Passage Report #28

Sahula - Passage Report No. 29

Suakin to Hurgarda, Egypt

April 2009

Goodbye Suakin - 10 nm - hello Marsa Ata. Kayitsiz III was first in, Sahula followed after flying yankee and main before a 10 knot easterly. Cool Change needed more rest so will follow tomorrow.

Al, the Autohelm self steering, fish tailed till skipper "gained" the subtle art. It was good to be at sea. A sense of excitement brewed at thoughts of fabled Egypt - Sahula was underway, some 700 nm to go.

Where a swamp drains or a stream flows (rare), the reef yields and a marsa is born. Sailors retreats, the entrances test skills and nerves. Marsa's frequent the Red Sea coastline allowing day sailing.

Weather often requires a retreat. The Convergence Zone along Sudan coast produces Southerlies and Northerlies. Weather reports are suspect. Grib files (from US) provide a guide.

A mackerel makes a fresh fish dinner. Unlike the Eritrean, the Sudan coastal waters yield few fish. On both there are few fishing boats. On both there is little plastic pollution. However, ashore it is different. It awaits rare rain to enter the sea.

A moonscape stretches inland across a coast plain to high precipitous mountains. Life is a few mangroves and tough desert shrubs. A road carries the national commerce, yet it is difficult to conceive a substantial economy in such an unyielding environment.

Skipper is told by a daughter "It is Easter, what are you doing?" Skipper is in a timeless, dateless existence, wrapped in passing cultures.

Mollie (spinnaker) and Tanya take Sahula to Taila Island, a reef anchorage. Sea hawk nests dot the cay.

Skipper dives, in mirror clear water, to shave Sahula's bottom, hoping for increased speed and fuel saving.

Radio is agog. Somalian piracy has increased substantially taking smaller vessels and ships well out into the Indian Ocean. Hostages and pirates have been killed. Threats are made against US and French nationals. US yacht crews hail President Obama's order: a tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye. A distant memory made real.

Sahula calling "yacht heading south, this is the Red Yacht on your starboard bow." "Musketelle" here, it's an oil drilling rig."

Frustration: fixing at sea, a challenge - the fuel pump isn't working. Critical to pumping fuel from the keel tank to the header tank The cause is air in the line. Spare line is added to "parts required" list. An alternative manual pump is considered.

Morning dawned an oily calm and a SE'ly forecast. In the late afternoon, Sahula was butting into the notorious Red Sea chop whipped by a 25-30 knot northerly. Sahula needed a safe anchorage. Tanya and the staysail drove Sahula to Marsa Shinab passing between shore and offshore reefs. It was not for the feint hearted.

Al, (the new autohelm tillerpilot working the Aries windvane) allows Skipper to enjoy the passage.

The entry waypoints were radioed (by an Austrian yacht, Esperanza, already at anchor) and checked against the "Alb" track; a prior passage able to be layered on the digital charts. Reassuring when a reef entry is into the setting sun. Sahula waited off the headland to guide in Kayitsiz III. Entry between reefs, passed low cliffs amongst stark hills and a plain to the horizon. A dry, desert place. Appreciated after a deep sleep. Five boats were already at anchor. Cheers as Sahula anchored.

With radios on (VHF Channel 16), all yachts avidly follow others adventure or drama and offer assistance.

Guide states Marsa Shinab is a "beautiful place...," "... favourite anchorage in the Red Sea. It has desert colours and sculptured landscape to match one's imaginings." It has a history in Portuguese and British colonialism.

Days aboard in a wind swept anchorage, resting, gluing the inflatable, baking bread and cakes, cooking dinner with friends, fixing fuel pump, analysing and part fixing HF radio problem, visiting other boats, others visiting Sahula.

Quoin Hill gave the gunners a high point from which to direct the defenders armory. Sahula's, Musketelle's, Capension's, and the Hungarian "Little Flower's," ascent was rewarded with sweeping views of the marsa and the moonscape of western plains and hills. Camels grazed along the shore.

Ozkan harvested a shore plant which fried in olive oil, lemon and garlic. Cruisers Turkish delight. Sailors living off the littoral land.

Camel family honks it way into the mellow, yellow sunset over distant ochre blue peaks, as the day closes at Khor (inlet) Marob.

Fish dinner aboard a 47 foot US (French design) catamaran with four other crews closes the day on pristine, Elba Reef in disputed border waters (Egyptian by force, Sudanese by claim).

"It's a bad law..." ie all Egyptian reefs and islands are national parks; fishing and anchoring on reef, is illegal. Ozkan spearfishes six fish, distributing them to other yachts. The "Massacre of Elba Reef" invites discussion.

Sahula is a "salt water" yacht. Fresh water is gold. Salt water (cold) is utilized in steam cooking, dish washing and with a final FW wash when clothes washing and bathing. Water makers expand FW profligacy: showers, baths, washing machine, ice maker. Hot water is a corollary. A generous generator follows suite. More space used, more weight in the boat. More items for the maintenance list. More noise in beautiful places.

The apex is a FW loo.

The availability of FW, its contamination, is an ever present issue. Sahula has had no such problem (Darwin to Red Sea). The minimal use of bleach "cauterizes" contamination. Cost is minimal. The FW volume aboard a large yacht can create a transport problem (hose or containers). Usually it is an inconvenience only.

"This is the Egyptian Navy, you can't anchor there, please come alongside..." The Guide warns Marsa Halaib is an Egyptian Naval base guarding the disputed border from Sudan, called the "Halaib Triangle." The Captain Ahmet (23 years old) spoke broken English. Simultaneously, passports were surrendered till departure, tea was passed, an invitation was extended to "chicken..." dinner. Captain Ahmet proudly showed his ship: a 70 foot patrol boat showing all of its 25 years. Land based cannon emplacements, aimed at Sudan, across Sahula's proposed anchorage, make clear the wisdom of "coming alongside."

Lunch is at 1600, dinner at 2200. A healthy appetite was ensured. Skipper gave Captain Ahmet a much appreciated letter of thanks (and little koala) for being a superb ambassador for Egypt. Fresh food was provided from the village, strawberry jam, fresh tea; their generosity knew no bounds.

Bread, muffins and yoghurt made, then tea aboard and departure. 100 nm of Foul Bay reefs requires an overnight passage to Ras Banas or Dolphin Reef. Tanya and full sails ensure a fast passage over calm seas.

Sahula is, unperturbed by the blowing northerly, at anchor awaiting tomorrow to swim with the dolphins of the namesake reef. Dinner aboard Memet (Turkey) and Elaines (Texan, US), 45 foot Prout catamaran. Skipper votes it the best cruising catamaran yet seen. It comes at a large dollar price ($500,000 a decade ago)

After 14 years afloat they're "swallowing the hook" in Turkey to become landed gentry.

Memet comments, "... it's not a challenge, or adventure - it's a lifestyle - not dangerous - with caution,- no more than needed for survival ashore. Pirates = suburban muggings. Storms - good seamanship..." "Adventure:" incur risk (Oxford), "Adventurous lifestyle:" one providing challenges different to the norm.

Perhaps in the beginning it's an adventure related to a past; in the end, it's a lifestyle related to the present.

Fresh water electric pump is down; back to saving power and manual pump. Message there? Coloured pencil sketch of dolphins breaking from a wave. Dolphins around the boat today - inspiration.

The northerly gale increases to 25-26 knots, gusting; huge waves, relentlessly, pounded into a spectacle of white and azure spray, rush over reef, into the brilliant blues of lee sands and crystal clear water. Sahula swings before natures forces; an observer's home. Dolphins tread their age old path through the lagoon.

It was time to get close and intimate. A pod gamboled by; newly born slipped closer to mothers, slim and aerodynamic; bathed in a serenity that comes from no enemies. Skipper became a dolphin.

Appetite wetted, seas calm, the garden adorned outer reef edge and its colourful guardians made up for anchored inactivity.

Being at sea cleanses the mind and body after long stints ashore or at anchor. Sahula is Port Ghalib bound, 100 nm; a golden orb sets over rugged mountains before a moonlit, overnight passage on an oily calm. Tanya is humming, dinner is last nights vegetarian (tinned, potatoes, a last carrot...), yoghurt and fruit (sultanas, shreaded coconut, orange). A star filled night is mercifully short.

Sleep is between 15 -20 minute clock alarms.

Dawn is an oily calm. Ashore Allah is displaced by the God of Tourism. No minarets jut skyward, only hotel, after hotel, after hotel for European "pinkies.

Egypt beats to a different drum. Less cultural Islam, more western. Port Ghalib, a multi-million (billion?) resort "city" carved out of the abject dryness surrounding a Red Sea marsa, stands as a modern monument to tourism excess. Built by a Kuwait Sheik, it's mainly a retreat for warmth seeking Russians. Their exercise is diving trips aboard a fleet of purpose built boats. It is summer, inactive staff fill time not tills. Guests are "gold."

Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, rows of tourist shops, ATMs, greener grass and palm trees contrast the desert and dust. A $40 million private motor yacht parks centerpiece.

Port Ghalib is the least expensive check in point for Egypt. Skipper receives a one month visa and cruising permit.

Sahula has her first experience of a "Mediterranean" buoyed berth: fore and aft lines. Skipper's maneuvering skills are tested in a strong northerly.

Respite is a hot shower, a restaurant meal, cold beer and ignoring the expense.

Material comfort is soon an illusion. Sahula carves a calm sea north to Hurghada. The gods are smiling.

A mind change is underway. Acer, the laptop, is ill with a virus. It's being "cleansed" by Peter (Cool Change).. A borrowed computer (Turkish laptop) has no GPS. The ease of GPS combined with a digital chart is a fond memory.

Skipper uses the Radar GPS to check the course and position on a hard chart, every hour.

A lesson learned. A second computer is on the agenda. One computer for "passive" use ie no outside inputs and the other "active"computer taking inputs. Both being set up as a navigation alternative to the other. The "active" computer virus program being regularly updated with internet connections.

The solo fleet of three is two. Cool Change has engine problems and remains in port. The computer epic - getting the computer to Sahula begins. Sahula cannot leave Hurghada without it. Cool Change is wind bound in Ghalib. Finally, it travels north with a couple journeying by bus to Hurghada.

Over a thousand dive boats work out of Hurghada. They crowd the nearby reefs.

As a Rally participant, Sahula receives a free week in the marina. At $US 20.00 a night it is welcome.

Cruisers often view a sanitized world. Hurgarda marina is centerpiece to an array of glitzy units, restaurants and boutique shops. Beyond, a street away is the urban grind of half built apartment blocks, dirt streets and small businesses eking a living and a bustling city centre.

For Skipper it's the door to the Nile and pharaoh culture.

Luxor beckons and plans are made. Advice from Marje, a Finish lady married to a local, working part-time as a travel agent, proves invaluable. Skipper joins Peter and Barbara (Musketelle, NZ).

We travel aboard the luxury "Super Jet" bus (US$9.00 one way) through desert and the fertile Nile valley. It is a stark contrast: inhabitable dryness to luxuriant Bruegelian farm lands. An unchanged timeless scene; a yellow and green patchwork quilt, of manual labour and donkey carts, bringing in the grain harvest. It is the same land that fed the Pharoahs civilization.

Luxor is tourism. Hotel, horse carriage and taxi touts besiege. The Emilio Hotel (4 star -US $30 single, $40 double including breakfast) is recommended and doesn't disappoint. The uninterrupted rooftop view across the Luxor temple, the Nile, graceful felugas (traditional sailing boats), to the necropolis hills is memorable.

The Egyptian souk (market) provides a birthday (Annalise) gift: a silver key to paradise. "Half price for you...only today..." The next day is the same.

Ahmed is recommended as a taxi for the West Bank tours to the Valley of the Kings, of Queens, of Nobles and temples. It is good advice (US$30 a day) (phone: 010 507 6306).

2-4000 years before Christ, this Valley hosted the Pharoahs civilization. The society created a religion, art, architecture and government that functioned when Europe was primitive. A tour of the antiquities remaining cannot be "done" in a day or even a week. It is so overwhelming in its splendour, creative art, concept and architecture that to try to understand it before visiting it places an impossible burden. It requires two or more visits. It is enough to just soak up, bath in. Better to have some visual perception before embarking on the intellectual exercise of understanding.

A ticket allows three King's tombs. Tut Ankh Hamun's is an extra fee as the only intact tomb yet found (1922). Only Tut's mummy remains, all else is in the Cairo museum. It remained unfound due to the entrance being under the rubble from Ramesses IV tomb.

There are 63 tombs. A Pharoah's tomb provided an economy of artisans, workers and agriculture. The gods were thanked through tomb and temple building. It was a time of tremendous artistic flowering. Temples and tombs were intricately carved and painted in iconic scenes of the many gods. It is impossible to imagine the huge temple complexes adorned in colourful pristine art. Remarkably some colour (red, blue, yellow, gold, white) remains to hint at the splendour.

Karnak Temple complex is some hundred acres.. The Temple huge and imposing. It was developed by each succeeding Pharoahs. A Son et Lumiere emphasized its mystique.

Roberts (English, 1800's) watercolours view the Luxor Temple, pre-tourism. Surrounding roads built higher and cutting it off from the river, now subjugate it to a Temple of tourism.

Skipper returns to Sahula. Three days was insufficient. A return visit considered after study and time to assimilate the wonder. Luxor joins, Ubud, Bali and Sana, Yemen as in need of a return visit.

Skipper reads "Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt" (Armour). The colour pencil sketch "Mona Lisa of Luxor" recalls the ancient culture, its mystique and colour.

Predicting the weather is a major interest of frustrated cruisers. Each has a different source and different conclusion and a different rationale for its unpredictability. Hurghada, an inherently windy place tests all soothsayers. Finally, Sahula leaves and begins the Gulf of Suez passage.

The passage is to Endeavour Harbour, Shag Rock and the eastern coastal passage. Calmer seas are reported on the east. Tur, and an overnight passage in calm, then rough, then windy then calm puts aside any forecast. Luck has more to do with and seamanship ie inate feeling that now is the time.

A fleet arrives in Suez. All feel the relief of a completed Red Sea passage. The Suez canal measurer arrives courtesy of the yacht agent (Felix Agency) (no tape just information on the yachts vital statistics), a fee paid (some US$350.00) and departure is set for early morning. Ismailia (45 nm) with a canal pilot. Departure can be delayed by a warship or weather. A evening sandstorm wraps the fleet.

Skipper relives early times when adorned in whites, the Suez struck wonder into the young Australian. Now, seeming inches away, huge mammoths calve silently by, dwarfing Sahula. All is under the watchful eye of the endless military camps along the canal.

Ibrahim, the Pilot speaks some English. He asks for more speed but Sahaula strains to progress. Ismailia soon welcomes Sahaul to its yacht club. This is to be the base for Skipper to visit Cairo and its superb pyramids and museum.

Next report: Cairo to Turkey.

David

(009) 593 539 85 32 mob in Turkey.