Sudan to Egypt

Suakin, Sudan

Suakin was the last active slave trading port - operating until 1941. This the largest country in Africa with 35 million people divided into 300 distinct tribes with 100 different dialects and languages. Arabic is spoken by most and the majority are Muslim. North Sudan is primarily Arab and Muslim while the south is predominantly Christian and Animist, divisions that have caused civil war between North and South from the onset. In 1986 elections were held and President Bashir took charge of a nation fraught with political instability, economic crisis, civil war, and famine. The country is still not prosperous, but oil has been discovered in the western desert. Problem is that the oil is in rebel-held territory and separationists threaten the 2000 mile pipeline. Sudan was an Al Queda supporter, but now with oil is trying to improve their international image. I didn’t make all this up – most taken from the cruising guide book.

We anchored in a nice quiet bay just inland of the main port and are surrounded by crumbling ruins.

The buildings were built of coral blocks and are rapidly disintegrating. A few people live in the ruins, but most live in tin shacks and skin covered stick huts are very poor, most without water or electricity. The main commercial port city of 2 million souls is a bit more modern, but still basic. Suakin, does not have an internet café or paved streets. There are donkey carts everywhere, and a few loaded camels. I cannot think of a worse situation than being born a donkey in Sudan. Every driver that I saw had a tough stick that was often used on the poor animal trying to pull an over loaded cart. The people are friendly and really appreciate that we spoke a bit of Arabic and understood some of their customs. When we bought eggs, Ruth got an extra one and a smile for asking for 10, “ashara”, in Arabic. We wandered everywhere looking into their lifestyle. We went to the bread mixing place where the man has a huge machine that mixes and kneads the dough,. The bread was great! We also bought fresh vegetables, eggs, potatoes, etc from the local outside stalls. We passed on the meat – far too many flies, besides, next to the butcher is the live (for a little while) animal market. One man offered to sell me a stick for beating my wife, while Ruth was standing next to me. He got the cold shoulder, and I told him she was a good woman and needed the stick more than I. Everyone, everywhere, likes Obama, but don’t mention Bush. When we checked into the country I asked the agent if they had a cold beer in the country, and he laughed. Not a warm or cold beer in Eritrea or Sudan, maybe in Egypt.

A quick note about trucks, since my nephew, David, knows a bit about them.

All long distance trucks here are at least 80 ft. long. First you have the truck/tractor with dual rear axles, then a 40 ft. trailer with 3 forward axles and two rear axles followed by another 5 axle - 40 ft. trailer. I don’t have a guess what the payload might be.

Sailing – One must pay very close attention moving about in the Red Sea. There are reefs everywhere, many are not above water. You can be sailing along in 200 ft of water and suddenly it is 2 ft. The charts are about 50 years old and in some areas no charts!!! We are presently anchored offshore at a reef that is about 2 miles long with only a couple of stones showing above water. We can see bottom clearly at 40 ft. Fishing is probably the best in the world. We eat fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with raw fish (ceviche) for appetizer.

The winds are predominantly from the north, so we have done our share of smashing and bashing windward. Yesterday we covered 58 miles making good 32 miles – from 7 AM until 5PM. But then, we got here for free. The wind died just as we came to the reef. Today we just hung around snorkeling on the reef, reading and writing this. Maybe wind tomorrow? It is quite a feeling being in the middle of nowhere, out in the water, with your whole house and a well stocked kitchen. We plan to day sail the next 400 miles to Egypt, stopping at reefs or coastal inlets each night.

A couple of days later – We had a bit of excitement today. After motoring for a couple of hours. We put the sails up and started sailing. Ruth heard a noise from the engine room and when we opened the hatch there was two feet of water in the engine room. We were stunned! We have never, ever had a drop of water in our boat. We started bailing with a bucket and then the bilge pump. We soon discovered that it was fresh water and that the discharge hose from the fresh water pump had come off and the pressure pump had pumped the entire 130 liters of drinking water out of the starboard tank into the engine room. Not so serious of a problem, clean it up, put the hose clamp back on, and run the water maker for several hours. Ain’t technology wonderful.

Yesterday we had one of those days that we dread, but know we will occasionally get. We were out with all sails up. The light wind moved to the north and quickly built to 25 knots along with steep ugly seas. Luckily we weren’t far from an anchorage, so we smashed and bashed for a couple of hours getting into the wide bay where we dropped anchor. The bay wasn’t exactly smooth and we bounced most of the night while the wind howled. We had 250 ft. of anchor chain out, and set the anchor alarm, so that it would beep if the anchor was not holding and we moved more than 100 ft. The anchor alarm went off at 05:30. Ruth and Bob got up and decided that the wind angle had changed causing us to move sideways, not backwards. All ok. I don’t hear well, and slept thru the whole thing. Just another day cruising.

To Egypt

From Suakin we sailed north about 50 miles to Sanganeeb reef where we anchored for a couple of nights and went snorkeling in the crystal clear water. Then off to Knor Shinab. Late in the day the winds and seas really increased such that we came into this bay with 25 knots of wind and anchored for 2 days while it blew. Then off to Arakayai Bay where we anchored in a very quiet bay. While there we saw a large camel heard moving north with 3 riders and about 30 camels. It turns out that the Sudanese do not like eating camel, but the Egyptians really do. Next day we were off for Elba Reef about 10 miles off shore where we anchored early afternoon and snorkeled a bit.

We then did a tough overnight sail to get to Dolphin Reef. Sailed all day, all night and all day again getting here at 5 PM. The wind was against us all the way. We tacked several times and sailed more than 220 miles to make good 150. This boat will sail! We had both dagger boards down all the way and crashed and smashed our way into the wind and waves. This is one of many reefs along the coast. Our last anchorage was at Elba reef which is about 10 miles off the coast with very little of it above water. To come into these reefs you need to know exactly!! where there is an opening and come in very, very carefully in good daylight. With my polaroid glasses, I stand high in the bow and direct Ruth with hand signals while she follows the GPS. We tried one opening and had to back out at the last moment and find a better one. When you have 14 tons moving forward, it isn't always easy to back out. In many of the reefs there is a reminder of what happens if you get it wrong. As you approach Elba reef you will see a large ship that got it wrong and is now a rusting hulk high and dry. They must have been going full speed and did not know there was a reef there. The whole Red sea is littered with wrecked boats. We are here in Dolphin Reef, Egypt. This is a reef about 12 miles out where the dolphins don't seem to mind people swimming around with them. We swam with them this morning not far from our stern in crystal-clear water.

We are now approaching civilization, or at least Egyptian civilization. For several weeks we have anchored either alone or with other sailboats, many of them passing thru the Red Sea on their way around the world. Here at Dolphin reef we have several large very expensive-looking motor yachts. A Russian boat anchored near us with lots of lights and a generator going full bore. There are 3 marina's ahead of us with all the amenities, and it would be nice except Egypt is one of the worst countries in the world for corruption. Every one has his hand out. They want more and are good at getting it, based on long experience. If some one offers to help you – be careful! or you are requested to pay him for guiding you. If he takes you shopping, it will be to his cousin's store. Interesting, that it has not changed since I was in Egypt in the late 1960's. We have to pay an agent just to check into the country and all together I expect it to cost $150. Later, there will be an admeasuring fee, a canal transitting fee, a pilot fee, and an agent fee. I'm not looking forward to a pilot actually driving our boat. I treat the engines like a precious commodity, and he will want to get on with it. Well at least they have cold beer. We are now in Port Ghalib, a new very posh marina/resort/city carved out of the desert. It is huge planned resort with 4 star hotels, shops, dive boats, restaurants, camel rides etc. all at healthy prices with a 10% tax and a 20% tourist tax. We are told that this entire huge complex is owned by one man from Kuwait. There is nothing nearby, except the airport. The nearest Egyptian city is 150 Km away, with nothing in between except sand.