November 2005

Finike - Meeting New Friends

First, a little information about the Vasco da Gama Rally. A couple of years ago, our Rally Leader, Lodewijk Brust, wintered in Panji, Goa. While there he became a bit of a local celebrity and was invited to meet the mayor of Panji. At the meeting, the mayor explained to Lo that they really wanted more cruisers to come to Goa. He suggested that Lo organize a Rally with that end in mind and committed to build a marina to accommodate the boats. From that meeting, the idea of the Rally grew. Lo also asked friends John and Jolanda from the yacht Joho, to be co-leaders. They agreed and the VdG Rally is the result. There are details on the VdG website (www.vascodagamarally.nl) but in short, it's a loose cruise in company starting in Turkey at the beginning of November, and arriving in Goa, India, around the middle of April. The route involves crossing from Turkey to Egypt, transiting the Suez Canal, cruising the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba and the Red Sea, crossing the Indian Ocean to Bombay, and then cruising down to Goa with members of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. It's not like a "normal" rally, where every moment is planned, and all activities must be done together. Rather, there are planned points of meeting, for tours, travel, or just to be social, with the in between times left for participants to cruise where and when they wish. The signup was limited to 30 boats, though that became more flexible as a few boats elected to join and leave the group at times other than the beginning and end, respectively.

So, some 22 boats were in the marina at Finike on Friday, October 28, sporting our rally numbers, flags and polo shirts. The weekly market was on a Saturday in Finike, which worked well for all of us to get the last of our fresh fruit and veggies from Turkey. The first face-to-face meeting of the group occurred on Saturday evening, November 29, with a formal session (sort of) first, followed by a doner barbecue (with wine!) courtesy of the marina. This evolved into a singalong, and a good time was had by all. We were scheduled to leave on Sunday, but the weather forecast was not good, so we agreed to wait until Monday, to leave. Sunday, then, was a "free" day, with all of us still doing those last minute things. (I wonder what we would have done without Sunday?)

10 02 Finike Marina TT at front
10 03 Vasco da Gama Rally group – kickoff party
10 04 VdG singers

Passage from Turkey To Egypt

Early Monday morning, boats began leaving. We decided to wait until later in the morning, as the distance was such that to arrive in Port Said in the early morning, we had to depart no earlier than 10 am. We were nearly the last to exit the marina.
There was very little wind, as predicted, so we motored for the first day, alternating between the engines to manage our speed. At daybreak on Tuesday (November 1, Ann's birthday), the wind came up, giving us an opportunity to sail. The winds were not strong, but conditions were perfect, and we took off, averaging about 8.5-9 knots with all sail up. We started passing the boats that had started earlier.

Life is never perfect, though, and as the day progressed, the winds built a bit, and we had to start managing our speed. So we took in one, then two reefs in the main, and rolled up half the jib. We were still making 8.5 knots, very comfortably too. And we were now in front of the fleet. But our ETA was fluctuating between 3 AM and 5 AM, altogether too early for landfall. Of course, we didn't know how long the wind would hold. So, we had to decide whether to take the speed when it was available, and plan to go into a holding pattern if we got in too early, or to manage the speed down at that time.

We did continue to “take it while we could” for a while, but then some squalls appeared on the radar, so we decided to take down the sails completely for a while, and motor more slowly. It was not so unpleasant, and once the squalls had passed, the wind died almost completely, so it was motoring for us once again.
By this time, our ETA was looking more like mid-morning, so we were more comfortable about that too. We started to see the outlying oil and gas rigs just before the dawn started to lighten the sky. It seemed like we were almost there, but in fact we still had some 30 miles to go!

Arrival in Egypt

Eventually we came close to the entrance to Port Said and the Suez Canal. We understood that there was a place where we could anchor, and as we were first of the group to arrive, we planned to drop anchor, shower and clean up the boat, and wait for a few more boats before starting to enter the canal proper. Well, we were told in no uncertain terms by a shouting Egyptian on a Port pilot boat that anchoring in that spot was not allowed, and we that had to follow him into the Port.

Canal passages are unique. The host country determines the transit rules, and the rules almost all involve large sums of money changing hands. Most of this is known to some extent in advance, and the processes are sort of documented. They do, however, change on a regular basis, so one must be flexible.

Because we were with a rally, most of the arrangements had been made in advance. Each boat must have an agent for the transit, and there are many available. The one that most yachties use is Felix (a company, not a person) in Port Said. So our rally organizers had already arranged with Felix for our arrival.

So, when the Port pilot boat started to shout at us, we called Felix, as instructed. Spoke to Waael, our Felix rep for our visit. He told us that we did indeed have to follow the pilot, and so we did. So much for our clean up plans. Then a pilot delivery boat arrived, this one with a man who told us he was a pilot, and he had to come aboard to “help us get in”. We had about a half-mile to go to Arsenal Basin, where we would tie up. It was not exactly a difficult piece of navigation, so, another call to Waael. Well, the rules say you need a pilot, if one appears at your boat. So our pilot came on board. (A number of rally boats lucked out as they came in; the pilot delivery boats must have been harassing someone else at the time.)

As expected, the boat drivers asked for baksheesh, but we waved them away. They weren't happy. Our pilot, a pleasant man, pointed out the obvious route into Arsenal Basin, even as he was eyeing the various things on our boat. He asked for a Toucan Tango t-shirt, and later some wine, and he actively eyeballed and fingered our Catana jackets. In the end, he got a couple of packs of cigarettes, and ungraciously asked if that was all. We said yes, smiled, and sent him on his way.

As first boat in, we had lots of room to tie up. We don't typically anchor and tie back, but it was required in the basin, and the process went smoothly. The only difficulty we had was in hearing anything over the muezzin calling Islamic prayers over an electronic speaker in the mosque some 200 feet from our stern. Within a few minutes we were ashore, and were almost immediately assaulted by two more men asking for papers, originals of course. More calls to Waael. Turns out these guys were from Felix Agency, and we should give 'em what they want. We did. Not long after that, the muezzin stopped shouting ... hmm.

Arsenal Basin is not a particularly calm spot, with ferry boats and fishing boats running in and out at all hours, but it's good holding, and Port Said and Felix had organized good security for us. Some of the other early arrivals began to show up, and soon we were doing the usual comparisons on our passages. But not for long. Neither of us had had very good sleep on the way down, so we were pretty exhausted. A quick cleanup of the boat, a very welcome shower, and we dropped off gratefully in our big bunk.

11 01 01 Felix Agency crew with Waael at right
11 01 02 VdG yachts on quay at Port Said

Port Said

Port Said city was a good introduction to Egypt. There were police and other officials everywhere, each demanding to see passports and/or papers. There were markets with hundreds of flies buzzing around the excellent fruits and vegetables. In butchers' doorways, full skinned beef and sheep carcasses swayed gently among the swarms. Chickens clucked freely around our feet. The enticing smells of hot buns and pide breads lured us to the bakeries. Street vendors were hawking any piece of tourist junk they could find. Drivers used the roads as their personal space, and pedestrians seemed to have absolutely no rights. Muezzins called the faithful to prayer on an ongoing basis. And overriding it all, the demands for baksheesh were constant. What a fabulous experience!

Once we got out exploring, we found the phone store, and got ourselves an Egyptian SIM card. We then discovered, to our delight, that there was GPRS available, so we wouldn’t be so internet-deprived as we had expected to be.
We also organized to get fuel - this is the good part - it was $0.50 per litre. Seemed almost free, and we were told it would get cheaper still further south.
One particularly distinctive thing about Egypt was the dress of the women. There were no females without at least a headscarf, and many wore the full chador (black gowns like a nun's habit, with a hood that covers everything but the eyes.) Even young teenagers, who were wearing jeans and sweaters, still had headscarves on. All arms and legs were always covered (this was true for men as well as women).
Our planned transit to Ismailia (half way down the Suez Canal) was to be Monday, November 7, so on Sunday evening, Felix (mainly Mr. Najib Latif, the owner) put on a very nice dinner for us at a local large hotel. We were bussed there from the Basin, accompanied by a full police escort, and treated to some highly energetic local dancing when we arrived. The dinner was a beautiful buffet, although the hotel heating was not working, and we all froze through the lovely meal. It was at the end of the meal that we discovered that we would be leaving at 4 am, promptly, therefore we would have to get up at 3 am. Well .. we all thought it was a joke at first, but no, it wasn’t. So all of a sudden, we were champing at the bit to get back to the boats early, and get things ready for the next morning.

11 01 03 VdG Group in Port Said
11 01 04 Port Said market
11 01 05 Dancers at dinner
11 01 06 Desserts at governor dinner

Suez Canal - Part 1

The alarm rang at 3 am, reminding us that we cruisers take the hind spot when it comes to preferred departure times! There was a lot of hanging about, of course, and in the end, we didn’t leave the dock until about 4:30, and then had to wait around till about 5:30 for the mandatory canal pilot to arrive on Mistral, the boat of our rally leader. Seems Egyptian time is a bit like Turkish time.

We left Arsenal Basin trying to get in a line, in the dark, with the bigger boats first, the smallest ones last. We had a tug in front, and one at the end. The good news was that there was only one pilot, so the baksheesh payment was substantially less overall. The bad news was that getting 22 cruisers to motor at the same speed, in a line, one behind the other, was like getting cats to obey orders. The pilot, who was on Lo's boat, was continually cajoling him to "get the boats on the STARBOARD side of the canal - the BIG SHIPS are coming!") Some cruisers just didn't want to listen though ...

We arrived in Ismailia around 3 pm, and by 5, we had all tied up at the Yacht Club, ready for Happy Hour. Hmmm ... they don't seem to do that in Egypt. So, we had to settle for more of that rum punch. Life is tough, etc.

01 01 07 TT in Suez Canal

Ismailia

Our first captain’s meeting started with a bit of a (justified!) lecture. Lo pointed out that staying to starboard in the canal was not an option, and we would have to do better for the second part of the canal transit. This was followed by an announcement that we would not be permitted to leave the premises of the yacht club - the port police thought it would be too dangerous for us to be wandering around the town. Well, that didn't sit well, of course, and once more, Felix came to the rescue. It's certain that baksheesh changed hands somewhere, but we're not sure where.

The town is not huge, but we managed to find a bakery, and eventually a proper supermarket. It even had real cheese from Holland, so we bought a whole bunch. They also had huge mangos, the best we’ve ever tasted. The public market was astonishing - there were probably more flies than fruit, and the hanging carcasses were not terribly appetizing. We did manage to find some good oranges, and decided to become vegetarian for a while.

The rally organizers arranged a day tour to Cairo and the pyramids. Our tour guide, Mustafa, was great, teaching us first of all how to say "no thanks" in Arabic - so we could fend off the hundreds of vendors who hawk their wares near the pyramids. What a sight those pyramids are - incredible to believe they were actually created by manpower alone. The Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo was excellent, especially all the contents of the tomb of Tutenkamen. The scale of Cairo is overwhelming. With 22 million of Egypt's 72 million people living in Cairo, it is huge, and complete with amazing traffic, large slum areas and some of the worst smog we have ever seen. Nevertheless, it was great to get a taste and we would like to make a separate trip back there.

11 02 01 Ismailia Yacht Club
11 02 02 Ann Garry at Pyramids
11 02 03 Sphinx face on
11 02 04 Sphinx side view
11 02 05 Ann near huge pyramid blocks

Suez Canal - part 2

We left mid-morning of November 12 for the second part of our canal transit. The Suez Canal Authority, who controls everything to do with the canal, decided we needed more pilots this time, so we had a bit of a goat rodeo getting the right pilots on the right boats, and in the right order. Eventually we trailed out into the canal, and motored slowly the last 45 miles of the canal. Unfortunately, because of the late departure, we arrived in Port Suez in the dark, with the wind blowing 20 knots. There were about 20 mooring buoys, and we were to tie a long line from the bow to one, and from the stern to another. With only one small boat to help with lines, and 22 boats arriving within moments of one another, it was quite a show. We ended up being the middle boat of a 5-boat raft-up - that's what fenders are for, I guess.

Port Tawfiq – Port Suez

We bussed into the town of Port Suez the next day, to look for (surprise) a bakery, and a few more fresh veggies. Found both, but it's getting bleaker as we head south. The town itself is not especially small, but it's busy and dirty, and without much to recommend it. We returned thankfully to the boat, and prepared to head south through the Gulf of Suez the following day.

Gulf of Suez - The Spinnaker Run

Our first harbour for anchoring was about 40 miles south, and with the winds expected behind us, we didn't have to leave Port Suez at the crack of dawn. This was also consistent with the desires of the Suez Canal Authority, as they wanted us to wait until the first northbound convoy was through the entrance to the canal.

Not much wind at the start, but by noon we decided it was perfect for the spinnaker. It had been a year since we'd flown it, but after taking care as to how we laid it out on the trampoline, and ensuring the lines were correctly led, we raised it without difficulty. Within moments, we were making 6-7 knots, with an apparent wind of about 7-9. This meant there was true wind of 13 to 16 knots, ideal for this sail. TT was comfortably flying, the autopilot steering perfectly, and the crew was smiling.

In earlier discussions, we had decided that 15 knots apparent would be the limit we would allow ourselves. At that point, we would take the spinnaker down. Well, we never did reach that, as the more the wind came up, and of course it did, the faster we were going. So over the next few hours, the speed over the ground gradually crept up to 8 knots, then 9, then the odd 10. The apparent wind remained at no more than 10-12. The boat was sailing well, and it all felt quite comfortable. We did agree, though, that as the boat began to consistently hit 9 knots, we had some twinges of discomfort. Hmm. Look for clues.

Well, we arrived at our takedown waypoint (a couple of miles from the anchorage), and began to take the sail down. Well, not so fast. We got the sock about 1/2 way down the sail, but (it is much clearer now than it was then) we hadn't let the sheet go free enough, and the bottom of the sail refilled. The details of the next 20 minutes (which seemed more like about 2 hours) would make for entertaining viewing had there been a video camera around. Fortunately for us, there wasn’t, but suffice to say when we got the whole business back on the boat, there was a lot of salt water on the spinnaker, on us, and on the boat. Miraculously, we didn't lose any eyeglasses, fingers, flagpole or footing, nor did we allow any lines to wrap the props. Nor in fact, were there any tears in the spinnaker. However, there were some noticeable bruises on our knees, elbows and egos. We decided that perhaps we needed a refresher on spinnaker takedowns.

11 03 01 The spinnaker flying well – sea still looks flat!

Ras Sudr

This anchorage is not much more than an indentation in the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez. It purports to be protected, and for wind it was, but when the wind died at night (good), the swell didn't (bad), so it was quite rolly all night. After the spinnaker debacle, though, we were not prepared to head out right away, so we stuck it out for a second night. We found that if we tied our anchor bridle asymmetrically, we could angle the boat a bit more head to swell, and the rolling wasn't so dramatic.

Marsa Thelemet

An early morning departure enabled us to head across the Gulf to this reputedly "perfect" anchorage on the west side. We had a good run, mostly motor-sailing, arriving before the important 3 pm deadline for entering a coral-bound anchorage. Thelemet is a large bay capable of holding dozens of boats, with a sand bottom for good holding, and clear water to see the coral bits and weedy areas. The wind was blowing over 25 knots when we got there, but the sea inside the marsa was flat, and because the wind speed was quite constant, even TT wasn't "hunting" as much at anchor as she sometimes does. We stayed in this lovely bay for a number of days, with between 5 and 12 other boats. The water was a bit cool for TT's crew to swim, but all the boats got together for a dinghy happy hour one night, which was great fun. There was also a hilarious timed race in a sailing dinghy, for men only this time, in which TT was one of the buoys. Garry observed only …

The Egyptian authorities had forbidden us to go ashore anywhere between Port Suez and Sharm El Sheikh, so we were all getting a bit boat-bound. All but TT and one other boat left early one morning to head south to the islands, where they could at least sneak ashore for a walk. We followed the next day, leaving at 6:15 am in 25-30 knots of wind, but thankfully it was behind us.

11 03 03a Happy Hour at Thelemet
11 03 03b Mens racing at Thelemet – TT at anchor, disguised as a racing buoy

Sheik Riyah Harbour

It was a long run, about 72 miles, from Thelemet to El Tur, where the rest of the boats were, and where we planned to go. It turned out that because of unfriendly officials in El Tur, and some dinghy vandalism that occurred there, the group had all moved to Sheik Riyah, about 6 miles south. So we made a slight course alteration, and in the end made 78 miles that day, and we arrived at 3:15 pm. That made our average speed 8.7 knots, clearly a record for us! And no spinnaker either!

The next day we had a music afternoon (Vasco da Gama Shanty Singers) on board TT, with 16 people in the cockpit, all singing in English, Dutch, German, French and Swedish. This was surely another record! The ladies tried the sailing dinghy this time, with equally hilarious results. Ann too was an observer only!

Sheik Riyah is on the east side of the Gulf, and though better protected than Ras Sudr, it was still more open than we like, so we headed out a couple of days later over to the islands at the base of the Gulf of Suez, and just north of Hurghada, specifically to South Qeisum Island.

11 03 03d Vasco da Gama Singers on TT
11 03 04 Ladies racing at Sheik Riyadh

South Qeisum Island

What a spectacular spot. The island itself is all sand, and the bays and reefs are sand and coral. The anchorage is completely protected from the north winds, and if southerlies should happen to occur, there is a bay a couple of miles away that would give protection. The water was above 24 degrees, the air temperature 30 degrees, and the sun shone brightly. The winds were light ... well, it really was paradise. AND we could get ashore to walk, stretch and even run. There was not a soul, other than fishing boats, who even came near the anchorage.

On our way into this special spot, we caught our first fish, a small mackerel about 2 kilos. It was our first serious attempt at fishing so we were rather pleased with the results. The first half was excellent marinated in soy, ginger and white wine, and then barbecued. The second half we sautéed in butter – equally as good!
There were as many as 13 boats in the bay at one point, and we all went ashore for a bonfire cum happy hour. Everyone managed to swim, snorkel and some even to dive. We could have stayed there for weeks, but our "schedule" called, and we headed back, again across the shipping lanes (for the 5th time!!) to Sharm El Sheikh, just at the base of the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba.

Regarding those shipping lanes … Because of the sheer volume of traffic, there are separation zones for all ship traffic from the Straits of Bab el Mandab at the south end of the Red sea all the way to Port Suez, and through the Canal to Port Said. Between the traffic lanes, and outside the traffic lanes, are dozens and dozens of production oil wells, some with tankers moored alongside them taking on oil as cargo, and numerous full scale drilling rigs punching new wells through the sea bed. It is not uncommon while crossing the traffic lanes to have 10-20 targets on radar comprised of north bound ships, southbound ships, and oil installations. We are most appreciative of our new colour radar, and the MARPA tracking facility that we installed just before leaving Turkey.

11 03 04a Sailing Down to S Qeisum
11 03 05 Dinghies ashore for a BBQ at S Qeisum
11 03 06 S Qeisum like a mirror at sunset
11 03 08 Francoise Tony and Jean-Jacques from Lady Coppelia
11 03 09 TTs first fish oh soooo good