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All times GMT. Until 10 Dec 2004 when they revert to local times. Detail of the voyage before 1 January 2007 have been
removed to make access to the site quicker
ABU SIMBEL, ASWAN AND LUXOR TRIP
A 0500 departure on 20th April by private car to Aswan. Uneventful and some god desert views. Our arrival in Aswan was
marred by the very poor hotel chosen for us by Royal Drean Tours ( avoid them like the plague) but I persevered and we were
put into a better hotel with Nile views and close to the famous souk which we visited. We took the local ferry across the
Nile to see the Island of Plants. This was once Lord Kitcheners Spice garden and it was lovely.
Abu Simbel.
A 0400 departure in convoy with all the buses and cars going there. Our car had a spare seat which was taken by an armed
soldier providing security for the convoy. The Sun Temple of Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II together with the Hathor Temple
of Queen Nefertari and was moved 241m from it’s original postion, as the water rose to cover it after the high dam at
Aswan had been completed. The dismantling and rebuilding of these 2 temples is in itself a marvel of engineering. Seeing the
4 statues of Ramses II as we came from behind the artificial hill (but built from the original stone) was incredible. Words
really can’t describe the impact it has on one’s senses. Nevertheless we were eventually able to move from our
awe struck stances and explore both the inside of it and of Queen Nefertari’s temple. We had a qualified English speaking
Egyptologist for all our time so we were oft times reeling back with information. The things I remember about Ramses II was
that he is considered the king of all kings, he thought he was a god too and queen Nefertari is the only queen with statues
the same size as her husband. The drive back through the desert to Aswan was amazing with the mountains in the distance and
nothing but sand as the road moves away from the fertile valley of the Nile.
Philae
On the island of Philae is the temple of Isis. Interestingly this and 4 other temples were built by Alexander the Great so
are in fact Greek temples. However, Alexander built the temple of Isis as the Egyptians had done so apart from the more shapely
carved relief’s of the women it is difficult to see any differences. This temple was built about 241 bc but after the
fall of the Greeks and the rise of the Roman empire the temples were taken over and defaced in the early AD years by the Coptic
Christians. Nevertheless the temple of Isis is in remarkable condition had some fantastic carvings that could have been done
last week they were in such good condition ( we were to say the same thing at all the temples we visited). One of the reasons
that the temples survived so well is that many of them were covered by sand and silt.
Kom Ombo
We sailed overnight on our Nile Cruiser and arrived next morning at the East bank some 30kms downstream from Aswan at Kom
Ombo to see the Temple of Haroeris and Sobek. The distinguishing feature of this temple is it’s bi-symmetry with twin
entrances, one for Haroersis also known as Horus depicted as falcon headed and which seemed to me to be one of the most often
carved gods. The other entrance was for Sobek the crocodile headed god which wasn’t seen much outside of this temple.
It was interesting to see some fine carvings of the many surgical instruments that were used – stethoscopes, scalpels
and suction caps which showed just how advanced the Egyptians were some 3000 years ago.
Edfu
The Temple of Horus ranks as one of the finest temples on the Nile and it was certainly very impressive (but so were all the
other tmples we saw) I do remember that one of the obelisks was missing and can now be found on the banks of the Thames and
called Cleopatra’s Needle. The temple was almost completely buried until it was discovered in the 1860’s which
accounts in part for its excellent condition. Like many of the temples it was built over many hundreds of years (Karnak took
2000 years) so there have been many changes and additions so it is difficult to identify the origins. In this case though,
the temple is clearly dedicated to Horus who was originally the sky god but after seeking the revene of his father became
the god of revenge.
We set sail again heading for Luxor. We had to traverse a Lock at Esna which came as a surprise and by morning we were moored
along side with the temple of Luxor on the east bank and the Winter Palace (luxury hotel) right next door.
Valley of the Kings
Another early morning start for the Valley of the Kings stopping to see the Colossi of Memnon on the way. They were very
impressive to say the least. We were unable to take any photos of the Valley of the Kings. We visited three tombs out of
63, which was plenty for a morning but did leave you wanting to see more. We visited the tombs of Ramses1, 111 and VI.
We could not believe the colour of some of the decoration. We then visited the temple built by egypt’s only queen dressed
like a man and wore a false beard, Hatshepsut whose effigies were then thoroughly defaced after her death by her successor
Tuthmoses III.
In the afternoon we saw the amazing temple at Karnak on the West bank with its huge hypostyle hall of 134 coloumns. It was
stunning. Luxor temple by night was majestic and we explored it ourselves without the guide on Saturday morning before heading
back to Hurghada stopping at Senzo Mall which has a modern supermarket the like of which we have not seen since we left Thailand.
It is well stocked with everything you could need.
16th April 2010 Port Ghalib to Hurghada 110 nms
A simple overnight motor to Hurghada. The winds and waves were up by 0200 but we had made good time and soon got shelter closer
to Hurghada .
12th April 2010 Dolphin to Port Ghalib 110nms
We left at 0600 and planned if the weather was favourable to go straight to Hurghada. In the event I downloaded some grib
files (computer generated weather forecast) and it was obvious that the strong Northerlies were returning so we reduced speed
to 3kts and made for Port Ghalib. The expected N arrived at 0245 and rose quickly to 20 kts so the decision to go to PG was
vindicated. A yahcy had left Dolpin he night prior to ur departure to make for Hurghada and got within 50 nms of H before
turning round and sailing 45nms back to PG. The winds and waves were so bad that he wasn’t making very little headway.
Port Ghalib is a resort and apartment complex with surrounding what was Marsa Alam but has been dug out and landscaped to
form canals and a marina. Very little here for the yachts except a very safe anchorage and the chance to go ashore and relax
until the next wx window arrives.
4th April 2010 Elba reef to Dolphin (Sataya) Reef 150nms
This trip meant crossing Foul Bay and it is very aptly named. The wind started off well but throughout the night we had confused
and unpleasant seas which died off somewhat a 0400. and then rose again so that we had 20kts with rising seas and 35 nms to
go. We arrived at 1345 having left at 0745 the previous day. The North winds blew strongly for a week but at least we could
enjoy the dolphins and the protection form the seas. Nicolette had great success swimming with the dolphins which are mopre
used to the presence of humans than those at Elba and took some fabulous underwater photographs and video. One dolphin circled
her and clicked away as though he were having a conversation. On another occasion she saw a baby suckling its mother.
3rd April 2010 Marsa Hamsiat to Elba Reef 22nms
Another day of flat calms. The anchorage had lots of coral so we buoyed it. In the event the anchor lifted cleanly. Good
snorkelling. Nicolette swam briefly with a pod of 30 dolphins
30th March Marsa Shinab to Marsa Hamsiat 22nms
Calm sea for this trip and n owind. More fantastic scenery surrounded by desert and mountains in the distance. We saw Dugongs
and Ospreys and brilliant green kingfishers. We tried to leave on 2 April but with 22kts of wind on the nose we went back
into Hamsiat.
29th March 2010 Wreck to Marsa Shinab 31nms
We arrived at 1215 after motoring all the way. The entrance to the marsa is spectacular and we weaved our way between the
reef fringed shore for about 3 miles to a very well protected anchorage. Probably the most beautiful marsa we anchored in.
Having caught 2 fish on the way we had Shirene, Cat Coquette and Wild Card over for a fish dinner .
28th March 2010 Inkeifal to Wreck Anchorage 23nm
Unusually we were able to sail most of the way close hauled. We anchored close to the reef but there was a lot of coral and
we had some problems lifting the anchor. We reanchored in 20 m but still had problems the next morning getting g the anchor
up as did the 3 other yachts (Shirene, Cat Coquuette and Wild Card) Not a good anchorage.
25th March 2010 Taila Ilsands to Marsa Inkeifal. 10nms
We motored into the usual winds and arrived at a lovely anchorage which offered good proection.
23 March 2010 Marsa Fijab to Taila Islands 39nms
More motoring into wind arriving at 1440 and anchoring in coral and sand, a well protected anchorage when the wind is from
the North. Good snorkelling.
22 March 2010 Suakin to Marsa Fijab 58nms
We motored into 10-12 kts of Northerly between the reefs in a safe channel arriving the next morning. A lovely marsa, which
means bay, where we saw lots of ofpreys.
14 March 2010 Trinkitat to Suakin 42nms
The winds had died in the nght and we therefore had to motorsail into 10 kts of headwinds. I caught a small tuna on the way
which was well received. We arrived in Suakin at 1515. The anchorage is very well protected from all quarters and has good
holding. There is a good market and a stall selling Mango, grapefruit or Orange juice – delicious. We bought some goat
meat (part of the leg) and Nicolette made a fantastic Moroccan Lamb (Goat) dish. We took a bus trip to Port Sudan and enjoyed
Shawrmas and bought a cooked chicken. Suakin is a step back in time, biblical almost with all the men in white dish dashes
and many riding camels or donkeys. Traders making things(!) out of tin cans and stalls selling legs of goat mat and goat heads.
It was once a prosperous town but is now very decayed. If a building is damaged nothing is done so as a result there is a
whole area of buildings that are in ruins with only the minarets still standing.
13 March 2010 Khor Nawarat to Trikitat 42nms
With 2 reefs in the main and no genoa we made 6kts average to arrive in Trinkitat at 1415. The winds had abated a bit to 30kts
and the anchorage offered good protection from the sea but not the wind. The anchor set well but I still laid out 55m of chain
in 6m of water
11 March – 12 March 2010 Massawa to Khor Nawarat 170nms
We had intended to make straight for Suakin but after indifferent winds for the first 20 hours the winds got up to 40kts
with 3.5m short seas which were uncomfortable. We therefore made for the anchorage of Khor Nawarat which offered good protection
from the sea but none from the wind. Luckily the anchor set well the first time in winds of 40 kts.
6 March – 8 March 2010 Assab to Massawa 260nm
A mixed bag of winds to 30kts with only a reefed main flying and flat calms as we approached Massawa. We had to tie up alongside
a 3ft high granite jetty which was very bad for the fenders. I put metal and plastic protectors on them but nevertheless 2
of the fender covers got ripped. From Massawa we took a bus to Asmara and stayed overnight. Whilst Massawa shows all the signs
of the 1990 war with pocked marked and derelict buildings Asmara outwardly looks reasonably prosperous. There are lots of
street-side cafes serving coffee and cakes and everyone is reasonably well dressed. Eritrea is a mainly christian country
so alcohol is freely available and it made a pleasant change to hear church bells in the morning rather than the wailing and
competing calls of the Iman. The drive to Asmara took us through semi desert and up to 2500m so Asmara is quite cool. It was
developed by the Italians and so there is a lot of art deco type buildings and lots of Italian coffee machines. We stayed
at the Crystal Hotel which was a cut above our usual but we wanted to relax in pleasant surroundings. Back to Massawa and
a meal of spaghetti Bolognese and a beer. We checked out the next day and the immigration officer came on board to ensure
we had no stowaways and waited on the quayside until we left.
1 March 2010 Aden to Assab, Eritrea 130nms
It was an uneventful sail and motorsail arriving in the straits of Bab el Mandeb at 0200. There were lots of unlit fishing
boats in the straits who flashed weak LED torches at us so we spent a couple of hours dodging these phantom boats. The anchorage
at Lahaleb Deset was very secure and good for all conditions. We saw a goliath heron and pink flamingos and a number of osprey
type birds.
18 February – 23 February 2010 Salalah to Aden 600nms.
Details of the Convoy which went from Salalah to Aden are given separately. However, the passage itself was also interesting.
We had no visits from any of the coalition forces but had 3 engine failures and 6 yachts got caught up in fishing nets. We
had very little wind except during the afternoon of the last 3 days. The currents were strongly against us for the first 2
days then mostly with us. I caught 4 tuna one morning before breakfast which gave us lots of fish for the next 5 days. Aden
was very interesting and we hired a car for a day to see the local sights and also to go to the airport to pick up a package.
The night before our drive there was the heaviest rainfall for 25 year. As a result the roads were flooded and we took a number
of diversions to get to Crater and other sights. I bought a large live crab and we had a local meal of chicken and rice in
a very busy local café, as soon as you finished eating you were expected to leave to make room for others. The anchorage was
secure but the bottom was covered in debris. We picked up a large tyre and then an anchor. The fuel dock was as filthy as
you could imagine.
MF CONVOY
Sometime in January we heard that a convoy was being organised from Salalah to Aden and would leave early in March, There
would be a charge of 200 euros for each yacht in the convoy. We wanted to be in the Red Sea before the end of February as
did a number of our friends. After some deliberation I decided to organise and lead a convoy which would leave in Mid February
(MF) By the time we left Salalah the number had grown to 27 including a single handed Korean who spoke little English, in
fact there were 17 nationalities represented. Fortunately I had done a good deal of planning and the convoy plan could cope
with what would seem to be the largest yacht convoy ever, at least one which maintained formation for 6 days.
The convoy was split into groups of 6 each group being 2 rows of 3, each group had a leader and he decided a safe formation
distance from the group ahead. The leader of each group was in the centre of the front row of his group; the outer yachts
formatted on him and the second row formatted on the yachts ahead. This turned out to be the easiest way for the yachts to
formate on each other. During the day we kept close formation with yachts about 100-150m apart and a night we increased the
separation ( pirates seldom attack at night) Instead of using our yacht names each group had a code name be it, Eagle, Skyhawk,
Merlin, Kestrel Sakar. Within each group was lead, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. This worked extremely well. If any one called with
a problem or with information then everyone knew immediately the position of the calling yacht. We used channel 67 as the
hailing channel (we had used 16 until there was a pirate attack about 40 nms from us and the frequency was embargoed for emergency
use only during the attack). The pirate attack was a wake up call and sharpened everyone's senses. The US coalition force
ship which went to the aid of the freighter being attacked made no attempt to intercept the pirates after they discontinued
the attack and I had to call them up to find out which direction the pirates where headed. They went South and away from the
route we took which was about 10 nms offshore.
We practised what we would do in the event of a pirate attack; in essence the convoy closed up so that yachts might only be
10 yds apart. We had no weapons with which to fight off the pirates, only some lines streaming behind the rear yachts to catch
the propellers of the pirates outboard engines. Our defence was the inhibiting presence of 27 yachts very close together,
we hoped it would cause confusion and indecision. The pirates wouldn’t know what weapons we might have and since they
look for targets of opportunity our convoy would not be a target they would want to attack ( we will never know if e were
right) Significantly the convoy must have looked intimidating to the fishermen we met because with one exception they kept
out of our path which is unheard of normally.
The convoy sailed or motored at 5kts boat speed. Katanne can maintain that with 1600 revs so I motored the whole passage at
those revs. When we had some wind our speed increased but I kept the engine running. This ensured that everyone could maintain
formation even if they had to shorten sail sometimes.
We had a couple of engine failures but “Silver Fern “ took first 1 boat in tow until they fixed the problem and
then almost immediately afterwards another yachts, which had 2 outboards one of which had failed, had to be towed the rest
of the way to Aden. On our last night we ran into a stream of fishing nets and no lees than 6 yachts got caught up in them.
All were able to cut themselves free and we never lost the convoy formation, at times it was stretched out a little but the
group formation remained intact and we soon had the convoy formation back in place.
We had a brief stop each day for yachts to carry out essential maintenance and during one of these stops “The Southern
Cross” launched her dinghy (outboard already attached just for this eventuality) and transferred fuel cans from a number
of yachts to other yachts. The whole operation took less than 15 minutes.
One of the yachts “Chenoa” sent an email twice a day to the UKMTO who recorded our position and were thus able
to send the nearest coalition force vessel to us had it been necessary. I had from the beginning of the planning kept both
the UKMTO and MSCHOA advised and was delighted when they took to calling me by phone for clarification and updates.
My original plan had assumed a 5kt boat speed which would give us an arrival time of 0900 on the 23rd. Amazingly despite breakdowns,
fishing nets, adverse and favourable currents we reached Aden at 0900 0n 23rd February. I had asked the convoy that we make
an orderly arrival to avoid chaos in the anchorage. The first group increased speed to 6kts an hour from the port and the
other groups adjusted their spacing. After 6 days of being in close proximity to each other and everyone naturally keen
to drop anchor we nevertheless achieved a remarkably ordered arrival and there were no problems in anchoring the convoy. Our
port controller gave us a deal of entertainment with his quaint English whish I’m sure had been learnt from watching
US cartoons.
Naturally we had a party the night after our arrival and it was both amusing and endearing to see that the group formation
had held with crews with in each group sitting with others from that group. Lots of friendships had been forged during a passage
which required everyone to give great consideration to the boats around them, to suppress their natural instincts and work
together and to be as patient as Job.
30 January – 10 Febuary 2010 Uligan to Salalah, Oman 1275nms
We had good winds for most of the passage, to begin with we were closed hauled and not quite making our course but after
a few days the winds eased, we also had favourable currents for much of this passage. On the morning of the 8th February we
were advised by a yacht about 100nms ahead that they were in a gale with winds to 40kts. We therefore changed to our small
genoa and reefed the main. After 6 hours we could see a bank of nimbo stratus and as soon as it reached us the winds went
to 25 then 35kts. Amazingly, Nicolette continued with her cooking plans and made a pizza during the gale which lasted for
about 24 hours. After the gale the winds died and we motored the last 30 nms to Salalah.
SALALAH, Oman
A very typical Arabian town and one which has the benefit of oil revenues. Lots of good roads and everyone it seems has a
car. We used an agent called Mohammed who sorted out our inbound clearance and organised , hire cars and fuel and gas. We
hired a car for the day and went to a modern museum and into the countryside where we saw lots and lots of camels seemingly
roaming around freely. One delight was the Oasis club which cooked wonderful steaks and had a good selection of beers which
was a surprise given that we were in a strict muslim country. It was here were we had our meeting to finalise the convoy details
prior to our departure from Salalah through pirate alley to Aden
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