Eritrea

We anchored in the lee of another deserted remote island, sand and rock. Left at 7 AM next day headed for Shumma island, yet another deserted remote island. We sailed for awhile and were going along at almost 8 knots when the wind shifted to dead ahead and freshened. No place to go except ahead. So, sails down and both motors full ahead. I hate motoring! We pulled into the island about 5 PM and stayed the night and next day. Went for a walk, read and had a great evening meal, Barbecued fish.

Interesting tidbit: the Red sea is the saltiest open sea in the world. The current is usually from south to north especially in summer to make up water lost to evaporation. That is a lot of evaporation! The first day out from Aden we caught a big Barracuda, about a meter long! Then the next day we caught a couple of Spanish Mackerel. The next day we caught more fish and by the end of the day fish were jumping everywhere. Lots of big Spanish Mackerel. We finally had to quit fishing - the freezer and fridge were both full (Ruth also made ceviche)and we were having fish for breakfast, lunch and Dinner. Really! Bob is from Nova Scotia and they eat lots of fish in Nova Scotia, but not so much in California.

Next day as we were bringing up the anchor two men swam toward us from the Island. They were Eritrian fishermen. Their fishing Dhow with 8 people aboard hit the reef on the other side of the island and the boat was being slowly bashed up on the reef. If they can get it off the reef soon they may? be able to save the boat with repairs. We were planning to take them to the main city Massawa, our next port of call, but ended up calling the Massawa Port control using the VHF radio. They said they would send out a large tow boat, so we gave the fishermen a care package, wished them luck, and left for Massawa. Not a great place to be stranded!!

Three hours later, 1/2 way to Massawa we saw a large power boat headed out, and later that evening the Dhow was towed into Massawa and hauled out by a large crane. It was nice waving at the fishermen as they were towed past us.

We are now in Massawa tied to the side of a concrete pier. This is an old Italian colonial town that looks like it lost a war. We plan to be here a few days.