Passage to Egypt and the Suez

1. Passage to Egypt

1. Thursday 5th November. Marmaris to Port Said, Egypt. 400nm 77 hours

At 0930 we dropped our lines and electricity cable (the 'umbilical cord') to start our passage to Egypt. several friends got up extra early to wave us off - thank you! we'd been up early scurrying around doing last minute things like getting bread, trying to do goodbye emails and get the latest weather forecast before we left.

After the wind and rain of the previous day it was a relief to go out in sunshine and flat calm. Once out of Marmaris bay we met a steady southerly swell but little or no wind to talk of. We hoisted a double-reefed main sail to counter the rolling motion of the swell and continued to motor through the first night and the next day unfortunately with a counter-current that stayed with us for 36 hours.

We saw very little traffic - but what there was we could watch on the AIS overlay on the chart plotter. within 10 minutes of setting this up we were converts and wished we'd got a transponder instead of just a receiver. the information given about surrounding vessels is great. the software also works out the time and distance of the 'closest point of approach' if both vessels maintain course and speed. Thus if the CPA is 2nm, then there is nothing to worry about, if it is 0.2nm, you might want to change course etc. Esper have recently fitted an AIS transponder and it was good to see them, their course and speed close beside us on the chart-plotter screen as well as see them over the ships rail, sometimes a few hundred meters away and sometimes 5 or 6nm away.

Towards the end of day 2 the wind picked up a bit and we began to sail and turn off the engine. We also got a few passengers - some migrant birds were trying to hitch a lift with us and take a rest for the night. one found shelter behind the folded up dinghy, fluffed himself up like one of those 1970's gonk toys and went to sleep. Another bird kept coming by to try and find a spot to rest, try as he might, he just couldn't find anything to his satisfaction. he checked the coils of rope in front of the windscreen, the sail bag, the other side of the dinghy, but nothing seemed quite right so he flew off. The one that did stay the night checked out at about 6am as the sun came up.

We stood 2 hour watches with the person coming on next on stand-by in case extra hands were needed. This worked very well for us. I came on early to support Nigel and then Terry came up while i was on watch. we all got time for plenty of sleep and we arrived well rested. on the down side, i didn't see much of Debs as she was just going to bed when I came on to assist Nigel. We felt like proverbial ships passing in the night. the sun set around 5pm and the moon rose at 7pm the first night and about an hour later each subsequent night. the time between 5.45 and moonrise was very black indeed!

Day 3 dawned with more wind - up to 20 knots apparent from the east accompanied by a short 2-2.5m sea on the beam, but at least we had enough wind to keep sailing without rolling the wind out of the sails. We maintained this all day until about 1500 the next day when the wind had eased and sailing in the right direction became difficult. the sea eased all through the night, by dawn it had flattened out considerably.

By the end of Day 3 we had made VHF radio contact with some of the other rally boats. Well, Esper was able to talk to them as they seemed to have far better vhf reception than we did. the other boats were coming from Larnaca. Full Flight were nearly at Port Said and made landfall in late evening. Divanty came fro Paphos (west Cyprus) and were slightly behind but still made Port Said that night. It was good to know they were all out there and we would be seeing them soon.

Day 4 dawned sunny with the sea easing as we approached land - not that we could see anything of the low-lying coast, even though the sea had shallowed to less than 50m. we motored past some oil platforms, up to the north west edge of the anchorage and then straight towards the channel fairway buoy. at that point we called port control and were given permission to proceed into the channel and report our progress. it was very confusing from a distance as there are several channels, each with their own channel markers. As we approached the city a pilot boat approached at speed, but safely put a pilot on board without any drama. the pilot guided us to the Port Fouad Yacht Club where he got off; apparently a bit disgruntled with his pack of cigarettes we gave him as a gift for his 15 minutes work. We were met by the happy smiling faces of the other rally participants who all began to board for a welcome drink. Esper was followed by Storm Dodger and Rhumb Do behind us. Everyone safe and sound.

After formalities were completed by the agent, Felix, and we got our passports back we went into town. We need to carry our passports with our egyptian visas with us all the time for any official to check. Nigel and Debs did the same journey with Eeyore last year, so know where to go. they lead us to the cash machine and then to Cecil's, one of the few places you can buy a beer in public (discreetly, they'll do take away beer too)

We have also been shown a small supermarket in the town which is well stocked with all sorts of goodies; cheese, meat, chicken, mcVities biscuits and Cadbury chocolate. everything is a very reasonable price. Impressive!

Everyone has been warm and friendly - people stop and say 'welcome', the school kids all say 'hello' and 'what's your name?' just to practice their english. It's been a far cry from the Egypt we were warned to expect.

Now all we have to do is wait to be told when we can start our transit down the suez Canal. The Yacht Club is located right on a branch of the canal through the town which has plenty of traffic - ferries, water taxis, ships, lighters, they all create a lot of wash which reverberates around the basin, snatching at lines and bouncing up and down. It's actually quite difficult getting on and off the boat at times, especially with me being slightly less mobile than normal.

the first group set off early in the morning to do the first half of the canal. we should do our transit tomorrow, but we are at the mercy of the Canal Authorities.