparently and surprisingly prefer daylight hours or well lit nights.

As the Indian Ocean leg from Phuket comes to a close we reflect that we made the correct decision to break the 2600 mile voyage into three sectors by stopping at Sri Lanka and the Maldives. 

You have to compartmentalise everything on all of these sectors to make it achievable. We even break our days and nights down into sections as we count down miles achieved and waypoints passed.

You can take the boy away from competitive yacht racing but you can't take racing out of the boy. P even has B thinking faster faster faster on her watches and only last night she spent the whole three hours of a watch adjusting the steering by points of a degree at a time and tweaking the sails to maintain
constant boat speed to ensure we beat the previous nights performance. The driver is we don't want to be out here longer than we need to and as long as we are not in gear breaking mode it keeps monotony at bay.
Until next blog.

B&P All@Sea

Arabian Sea Nights and Days - 08.21n 69.54e

Hello from the Arabian Sea en-route Oman
Our forced return to the idyllic Maldives to rectify engine overheating issues provided a bonus that outweighed the tech issues (more on those later). We had another 2 days and a night at anchor off Uligamu anchoring in 22 metres of clear water, putting out 50 metres of chain which then saw us drag over a beautiful
reef with at times only 6.5 metres under Musketelle. Previously we had anchored over a big sandy patch. The upshot of this new location was the reef attracted the resident fish life in abundance and whats more the huge Manta Ray also surrounded us too, all seemingly attracted to the hull.
B was the first to be confronted by a Manta in the water as it approached to within 3 metres of her before gliding away. She burst to the surface with a shriek of excitement. P also dove for his first confrontation with these gentle giants albeit not quite as close but very impressive. These creatures of the sea are harmless plankton eaters and simply huge, gliding around gracefully with mouth wide open taking in their microscopic food. The biggest we saw had a fin to fin cross span of about 3 metre and longer wip tale reminding us of a star wars type spaceship. They seemed to circle the lagoon in formation in groups of four or five at times flapping their flippers on the surface to herald their location. We rate our experience with the Manta Ray as up there with the Orangutans and Komodo Dragons. Our one outstanding date is to swim with Doogongs. To top off our enforced stay we had a final great snorkel on the shore reef experiencing the best fish life we have seen anywhere even if the coral reefs in Indo were more colorful.

We are back at sea on our way to Salalah Oman having stripped down the complete fresh and saltwater cooling system, replacing the saltwater intake pump impeller and cleaning the heat exchanger thoroughly with vinegar to eliminate growth in the fine copper tubing. Also removed the thermostat and tested it finding ok
but opted not to re-install as we are going to be doing a lot of motoring up the Red Sea in high temperatures and this eliminates a potential problem area. Will re-install when we get to the cooler climes of Europe later this year. We were in a situation where we could not establish what the cause of the overheating problem was so to remove doubt we did everything. Ironically it may all have only been a faulty fanbelt which in situ looked fine and well tensioned. Being less than 6 months old we did not suspect this but on removal noticed multiple cracks so obviously that would have contributed. So we set sail again for Oman and can you believe as we were raising the anchor the Aternator on the main engine decides to die on us leaving our only form of power generation the Generator. We decided to push on regardless. The feeling is the Alternator was
the cause of the excessive heat in the first place sending the temp in the engine compartment way up making it seem as if the whole engine was overheating.
Hope to find an Arab electrical engineer on a camel in Oman.  We have the excitement and feeling that our voyage is moving into another new faze. Ahead the land of the Arabs, sandstorms, backshee, deeprooted tensions and thousands of years of upsetting travellers and voyagers transiting their space.
Sailing in the Arabian Sea sounds romantic and exciting...its the same as the Tasman in mid-summer just bluer. Unlike the Tasman there are some current issues up ahead as we prepare for the challenge of transiting the Gulf of Aden. We acknowledge we are going into dangerous waters and understand the risks. 15
countries now have naval hardware in the area to maintain free-flow of maritime trade and we are more confident than last year that we'll get through safely. We have registered with maritime security co-ordination controllers in the UK and Dubai with our Satellite Phone as the key component in our security kit, in addition to VHF/DSC Radio and Single Sideband Radio.
A shipping corridor is operating in the Gulf and we have agreed to follow procedures to maintain contact with the co-ordinators as we transit the corridor. If we suspect we are being approached by unsavory types we set off emergency systems and the coalition forces should have support to us within a certain timeframe. As an extra precaution we will still try to get together with say 3 or 4 other yachts in Salalah for the 300 mile passage through the corridor as there is no doubt of enhanced safety in numbers. We must say the information we have received from the security forces is most comprehensive and extremely
helpful and reassuring...to a point. Enough of the formal. 

We have been listening in each morning to a loose radio sched of other yachts sailing these waters en-route to Oman etc. We share positions, weather and information. After each sched there is inter-boat chatter if propagation allows. To identify we are moving into less than friendly waters a yacht two days out of Salalah mentioned a local regularly jamming the VHF Ch 16 emergency channel with a less than welcoming singing session that went like this... "F...you, we're coming to rob your boats and slit your throats". Repeated...Nice
stuff. We have obviously discussed some strategies to minimise this happening to us and positions we will take aboard to protect each other.  Note: Unfortunately the format on our blog postings get reset by the system after they are posted by us from sea (we dont write them like that) and only when we get ashore to an internet site can we re-edit and tidy up. See older blogs have been re- edited. Also we cannot download digital pics until ashore.

All for now.
P&B All@Sea