Adventures from Shamal

Greece to Sicily

2011-11-11T02:32:00.000+13:00

Wednesday 14^th September.

Well we are now on our way to the first of the Greek Islands – Limnos – in the Eastern Sporades. Limnos is quite beautiful. We stop off in the port of Myrina and climb the hill to the Genoan castle with its marvellous view of the town. The weather is perfect. Here we see the local deer roaming among the old ruins of the castle and even coming into the outskirts of the town. Then a couple of days later with the wind on our stern we set sail again, having good runs, stopping in the Northern Sporades at Kira Panyia, Alonnisos, and Skiathos. It was at Skiathos that we pick up our Dubai friends Rob and Suzy, and after spending a day with a hire car exploring the Island, it was time to up anchor and continue south. It is now getting cooler and we had heavy rain, thunder and lightning the day before we left. The morning we decided to up anchor and go – NO - we are stuck fast to the bottom. Alec had to go over the side and see what our problem was. He found our anchor chain around a huge old anchor that had been abandon, so, with a little manoeuvring and a couple more dives we were free, only to get caught up again. Down he goes again, and this time the chain is caught around two more unused anchors. It takes just under two hours for us to get clear of all the rubbish on the bottom before we are on our way. BUT, we now have another problem. We have a broken anchor chain guide. This is the second time it has broken on us. The first was on the Australian Coast. This will mean we will have to pull the anchor up by hand till we can get a new one. Thank goodness we have a strong man Rob on board.

We head for the channel between mainland Greece and the Island of Evia. Evia is Greece’s second largest Island lying parallel to the mainland east coast. Like many of the Islands, it is rugged with high peaks that are snow covered in winter. But Evia is more densely wooded than the other Greek Islands which makes it very pretty, and its coastal plains are cultivated with olive trees and big vegetable gardens. We stopped each day and anchored off numerous bays, villages and towns as we passed down the inside route of the Island. We are still swimming but are finding it much more ‘refreshing’ now!! We go ashore for our morning coffee and an bit of an explore before moving on each day.

At the town of Khalkis – the capital of Evia - we tie up to the Quay and wait till morning before we visit the Harbour Masters office. There is a bridge here which we have to wait till it opens before we can proceed. We are informed it will open sometime between 10.00pm and 4.00am, and, to stand by with our radio on channel 16 and wait for a call. There also has to be a minimum of two yachts before it will open. Thank goodness there were four of us going south and a small coastal ship going north. We got the call at 3.00am!!! Just after I had come off the first watch. So we passed through and anchored in the bay on the other side. Being a late night we all slept in , rising at nine to have breakfast and continue on our way. Having pulled up the anchor – by hand, we proceeded on our way to pass under a huge bridge a mile further on. A small vessel comes speeding over just as we are arriving at the bridge telling us NO, go back, bridge closed as divers in water. Come back at 4.00pm. You must be Joking!!!!! We motor back and drop the anchor again in the bay, then go ashore to visit the Harbour Master yet again. We are handed at bit of paper with the times the water way will open. Why were we not given this yesterday? Never mind there are good coffee shops in Khalkis.

That day we only did 12nm before stopping off for the night in a place called Eretria, a really pretty town which we explored the following morning. Rob and Suzy were with us for nine days. They left us in Porto Rafti on the Greek mainland, which is nearly opposite the bottom end of Evia. It was here that Brigitte and Dan joined us. Also, thank goodness, it was from here that Alec did a trip into Athens, about 40ks away, to pick up a new anchor chain guide which he and Dan very successfully fitted.

So with our new crew members aboard we continue down the coast of Mainland Greece to the southern point at Sounion where the remains of the temple of Poseidon is. It really did look impressive all lit up at night. It was a pretty bay and yes we are still swimming. Brigitte and Dan took the Kayak out for a run around the bay. Brigitte had visited this place twice before and wanted us to see it. Well worth the stop.

We are now into the beginning of October. We next head off down through the Cyclades – these are said to be the most picturesque island complex in Greece. The Cyclades has so many islets and rocky outcrops in the archipelago, but only 33 are inhabited. It will be interesting to see how many we get to visit!! Our first stop is at the Island of Kithnos. Like most of the Islands in this group it is mountainous and generally bare of vegetation, but has beautiful coves and bays to anchor up in with clean clear waters. The contrast of the bare brown hills, the aqua blue of the sea, the blue of the sky, then the white houses with their predominately cornflower blue, but other bright colours are now used, on the shutters and doors, then the reds of the potted geraniums, makes for some stunning scenes.

Our next Island is Serifos. Here our anchorage was a little more remote, on the south side of the Island, but again in another beautiful bay. We spent the afternoon swimming, taking the Kayak around the bay, and I went for a mountain climb to see what was on the other side. Just more rocky mountains and pretty bays. Next day it was up anchor and on to Milos. This like many of the islands here, it was formed by a volcano. It has the most amazing coloured rock formations, caves and coves around its coastline. Milos also has great mineral wealth, and its mines are among the oldest in the Mediterranean. They are still working but I am not sure what it is they are mining! Here we hired a car and were able to visit most of the villages which are so quaint. This was many thanks to a friend in NZ – Helen Smith - who emailed and told us about family who owned one of the car rental companies there. Not only did they give us an great deal on a car, but Alec and I were later taken out to a wonderful Cretan place for a warm drink - like a mulled wine, and a fabulous meze. Brigitte and Dan had left at this stage. As we are now out of the ‘high’ season we have not got the crowds of tourists which is so nice. We swam the first day, but then there was a dramatic change in the weather, which has almost put us into winter clothing. We have had rain, thunder, lightning, and winds gusting into the bay up to 40kts. As you can imagine it played havoc with Brigitte’s and Dan’s departure. She was late getting back to work in Dubai due to flights being cancelled. They ended up taking a ferry back to Athens, a seven hour voyage. Alex and I hung on at anchor, wind gusting to over 40 knots, starting the engines one morning at the height of the storm, to make sure we held in position. But all was well and we did not move at all. The yachts tied to the concrete pier left to find anchorages as much out of the wind as they could, as waves were breaking over the pier. After waiting a couple of extra days in Milos for the weather to change we were eventually able to leave and set sail for the Island of Ios.

After a 50nm sail we dropped anchor in yet another very pretty bay. The waters were so clean and clear we could see the bottom at 15mts. This Island is very popular with the young sun-lovers. The beach here we were told are usually crowed with sun umbrellas and beach chairs, but not one was to be seen as the season is over and all had been packed away for the winter months. We spent the following day here as we changed the zincs on the props. This meant going for a swim. Alec went in in the morning and found it really cold even though he had a wet suit on. By mid-afternoon we were both in the water as it had warmed up, so I gave the hull a clean as well. Think that will be our last swim of the season!!

From Ios we did a 30nm run down to the Island of Santorini – also called Thira. It also is was created by a volcano. Around 1450 BC the island blew up and the crater submerged forming a huge deep harbour with a new moon shaped sheer rim of lava-layered cliffs encircling it. When this happened it is said that the tidal wave that was caused by the eruption has been calculated to be about 100m high!!! Hope all the rumbling is over as that would be one huge wave to have to ride!!!! Later in the middle of the harbour a new island appeared. But today this Island is one of the biggest tourist visited islands in Greece. This is the place used on post cards, calendars, book covers etc. It is where you have white houses and churches perched on the rim of the crater overlooking the beautiful blue waters of the Aegean. As you sail into the crater and look up at the towns perched on the cliff tops, they look like icing sugar on a chocolate cake. Cruise liners call in here every day and drop anchor at the foot of the cliffs and the passengers either take the cable car to the top, or walk or take a donkey. We sailed on around to the south side of the Island and went into the small harbour and tied up alongside a concrete quay. Oh how we hate concrete quays!! The first couple of nights were fine and we hired a car again to explore the Island. Then the weather changed for the worse. We surged along that ------ quay as a swell came into the harbour. There were three of us tied up here and we all put on extra lines and all our fenders. One of our mooring lines snapped and one of our fenders went flat. Oh well at least they did their job and protected the boat. It also became very cold and we had our small heated running. We did manage to see a Rugby World Cup game here where NZ played Aust. GREAT. We found an Irish Pub which had the game on. The All Black supporters outnumbered the Aussies 4 to 1. The place was packed.

So after four nights there it was on down to Crete. We left mid-afternoon in very light winds arriving at the north eastern end of the Island at the town of Ay Nikolaos early the following morning. We had not done a night sail for some time and took our time only doing 3-4kts at times as it was only a 72nm run. We were not in a hurry as it is always nice to arrive at a new place in daylight. Ay Nikolaos was just a brief stop for a few supplies and then we motored along the coast about 8nm to Spinalongas Lagoon. This was a wonderful stop-over and here we ran into friends whom we had met in Salalah, Oman and again in the Red Sea. Next morning with very little wind, and what there was, was on the nose, we motored onto the capital, Iraklion. We are moving along the coast of Crete quite quickly, but have decided we will return here next cruising season and have a good look at the place. In Iraklion we dropped anchored and backed into a quay putting out long stern lines and staying well off!! It is a beautifully sheltered harbour and we had no problems here. We only spent one night, but were able to fill our gas bottles which was great. We were nearly out.

We leave Iraklion mid-afternoon and sail for Khania – Chania - arriving there at 4.00am, so drop anchor outside the port. The following morning we motor into one of the most picturesque harbours we have seen. Again it is only a night stop to refuel and pick up a few supplies, but as we had a full 24 hours there, we had a good wander around, enjoy a coffee at one of the many water front cafes, and have decided this is a ‘must see’ place to revisit next year. Alec has been keeping a close eye on the weather as he does not want to motor the 470nm to Sicily!! At 10.00am on Sunday 23^rd October we untie from the quay in Khania and head on out towards our final destination for this sailing season – Marina di Ragusa, Sicily. Alec gets his wish and we are able to sail nearly the whole way. The winds only reach 30kts once during the trip, but the Med really makes for interesting seas. They are short, that is the swells being very close together, and for a short time are running at about 5mts. But we get a downwind run for most of the way so at least we are not banging into them. The trip takes us three days and three nights. We arrive just outside the marina just as a huge rain squall passes over, so wait outside till it has blown through.

We now have a total of just over 24,000nm behind us. (we are not quite half way yet) 7,000nm have been logged this last sailing season. SHAMAL has performed so well for us, and is a very safe and comfortable home. We have sailed from Dubai to the Mediterranean, stopped off at 13 countries with so many wonderful places visited and adventures had along the way. We thank God that we passed through ‘pirate alley’ unscathed. Our hearts and prayers are with those who were not so fortunate. It is hard to choose a highlight as on this leg each country and each stopover has been a highlight. From sailing into modern places like Dubai, but then into some of the oldest ports in the world which are found here in the Med. The wonder of swimming with the dolphins in the Red Sea and seeing some of the most stunning coral gardens there also. Our land travel has also been amazing. Places like Petra, Luxor, Cappadocia and many more. We don’t take anything for granted and do realise how fortunate we are in being able to do what we are doing. We have met so many wonderful people, made new friends, and also met up with old friends after many years, as well. It truly has been a wonderful year, but a long one, and we are both looking forward to a break.

We are now at the stage of putting SHAMAL ‘to bed’ for the winter, which is like closing down the house for a few months. Apart from all the inside household cleaning jobs one does, it also means ‘boat’ jobs like closing down the engines and closing sea cocks, removing and washing down the jib sail and some of our sheets - sail ropes – making sure all our mooring lines are very secure. Here in the Med they use rubber and big metal springs on the mooring lines to prevent the snapping of lines. That will give you some idea of the weather they can get. We have used both!! We have been given an excellent position in the marina being very well protected. There are also a number of other sailors wintering over on their boats who will keep an eye on things for us. We return back to Sicily at the beginning of April next year.

We will take the fast ferry to Malta in a few days and then fly out to Dubai to visit Brigitte. Then it will be home to New Zealand for our summer.

8^th November

We are now in Dubai. Our trip through Malta was wonderful. We both loved the place, and have put it on our list of places to explore next season. We went a couple of days early as we finished all our jobs on SHAMAL, and stayed with an American friend Jack, on his boat. We visited some of the sites of the historic city of Valletta – just beautiful. Jack is the most amazing guy. He is in his early 80’s and has been sailing around the world for 25 years, so has a wealth of knowledge.

OK will finish off.

We wish you all a Safe and Wonderful Christmas, and a Very Happy New Year

Best Wishes to you all.

This is the Admiral and the Commander signing out for another sailing season

Istanbul - Gallipoli

2011-11-09T04:00:00.000+13:00

Hello Again,

A lot of water has passed under the hulls since I last sat down at the computer to send out my screed. Actually I am very lucky to have a computer to write to you on, and it is only thanks to Alec’s brother Rich, that I do – will fill you in on that shortly!!

Our first night just outside Istanbul was spent anchored outside the fishing harbour of Yesilkoy. The following morning Alec decided to take the tender in and see if there was space for us to tie up inside. Most fishing harbours the berthing fees are quite reasonable but finding a vacant berth can be a problem. He found only one, a corner berth, so we upped anchored and motored on in. WRONG MOVE – the wind got up just as we went in and we were blown sideways getting the starboard keel caught on someone’s mooring chain. For the next twenty minutes we were held fast, fending ourselves off the bows of a couple of other boats. No one came to help, they all just stood and watched. The wind kept pushing us sideways onto the chain, and being a corner berth we had no room to manoeuvre. I climbed on board the offending boat and loosened off their mooring line, then suddenly we came free, so we motored on out deciding to give that place a miss, to find a small swimming bay next door which was surrounded by a break-water, so we dropped anchor right in the middle of the bay and there we stayed for the next couple of nights. No problem! Better than paying 100 Euros per night in a Marina/Resort.

Istanbul

Alec and I have both visited this city before in 1999, but it is one of those places you can’t grow tired of. It is settled on both sides of the Bosphorus which separates Europe from Asia. With a population of over twelve million and a history which goes back to 650 B.C. it has miraculously survived with much of the “Old” still intact. We spent a day exploring the Golden Horn where Hagia Sofia, Cathedral/Mosque ( now a museum ) Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar are all situated, walking for miles and trying the local cuisine. The following morning we took SHAMAL and made our way slowly up into the Bosphorus. We read up in our cruising guide to find there were formalities, forms, navigation warnings, papers to process, agents to visit etc ,etc , before one enters these waters. It was all a bit confusing as to what one was meant to do, so, we just went!!! It was holiday time and no-one called us on the radio to ask questions.

It was a slow trip with currents and winds against us, taking around four and a half hours to do the 20nm trip. But so interesting with old coastal summer places, kiosks, mansions and embassies lining both sides of this waterway. As I said it was holiday time, so people were out swimming and fishing at various places along the waterfront. One thing that did surprise us were the number of dolphins that swim along with all the shipping, from yachts to ferries, tug boats of all sizes, cargo ships and even a cruise liner. We dropped the anchored in a small fishing harbour, at the Black Sea end, called Poyraz. Here we stayed a couple of nights exploring the local town and climbing the hill which gives you a grand view across the Bosphorus and out into the Black Sea. Then we made the return trip. Now with currents and winds in our favour we completed the run back in under three hours. It was on the return trip that we had a little mishap. Just before the famous Leander’s Tower, a beacon at the meeting point of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara, I had our front windows wide open as it was a warm sunny day, when a rather large ferry, followed by a cargo ship, passed across our bows creating rather large waves. I don’t think I need to go into any details, but there was much cleaning up and washing to be done! It is a very big thank you to Kate and Rich for everything they did here including saving my computer from the drenching.

We spent that night anchored on the Asiatic side of Istanbul at a place called Kalamis. We dropped anchor just outside the marina and were able to take the tender up a small river into the town. We explored the local markets and Alec and Rich had a ‘local’ haircut for about a couple of dollars!! The next day we went out to the Princes Islands just a few miles off the coast. These are really pretty and covered with dwarf pine trees. No motor vehicles are allowed, so trips are made by bicycle or horse and carriage. We left our bikes on board and used the horse and carriage to go from the sheltered bay we had anchored in to visit the village on the other side. The following morning we sailed back to the mainland to drop Rich and Kate off as they were flying out to Spain, and we then went back out to the Princes Islands to spend another night before making our way back down the Sea of Marmara and into the Dardanelles night stopping at the same Islands we had stopped off on our way north.

We reached Lapseki – in the Dardanelles – after dark, and the next morning we left SHAMAL at anchor and took the ferry across the straight to the township of Gallipoli. Another place full of history. The following day we dropped anchor just inside the southern entrance to the Dardanelles and took our bikes ashore this time to visit the Turkish, British and French War Memorials. Then the next morning we motored around the Peninsula dropping anchor just outside the fishing port of Kabatepe. We were just two miles from ANZAC cove. We visited many of the War Memorials like we had done in 1999, but this time with more information, so we were able to find Alec’s Great Uncle’s name on the memorial at Chunuk Bair. He was killed during that bloody campaign. He was Lieutenant Walter Michael Mackenzie of the 8/80 Otago Regiment who was only 25 years old when he was killed, on 09 August 1915. He was from Walter Peak Station, Queenstown New Zealand. One evening we took SHAMAL up the coast and anchored off to take photos and go ashore and visit Beach Cemetery. Wandering around the graves we found that one soldier was only 17 years old. So sad. The Gallipoli Peninsular is now a National Park and all the memorials and war cemeteries are beautifully kept. There is a real atmosphere about the place and we could totally understand why people flock there, particularly the Australians and New Zealanders, in their hundreds for the Dawn Service on ANZAC Day – 25^th April, every year.

It was also from Kabatepe that we wanted to clear out of Turkey, but soon found out that was not possible, so we left the boat there and took the bus back to Ecebat, only about 15ks away, then a ferry back across the Dardanelles to Canakkale to do our clearance out there. The marina manager asked us where our boat was as we walked in, not sailed in as is the norm. When we told him it was back on the other side of the Gallipoli Peninsular, he said we would have BIG problems as it should be with us. We decided as we visited each office to do the clearance out, to only answer questions that were asked. The where a-bouts of the boat was not asked, therefore we were all cleared out in about an hour – no problem!! So we happily returned to the boat to spend our last evening in Turkey before heading on to Greece the following morning.

I will finish off this letter here as Greece is another story.

So it is lots of love from

The Admiral and The Commander

Marmaris To Istanbul

2011-10-03T03:06:00.000+13:00

Hello From The Sea Gypsies Again

We are really feeling like Gypsies at the moment as we have spent the last ten days crossing back and forth across Marmaris Bay from the town side where we anchored just off the main beach, to the other side where we sat outside the Marmaris Yacht Marine – a big Marina – where we could pick up the internet, dispose of our rubbish and spend quieter days and evenings swimming and relaxing. On the town side we got our maintenance done. Alec did a complete oil change on both engines and sail drives, the watermaker got a haul over, we had a broken hinge on one of our big front windows, which was successfully welded. We found the correct shaped batten for our main sail as we had to replace one after breaking it coming up the Red Sea, we had fender covers made for the fenders to help protect them from the sun, plus we visited nearly every boat shop in town, and I can tell you there are HUNDREDS of them. Alex now has ‘spares’ for everything.

Yesterday we decided to take a break and visit Rhodes, the Greek Island which is only 30 nm from here. Rather than take SHAMAL over, which would mean we would have to check out of Turkey, check in and out of Rhodes, then check back into Turkey, paying for each ‘check’ along the way, we decided it would be much simpler and cheaper to take the local ferry which only takes an hour. It was a hassle checking in and out of customs at each end – it took longer than going through an airport, but, at least we did not have to pay for that, plus it was a lovely day out. Rhodes is the largest island in the Dodecanese and lies at the southern end of a group of twelve islands stretching down the west coast of Asiatic Turkey. It really does have a violent history. The Knights of St John fled Jerusalem in 1291 and came to Rhodes making it there stronghold. After that everyone seems to have been there from the Ottomans to Italians, Germans, British and Greeks. It is now another one of these World Heritage- listed Old Medieval Towns. It has massive city walls which have been well restored, and is a lovely place to wander around. There are courtyards and squares, and old houses covered in beautiful tumbling bougainvillea. We found a lovely garden restaurant for lunch where we sat in the shade of huge trees with pretty gardens all around. I enjoyed a typical Greek Meze with all the goodies that go with it. The Island survives on ‘Mass Tourism’ with charter flights coming down from northern Europe every day during the summer, bringing the sun and sea worshippers. I have to admit the waters again are beautifully warm clean and clear, with that gorgeous turquoise colour. Shopping is fun – well for a while!!

Days later. We are now sitting in the small fishing Harbour of Lapseki – nearly opposite the town of Gallipoli – and nearly at the top of the Dardanelles, and, 120nm from Istanbul. It has been quite a run from Marmaris to here. Most interesting but very frustrating at times. The Turkish Cruising Guide does advise one that sailing in the direction we are going during the month of August is not the easiest thing due to the winds they call the ‘meltemi’. The Guide also tells us we will need some perseverance, particularly to get up the Dardanelles as you are against prevailing winds and contrary currents – Yes they are RIGHT on both accounts. We decided not to try and do the 35nm run up the Dardanelles in one hit as it was quite hard going, so we broke the journey here at Lapseli on the Asiatic side. Not a place that takes your breath away, but definitely we will have a well-earned rest here for a couple of nights. We Have dropped the anchor right in the middle of the small fishing harbour.

Once we get into the Sea of Marmara our guide tells us we will be rewarded with a cruising ground that is quite simply idyllic and little frequented by yachts. We will see what we find when we get there!!

The’ meltemi’ is a wind that blows mostly from the north or north west, but also seems to turn at every headland you come to and curves around the coast and blows right on the nose which makes it impossible to sail. We did a night run some time back of only 42nm. Starting out the winds were blowing no more than 10kts. Within three hours they were gusting up to 40kts and we had short sharp seas to go with in. Right on the nose. That bay crossing took us 10 hours and we blew a hole in our jib sail – Bugger – but the following day we were in the most delightful bay where Alec and I got to work and mended it. We took the sail off and hung it up in the cockpit with Alec on one side and I was on the other stitching away. It is now better than a new one. We made a very good job of it.

Our first night out from Marmaris was spent sheltering behind the Greek island of Simi – again because the winds were not in our favour. So we pulled down our Turkey courtesy flag and hoisted the Greek one so as not to upset anyone, and spent a delightful evening swimming and enjoying another very pretty anchorage. One of our next stops was Bodrum. The Castle of St Peter sits out on a headland as you come into the bay and makes for quite a magnificent sight at night when it is all lit up with spotlights. The town is another very popular tourist resort with all the night life one could wish for – no thanks!! Here we anchored outside the marina again which is always much quieter. Our next anchorage, another beautiful one was a place called Gumusluk. This to date is one of the prettiest places we have visited. It is surrounded by the ancient ruins of Myndus. Again we spent a couple of days here waiting for the winds to drop. We went ashore and wandered through the quaint village and climbed the hill overlooking the bay to take photos. Back on the boat Alec appointed himself the unofficial Harbour Master telling other yachts where to anchor when they came in as it became very crowded with everyone running for shelter. In the end I went below and let him get on with is unofficial duties. Funny thing was people anchored where he told them to.

Another stop not far up the coast was Cukurcuk. A very pretty bay with beautifully clean clear water. We were just about to have a coffee when two people swam out to the boat and started asking about catamarans. Next thing they were having coffee with us. It turned out that the man was a retired General from the Turkish Army who could trace back his families army history for 660 years. He had quite a story to tell and was most interesting on all subjects. He invited us back to his holiday house that evening. We learnt he was building his own catamaran back in Istanbul. Alec was in his element asking all the ‘political’ questions!! The General, like many others here in Turkey, are not very happy with the present Government. He said the Government is like a train that was heading towards the west, but is now heading Turkey towards the East. In other words was heading towards Europe, but is now heading towards the Middle East!!

The next 100nm or so were a little challenging to say the least. We did have stops, but it is also when we did that night run to try and avoid the ‘meltemi’ which sometimes drops at night but in our case picked up ! Among other things that happened around this time was one of our loos calcified up!! All part of boat life. Alec has now cleared that and also checked the other which was no too far off becoming blocked as well. A result of using sea water. We are so careful at using cleaning agents as they can do more harm than good in the long run.

The next lovely stop was a place called Bademli Limani. We are now getting into areas which are not so much visited by foreign boats but more by the locals. It has been a pleasant surprise to see how the Turks are really into boating, and lots of sail boats too. The other thing we noticed was how so many of these ‘local’ boats are flying the American flag. It was explained to us by a local yachtie that to avoid paying the VAT or tax in Turkey on you boat you send off to America for your registration papers for a pittance, and back in the mail you receive your papers plus, an American flag.

Bademli was lovely, and we stayed a couple of days here. This is where we did some boat maintenance, plus had a look around. The village here was a 10 minute walk where ancient olive trees overhang the road. On entering the village was like stepping back in time. The locals all sitting in the doorways of their houses passing the time of day, the menfolk sitting around tables at the local cafes drinking Turkish tea, or the local beer. Even though it is the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan you could be excuses from thinking otherwise as in this country it is not really observed all that strictly. Cats of all colours and size stretched out under anything to get out of the sun or waiting for the street cafes to start having their guests for their evening meal so as to con a meal from them. The local fruit vendors waiting for passing trade in no rush to do business. The butchers shop was a bit of an eye opener, or should I say the prices. In the supermarkets we noticed red meats are rather expensive so we thought we would see how we fared in this local butchers shop. HELP NZ$60 for a 2.5kg leg of lamb!! It looked more bone than meat as well. We will stick to our fish and chicken for the time being thank you.

It was also here in Bademli we met the Turkish sailor Ozkan Gulkaynak, who was the first Turk to solo circumnavigate without using any of the modern navigational aids. He just had a sextant and a compass and that was about it. Also his boat is very traditional!!. A very interesting person and he has been so helpful as well. He took us on to our next two stops. One a lovely sheltered bay in the lee of Ciplak Adasi - an Island in the Ayvalik archipelago. Here we went for our usual swim to check that the anchor is well dug in, and I nearly died. The water was freezing. When we got out Alec checked the water temperature. It was only 23 degrees. We only do these anchor checks in places where it is clean. Our present anchorage in the fishing harbour is not one to check on. Water temp is 29 degrees and we are only in 2mts of water, but one cannot see the bottom here!!!!

Ozkan then took us on to Ayvalik which is situated on the edge of ‘The Lake’ – it is salt water but is given this name as there is only a small channel taking you in to a lovely big bay. The town is another tourist resort but this time not a noisy one. Ozkan showed us around and took us out to lunch here. The area is famous for its olive oil and soap making. We said good-bye to Ozkan here and the following morning went on to Bozcaada. This is an Island just 10nm south of the entrance to the Dardanelles. Here we could not just drop the anchor in any old bay as the military do not allow it, so it was into the harbour. We had to tie up to a concert wall and pay one hundred Turkish Lira (TL100) for the night. That is NZ$70. Alec was not too happy about that as we arrived at 1830 and were leaving the following morning at 0400 for our run into the Dardanelles before the ‘meltemi’ sets in. ( Sometimes in the afternoon the sea breeze combines with the ‘meltemi’ and then it gets really windy. ) You can see why we try to anchor out most of the time rather than paying prices like the above. It was a very pretty place with lots of ‘local’ tourists coming to visit. When walking around the streets of the small township we were stopped and Alec was asked if we came from China!!! Help, we have either been at sea too long and must look really different, or this poor man has never left the Island or seen what other races look like. When he had run through half of the European countries trying to guess where we might come from, Alec put him out of his misery and said New Zealand. There was a complete blank look on his face. He may as well have said Mars. As I say the tourist are very ‘local’. We went back to the boat for dinner and were sitting out the back enjoying a pre-dinner drink watching some local kids playing around what looked like a large pipe in the breakwater wall when there was a hissing sound and smoke came out of this pipe followed by an almighty bang. We both nearly died and the local kids were squealing with delight. It was the bang we hear in a lot of places signalling the end of the day so the Muslims can break their fast as it is Ramadan.

We have passed the coastline where Ephesus and Troy are situated and have visited both sites on a previous trip. Both were worthwhile, particularly Ephesus as so much of this ancient city can still be seen. What a wonderful History this whole country has. We are still seeing plenty of ruins along the coast line and many old castles and forts, some of which have been beautifully restored.

At the entrance to the Dardanelles on our Port (left) side, the English and Turkish war memorials are conspicuous, and continuing on up the channel, the Gallipoli peninsula is dotted with war memorials and too many graves of Turks and Allies alike. What a sad sad history. So many lives lost in a bloody futile campaign. It was a hard slog for those boys then, and today it is a hard slog of a different kind for yachts and small craft to navigate their way up the channel. At times our speed dropped down to 2kts as we were motoring into 20kt head winds and a 3kt current!!

The Sea of Marmara.

Yes we have made it. Our first night stop was at a place called Kemer. Again on the Asiatic coast. Not idyllic, but interesting anyway. Let’s say very unsophisticated. We must take into the account that it is Ramadan, but to date this had made no difference to other places we have visited here in Turkey, and we have always been able to get a primitive cup of ‘Nescafe’ – really the Turks have no idea about coffee making, not even the ‘instant’ stuff!!!! The real Turkish coffee is sort of ok, but you get such a small cup of it, and half of it is grounds. Here in Kemer we only got a friendly smile. NOTHING else. We walked the main street – there was only one street anyway – a couple of times, then sat at a café table for about half an hour while the old boys just smiled looked on and kept discussing whatever it was that was of interest that day. In the end we decided that my coffee on the boat was our only answer that afternoon.

Next stop was the Island of Marmara. Complete different story. Now this place is idyllic to say the least. Very few foreign tourist, but lots of locals visiting from other areas. The village of Port Marmara on the south coast, is nestled under steep rocky slopes which have been planted out in areas, some with pine trees and others with olive trees. There is a strong Greek influence here with the narrow streets and houses. Remember they occupied this area for a very long time, so much of their influence still remains to this day. There are no high rise five star resort hotels here, only small family run ‘Otels’ as they call them. We are anchored off one such ‘Otel’ which opens onto the sandy beach in front. The owner not happy with the brownish sand, has a truck load of marble chips brought in every so often and dumped in front of his ‘Otel’ and then a machine comes in and spreads them out pushing half of it into the water. So he has the lovely turquoise waters in front of his establishment!!

The word Marmara means Marble. The northern half of the Island is composed of white marble which has been quarried from ancient times by the Greeks and Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans, and is still quarried today. It is highly sort after around the Mediterranean for its flawless quality. It is so strange to see it used everywhere here. From the open air restaurant floors to breakwater walls.

After spending six days in Port Marmara, we motored around to the north western side of the Island to Saraylar. This place is amazing. Not beautiful, it is described as quite dusty, and noisy at times, but it is neither,and here we are anchored in a bay surrounded by a huge marble quarry. Everywhere you look is white marble, from the sheer scars on the hillsides where the marble has been cut away, to huge blocks waiting to be trucked down to the port. The retaining wall running most of the way around the bay is marble. The breakwaters to shelter the bay is marble. Part of the beach in front of where we are anchored sparkles with marble sand. Along the foreshore road leading to the town and port, are marble sculptures every fifty metres or so. Alec was busy looking for the statue of David as he felt they had something in common. You will see in the photos he found David, but at about the same age Alec is now!!!! Once you reach the town there is an open air museum showing the rejected items left behind by the Greeks, Roman and Byzantine workmen, which include columns parts, sarcophagi etc.

We are starting to get more cloud about now and the evenings are much cooler, but the days are warm and we are still swimming. The water temperature is still around 27-28 degrees here in the Sea of Marmara. Alec keeps reminding me here this far north – we are now at 40 degrees plus, north – it will soon be Autumn!!

Tuesday 30^th August

We are now anchored just outside Yesilkoy Fishing Harbour, only eight miles from the entrance to the Bosphorus, Istanbul. Richard and Kayleen arrive tomorrow evening. So I will sign out for this newsletter.

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Commander

Turkey Alanya to Marmaris

2011-08-24T04:10:00.000+12:00

Turkey

Alanya to Marmaris

Hello Again

Well, eventually we were checked into Turkey after 48 hours sitting around the Alanya Marina waiting, and waiting and waiting!!!! A long story, but it turns out there is a bit of a political battle going on between the new marina with the officials. Something they really need to get sorted. We did manage a couple of trips into town, one on the second day, before we were checked in as there was no one around. Alanya is a modern tourist resort around a high peninsula which was known as Calonoros, and in the 2^nd century B.C. was a very big pirate stronghold. (Thought we were well clear or that area!!) The restored castle and walls were worth the visit, along with the stunning views up and down the Mediterranean coastline.

From now on we are doing day hops along the coast as there is so much to see. Our first stop after Alanya was Side, a delightful but very touristy town with an ancient harbour and all the wonderful ruins to go with it. We stayed here for six nights. The only problem was we were tied up to the concrete quay in the ancient harbour alongside the local tourist boats with all the wash they create, but the real downside was that the local disco started at about 11.00pm and went on till 04.30am!!! We only had to put up with that for a couple of nights/mornings, as we did a trip to Cappadocia from here. That is some 600ks inland.

We visited one of the many underground cities, churches carved in the rocks, and saw the gorgeous natural rock formations known as ‘fairy chimneys’. These were formed over the centuries by water and winds eroding away the softer rock. There are various types of these chimneys, some with caps, cones, mushroom like forms and pointed tops. All just amazing. People again carved homes in these centuries ago, and even today some are still lived in as private homes, and others have been turned into Hotels. Still this whole living underground thing does not really appeal to me, especially as the area is so prone to earthquakes. The underground city visit was the one that really got to me. I did manage to complete the tour, and on exiting it I was not the only one to gasp for fresh air. Some of these cities were originally built by the early Christians to hide from the invading armies that trampled through their lands, but the earliest date back to the 4^th century BC, and, in some cases the people lived underground for three to four months at a time along with all their animals. They are a maze of tunnels and rooms, storage areas, churches, wineries and even graves. Every house would have their own secret entrance into the city. There are around 200 separate cities in Cappadocia. I would have had to live in the winery if I was to stay more than just a few hours!!

Another place we stopped to visit was the Mevlana Museum in Konya. The home to the Dervish with their unique dancing. This we saw at a show we later attended in Aspendos. It was from Side we also went to see the legendary dance show ‘Fire of Anatolia’. It has been around the world, and this year has returned to Turkey, its home, and was held at the outdoor Aspendos Arena. It is the story of Anatolia through history in dance, and quite magnificent.

We upped anchor again and sailed across a big bay, then followed the coastline. We have now done just over 300nm along the south eastern coast of Turkey. What we have seen to date is beautiful, and just keeps getting better. We are now cruising what is called The Lycian Coast. It is the area from Antalya to Marmaris and we have just entered the area of lots of Islands and bays, many only accessible by sea which is perfect as now in the villages and bigger towns they are humming with tourists. It is nice to call in every now and then to top up on supplies and have a look around, get my bit of ‘retail therapy’, but it is nicer to get out again and find some picturesque bay with clean clear waters where I spend hours cooling down in, as temperatures are now sometimes in the late 30’s to early 40’s. In some bays the water temperature can also be in the mid to late 30’s!! Thank goodness there is nearly always a breeze out on the water. One of the places which we did enjoy was an area known as Kekova Roads. You sail in one end with the mainland on one side and you are sheltered by a four mile long Island on the sea side. But also inside this waterway are lovely bays and inlets. Also in here is the magnificent castle at Kale Koy (sounds more Scottish than Turkish!!) which overlooks the ruins of the ancient city of Antiphellos with its Lycian Rock Tombs. As we sailed in Alec thought that from a distance the tombs were a whole lot of rubbish bins, as they are about the size of those large steel grey/silver bins on wheels with the double handles on each side. If you look at the photos you will see what he means. I did think he was stretching that a wee bit!!! Also in here is the remains of a sunken city which we sail by and had a close look at. Again Alec was most grateful I did not drag him ashore to see more ruins which he says looked like the last lot, and you pay out yet again to visit. In fact all along this coast is full of history and sites. Each day we are seeing the remains of something ancient.

Another of our stops was for water at a place called Kas. We have a small problem with our watermaker which has been so faithful up until a few weeks ago. We are getting it serviced in Marmaris. Well what a lovely Marina – with lovely ‘NOT’ prices to go with it. To fill our tank up they wanted us to pay a minimum 32 Euro for two hours – it would only take a few minutes to fill up – plus 5 Euro for the water. Alec did explain we were NOT buying shares in their new Marina, so we left without a getting a drop!! Next place was quite different. Three hours later we arrived into Kalkan, a delightful little fishing and tourist port tucked up under the mountains which made it very hot indeed. We tied up to the quay. We paid nothing to stay for a couple of hours, and the water was 11 Euro which included a boat wash down as well. We went ashore with Alec’s computer and had an iced coffee while checking the emails. Just across from the restaurant was the supermarket. I was just about to go in for some stores when the shopkeeper pulled down the sun shade at the front, stripped down to his undies, got a bottle of shampoo from the shelf and a new towel ,and took his afternoon ablutions. Pulled the blind up again and wandered around till he was dry enough. You will see the photo of that one!

Our next stop was Olu Deniz, just around the corner from Fethiye. Another beautiful anchorage where we swam for ages, then watched till dusk the paragliders coming down off the mountains. You would get up to 20 dropping at a time. It was a great sight. There is also a beautiful lagoon there were no motor boats of any kind can use anymore due to pollution, so we took the kayak in. There were millions of people swimming about, but it is big and there is plenty of room. Lots of people hire those paddle boats you sit in and peddle away.

The marine life in the Med is nothing like we have seen in other seas, but along the Turkish coast we have seen a number of turtles. The fishermen are not as many, so we are not trying to dodge these vessels which makes for a pleasant change. Actually I am not too sure where all the fish in the shops and restaurants come from, as when snorkelling around one sees very little ‘life’ in the water!! I have seen on the nautical charts that there are odd fish farm in some bays so maybe today that is the way they are going. But in saying all that I did catch a lovely fat Albacore Tuna off the coast of Cyprus on our way to Turkey. Sea birds are also not so numerous.

We are now anchored in the harbour in Marmaris. It is a beautiful town with hills all around the bay and surrounded by red pine forests. It is also a huge tourist centre. They come in their droves to take day or week trips out on a local ‘gulet’. These are the local charter boats which are based on traditional designs with two or three masts. Yes they look like the pirate ships of old. I have included a couple of photos for you to see. Our stop over here will be for a few days as we have some small defects to deal with.

Another wonderful thing about Turkey is the fresh fruits and vegetables available, and at really good prices. All they all have that wonderful flavour of something home grown, unlike the mass commercially grown stuff you fine in most places today. We are living on peaches nectarines apricots, watermelon and cherries at the moment. The only thing we have not found as good fruit wise are the apples compared with the N.Z. ones.

OK will sign out from Marmaris.

Love to you all

The Admiral and The Commander

PS. Great news we have the watermaker up and running again. Making water as I write this.

Cyprus And Lebanon

2011-07-09T20:47:00.000+12:00

Hello Again

We left Ashkelon Israel on Tuesday 31^st May, and the run to Famagusta in Turkish Cyprus took us 32 hours covering 230mn. We managed to sail most of the way which was great.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – the fact that the only country in the world that recognises this state is mainland Turkey does not faze the locals at all. They still regard themselves as Cypriots, but realise that they can’t return to the old days when it was one country, as the Greeks want to run the whole show. Back in 1983 we visited the Greek side of the Island, so this time decided we would visit the Turkish side.

On reading our cruising guide it became very complex saying – a yacht may go from Turkey to Turkish Cyprus, or from Turkey to Greek Cyprus, and from Turkish Cyprus to Turkey, but, may not cross from Turkish Cyprus to Greek Cyprus, and, it is inadvisable to go from Greek Cyprus to Turkish Cyprus. We were also told on arrival in Turkish Cyprus by an Australian that we would not be able to cross into Greek Cyprus by land either. Oh Yeah right!! Enough of this stupid political correctness’, Alec was up for this challenge.

The reason we did the run up to Cyprus from Ashkelon, was because we cannot enter Lebanon – which we also want to visit - if we have visited Israel – have an Israeli stamp in our passports, or stamps from the border crossings from Egypt or Jordan which enter into Israel. We only got bits of paper stamped for those crossings. It also applies going from Lebanon to Israel. Also a ‘no go’.

Now getting back to Cyprus - We had heard that there are better boat parts on the Greek side of Cyprus, and like always, there is something you need, so Alec wanted to cross to Larnaca and visit a Chandlery. He found a new friend as he was wandering along the ’locals’ wharf one evening in the port at Famagusta, Suphi, who was spending rather too much money looking for a Russian Bride!! We learnt his tale having coffee one evening as we sat on the back of his boat, along with his little sausage dog called ‘Captain’. He joined us another evening for a drink, and offered to take us across the border in his car as he also wanted to visit the Chandlery. A few days later off we set to the closest border crossing to Famagusta. We passed through the Turkish part without any trouble, but on entering onto the Greek side, as this crossing passes through a British Sovereign Base, we were turned back as we are not EU passport holders!! Suphi tried to tell them we were ANZAC Turks, but this did not help. Not to be fazed we headed off to the capital Nicosia to the foot crossing there. Suphi dropped us off in Nicosia as he had a phone call and decided to check out about a new lady on the other side of the Island. We told him we would catch a bus back once we had finished. Again we were stamped out by the Turkish side, walked across no man’s land, and to our surprise the Greeks just waved us through without so much as viewing our passports. Mission accomplished!!! We then took the bus down to Larnaca and spent the day wandering about. We did not find what we wanted at the Chandlery, but as usual we did not leave empty handed. There is always something ‘one must have’ in those sort of shops.

Famagusta turned out to be a great place to check in to. It is a commercial port and has no marina, but after one night at the main wharf which was rather grubby we anchored out in the harbour which was much cleaner and cooler. We took the tender ashore to the ‘locals’ wharf and was able to leave it there without even having to lock it up. The town was just a short walk away.

Famagusta has massive walls surrounding the old town which were built by the French Crusader Knights. The walls are in great repair and they give the town a real medieval feel. Within the old city are wonderful ruins of churches, baths, a palace, a dungeon and the likes. Built into the walls and along the old streets lovely cafés and shops are now located. They have been tastefully done so as not to destroy the old feel of the place. We spent may an hour wandering about the old town, drinking coffees and just enjoying the whole ambience of the place.

We made another good friend while sorting out materials to build our paasserelle – ok you will have to look that one up to see what it is !?! His name is Mehmet. He is a Turkish Cypriot who lived in Australia for 14 years before bringing his family home again. He and his brother Emir where so kind to us. Mehmet drove us all over the place. Our last Sunday there he and his delightful wife picked us up early and took us with them to visit a couple of beautiful little local villages as they are members of a photographic club and go on outings each week to different villages to take pictures. This was off the tourist route and a great experience. We saw women making cheese and bread, the local earthen ovens being lit and the meats being prepared for lunch that day, the olive oil press, and all the farm animals which they keep locked up for the night being let out for the day. There was nothing modern about the way these villages lived. Mehmet then drove us to their holiday house in the mountains with the most spectacular views looking back over towards Famagusta. We then drove over to the northern coast to visit Emir in his weekend home right on the coast with his own marina!! After a scrumptious breakfast we then went on to visit a new commercial marina just up the coast from there as we are looking for a place to winter the boat over in. Later in the afternoon Mehmet took us to lunch in another local village. Too much eating, but just wonderful to taste all the local cuisine.

Another day Alec and I took the bus to the northern coast to Girne (Kyrenia). This is another delightful old town with the most picturesque ancient harbour. Again another huge Crusader castle and wonderful little streets to explore with great cafés to sit and just watch the world go by for an hour or so.

So after 12 days in Cyprus it was time to up anchor and head for Jounieh in Lebanon. During this run we spent some time putting anything we had brought in Israel well out of sight including a few bottles of very nice King David red wine. We did not want to make it obvious we had been there as I explained earlier!!

The marina at Jounieh is part of the Automobile Touring Club of Lebanon (ATCL) and is situated 20ks north of Beirut. Even though we were backing tracking we only had 110nm to sail from Cyprus, so we left after lunch with a good wind blowing 19-21ks from the right direction for once. In no time we were sailing along between 7-8kts with a bit of a sea running with breaking waves, but Shamal skimmed over the tops. In fact by about three in the morning we had to slow down as we were going to arrive too early. The Navy don’t like you to enter their waters without calling them up first, and then they have to call the Marina, which does not open till around 08.00am to get a clearance number which allows you to then come in. I was very lucky to have a friend living here from our Oman days. Leila and Anis Khalaf, so once all the formalities were completed Leila picked us up and drove us back to her home in the mountains above Beirut. It is the most beautiful situation and at this time of the year so much cooler than the coast where the humidity sets in very early in the day. Leila’s home sits up at around 2000ft up. After a scrumptious Lebanese barbeque lunch she then drove us around the valleys and hills of Beirut for a familiarization trip.

Jounieh Marina is located in a more up –market part of town and is in the Christian area. On each side of the marina are military clubs. We were parked at the Arrivals Quay for our duration there as the marina was full. This was fine but right beside it was one of these clubs, and were soon discovered that the wedding season was in full swing. While we were there we had two weddings, or should I say ‘shows’, for really that is what they were like. After a religious ceremony somewhere else the guests start arriving between 7.00-8.00pm. They are entertained for about three hours with music, local folk dancers with all the bells and whistles. Then enters the groom. He was led in by the dancers, dancing along with them. This all lasted about half an hour, then next enters the bride. The first wedding the bride arrived by boat looking like a swan. They then have more traditional dancing followed by music by the Beatles ( Yesterday ) and other pop groups. Of course we had photo time where everyone acts like models posing at a fashion shoot. The wedding cake, well that was as tall as the bride. Then to top it all off at some stage during this show was a fireworks display. I was telling our friend Leila about this and she was saying all the girls here are prim donnas spending huge amounts to impress their guests. Your wedding gift to the couple is money, so you help pay for the wedding.

Another night at the marina we were just getting ready to have dinner and Alec had been reading a newspaper that on the Sunday there was going to be a demonstration in Beirut wanting less corruption within the Government, and to get rid of sectarianism. Next minute there was a huge explosion which seemed to vibrate through the whole boat. We both jumped up, Alec thinking someone had banged into us, and me thinking a bomb had gone off. The sky lit up and more explosions followed. It turned out to be a huge fireworks display in the bay for the opening of the summer festive season. Being in a bay with high mountains around made for quite an impressive show which lasted around 20 minutes.

Our 12 days in Lebanon were amazing. As Alec says we have now visited the three smallest countries in the region, but they all share in common the fact they have major political problems. Israel, Cyprus and Lebanon. They are all blessed with beautiful mountains, remains of wonderful ancient civilisations, friendly hospitable people, but, are scarred both emotionally and physically by decades of civil war, invasion and or terrorist attacks. Luckily the Cyprus civil war was brief, and has escaped that latter of those. Lebanon does not attract the tourists it once use to due to the recent troubles, but we found it an easy place to get around. We were advised against visiting some towns, but the places we did visit were wonderful. Of course down town Beirut is a must to see. We did not stay in town till 11pm when the place is said to ‘buzz’ well into the early hours of the morning, but we did see some of the bullet scared buildings – reminder of their civil war – but also a great deal of new building going on in the central area. New apartment blocks and glitzy glamorous boutiques, but the really strange noticeable thing was the lack of people. We were later told than many of the shops relocated north to Jounieh, the area we are in. The locals say the heart of Beirut has died apart from the night life.

Another day we took a trip to the north to the ancient city of Byblos ( the biblical city of Gebal). It is said to be one of the three or four oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth. Modern scholars say it goes back 7,000 years. More ruins for Alec to wander around and enjoy!!! We also visited Jeita Grotto. Now Alec did enjoy this more than me as it involves a trip underground – not my favourite pastime, but I will have to admit we have never seen anything as amazing as this place. There are two main caves, one sitting above the other. The upper one is huge. You enter through a 120 meter-long concrete tunnel which does little to prepare one for the surprise beyond. For the next 650 meters you wind your way through the most spectacular formation of stalactites and stalagmites one could ever see. They are stunning. There are sink holes some dropping over one hundred meters. The lighting is sensational . Unfortunately you cannot take photos but if you Google Jeita Grotto Lebanon you should find pictures there. In the lower grotto you hop into a boat and are taken for a 6oo meter boat trip. In that short distance again you see wonderful formations. We were told the boat trip use to go for 6ks, but during the 1970,s civil war the caves were used to store ammunition and that section has not been cleared yet!!

Another local attraction we did in Jounieh was to take the cable car to the top of the mountains where there are four quite impressive churches, and the view was spectacular even though it was rather hazy. The view from the cable car on the way up and down is also interesting as you pass within meters of peoples apartments and can see them watching TV or sitting on their baloneys having drinks while watching you go up and down.

The last main trip we did was inland. We took a day trip over the Lebanon Mountains and dropped down into the Bekaa Valley. We never realised how fertile this region was. They have plenty of water from the melting snows from a range of mountains on either side of the valley. You name it they grow it. All the fruits and vegetables you can image. We then drove on up to the town of Baalbek – known as the Hezbollah (Party of god –yeah right!!) homeland. Their yellow flags are seen fluttering all around Baalbek. But also what Baalbek is known for is its ruins. Their temples and columns are said to be the best preserved in the Middle East and built on an extravagant scale that outshone anything in Rome. I have to admit we have seen some in Rome, and Baalbek’s are as impressive as they say. From there we drove back up into the mountains to visit a famous Cedar Forest where they claim one of the trees could be up to 4,000years old. It was from here that the trees were taken to Egypt and Jerusalem for the building of their temples. Then we dropped into Holy Valley of Qadisha to visit the Monastery of St Anthony. The most beautiful valley with churches built in caves and still used by the Monks today. The valley is a Unesco World Heritage site.

One of the facts we learnt about Lebanon from our tour guide was that there are 80 political parties of which 20 form the current coalition government with the Hezbollah Party in the leading roll. No wonder this country has its problems.

So that was the Lebanon we saw. As I said there were places we would have liked to have visited, but due to the current political situation we were told to miss. That was the same for Syria. We would like to have stopped there for a few days on our way to Turkey, but they are having a few problems of their own at the moment!! So we sailed passed Syria and arrived in Alanya on the south eastern coast of Turkey. We had really good winds with us until we passed the north eastern coast of Cyprus where first the winds died, and when they did return again were on the nose and too weak to tack our way to mainland Turkey. So we had to use precious diesel and motored. Diesel is much more expensive here in the Med compared to what we have been paying to date.

We have been sitting here in the marina in Alanya for nearly 24 hours and are still not checked in. It is National Maritime Day so we are told and the officials are all off at something. Next excuse their computer has broken down. It would be nice to get into town and sort out a few things so we can start to cruise on along the coastline. Also marina prices here are horrendous, high season summer rates. Anywhere between US$63 – US$120 per night. So we are looking forward to spending our time anchored out in all those lovely bays along the coastline. To have a boat our size lifted out and the bottom cleaned can cost as much as US$1,000, and this marina we are in at the moment would be one of the cheapest in Turkey. This compares with Israel at US$150 per week, Lebanon US$77 per week and Turkish Cyprus at anchor – no charge. No fees for port clearance, visa, or anything in Turkish Cyprus. It appears in Turkey that short term rates and haul-outs are a lot more expensive than Australia and New Zealand, however their long term rates i.e. one year – we can have a berth say at this marina, for only US$13 per day. Now that’s a good deal.

OK will sign out for this newsletter.

Love to you all

From

The Admiral and The Commander

Israel and Jordan

2011-06-07T02:26:00.000+12:00

Hello to you all again

As we settled into the marina here in Ashkelon, we did all the usual jobs one does including giving the boat a good wash down, then, a couple of nights later we had the most wonderful downpour of rain. It was amazing what Red Sea dust and sand we still must have had in the rigging as it was all over the decks again in the morning. So we are very clean now having washed the boat down again.

As I said in our last note, Ashkelon is just north of the Gaza Strip – only 16ks. The Gaza Strip is only 45ks long and 10ks wide. The locals here have given it the nickname of ‘Hamastan’. In March of this year the Palestinians sent rockets into Ashkelon, but no one was killed thank goodness. In fact one of the American yachts that was here at the time told us they came out of their boat to watch to see where they were landing!! Alec reckons the reason why this is the cheapest marina in the country is because of its location.

So for all of you who know Alec well, you will understand why I gave him ‘the pep talk’ before we arrived in Israel about his discussions on politics and religion. He was BAND from bring the subject up to the locals, but if someone asked him first he was to keep things VERY short and not to air his opinion too openly – it would be better just listen to what they said. Well that talk was a total waste of time as I thought it might be. Any time we are at a bus or train station and we are waiting on the bench, he seems to be like a magnet. The old guys will come and sit down beside him and in Hebrew start talking away. It makes no difference that they can’t understand each other . Alec has been a wee bit restrained, but only when I stand on his foot, and we are still in the country – they have not kicked us out yet!!! The other day an old guy of 82 thought Alec was ‘only 70’ and after a lengthy chat about whatever, he let Alec have a go on his kids size scooter after giving him a demo first. I thought they would both end up in Hospital with broken legs. No, in fact we are having a great time and have just done our first trip away sight-seeing with a delightful American couple from off another catamaran whom we first met in Hurghada Egypt. Ron and Joanne off ‘Miss Jody’.

We hired a car and set out for Eilat, the resort town at the top of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. Not that we were wanting to return to the Red Sea but this was our crossing point into Jordan to visit Petra. Our first stop off was in the town of Be’er Sheva for Alec to visit the Israeli Air force Museum. I have to admit it really was interesting with every type of aircraft the Israeli’s have ever used it seems, including spitfires and mustangs. Also a big range of helicopters etc etc. It was then on to a local - what we thought was to be a craft market - but ended up being the local flea market. Never mind, back on the road again we were off through the very barren Negev desert and on to Eilat. Here we left our rental car at the border crossing into Jordan, then taking a taxi into Aqaba to find a Hotel. What a contrast between these two towns that share the top end of the Gulf of Aqaba and sit side by side. Eilat with its modern Hotels, astro-turf sidewalks and an artificial lagoon, is a real glitzy holiday resort where tourists walk around dressed in anything they choose – often less seems best!! Then on the beach front next door in Aqaba new hotels are going up next to the older more basic ones, the sidewalks are crowded with stalls selling millions of pairs of shoes among a thousand and one other things giving the place that lovely Middle East souq atmosphere to say the least, and the dress code here being a Muslim country is more modest.

As for our Hotel, we stayed in the ‘best of the basic’ ones. Yes we had sea views, satellite TV that did not work, a bathroom which you did not loiter about in, and a bed where you prayed they had changed the sheets between customers!!! But it was only a place to rest ones weary body for a couple of nights. No meals were served which was possibly a very good thing. Anyway it was much more fun to go out and eat ‘local’ for dinner and breakfast at one of the open air street cafes. Over all we found the Jordanian people very friendly as many speak English, and are interested to know where you come from. In Israel English is not widely as spoken as we anticipated. We find that at the tourist sites there is always someone who can understand you, but in a lot of shops and around the local markets and cafes little if any English is spoken. We have been told that here in Ashkelon it is mainly a Russian and Polish enclave, hence the lack of English. Also another American Yachty couple who have lived and worked here, said they found that in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem that English is more widely spoken. I had forgotten about this since my last visit in 1987.

Next morning we hired a driver with a minivan and set out for Petra. It really is as magnificent as all the guide books tell you. As you emerge from the Siq [the canyon] marking the entrance to Petra with that first glimpse of the Treasury carved out of the rose red rock there is that ‘wow’ factor !!!! We spent the whole day there even climbing the 900 steps to the Monastery in the heat of the day, and it was a hot one!!! Here we were passed by big fat tourists riding up on smelly little donkeys who you felt so sorry for - that is the donkey!! We took so many photos as everywhere you turned there was some other tomb or façade carved into the candy swirled rock that changed colour all day as the sun moved across the sky changing the light making places look completely different .

It was back to Aqaba for the night, then the next morning we crossed back into Israel which this time was a breeze. No twenty questions, but a friendly warm welcome, and we set out for Masada, a high plateau located near the shore of the Dead Sea. It was here the last bastion of Jewish freedom fighters against the Romans held out in AD 66, but when faced with imminent attack, ten men were elected to slay the rest, then killed themselves. Another incredible place to visit. It sits 450 meters above the Dead Sea. One can walk the ‘Snake Path’ to the top or take the cable car. We opted for the cable car after our climb the day before in Petra.

Then it was back to Ashkelon via the West Bank passing through Hebron. Again Alec had to be told no we would not be stopping for tea for him to have his usual chat with the locals. In fact we saw no cafes to stop at anyway.

Saturday 28^th May

Not sure where the time has gone but we are still in Israel. We have been doing more site seeing trips. This time just day tips by train up the coast to; Tel Aviv which is far from historical like others here, but a city built along the beach front with the usual high rise buildings and all the tourist stuff that goes with a Med package holiday!! Jaffa by contrast sits at the southern end of Tel Aviv and has a history dating back to the time of Noah’s son Japheth who is said to have settled here. There are many wonderful old buildings which have been restored and ancient streets to wander around. We also spent a day visiting Acre [Akko] which is now a Unesco World Heritage rated town. It is a stoned walled fortress town which has been beautifully restored with another amazing history. Like so many towns in the area the Crusaders lost and won battles over this town. Napoleon was here so were the Turks, Egyptians, Jules Cesar, Marco Polo and anyone else you can think of it seems. We took a walking tour here and were given headsets at the different attractions which told us what we were looking at. That is always helpful. We also visited the Underground Prisoners Museum. Well here we were met at the entrance by two security guards who gave us a grilling. Asked for our passports and asked us why we had Arab country stamps in them. Help we have entered the country boys and already answered all these questions, what is this all about. Alec though we must be visiting a’ working’ prison as we were bodily searched as well with metal detectors. All the contents of our back pack were removed and gone through, and my bum bag was searched thoroughly. It is now only a museum!!

So we hope to move on from here in a couple of days and make our way to Turkey Cyprus. We are just finishing off a couple of boat jobs while we wait for fair winds. No more cheap diesel like we were picking up in Oman and the Red Sea. We hope we can sail a lot more.

A big thank you to all who have sent us emails. Always good to hear from you.

Much love to you all

From

The Admiral and The Commander

2011-05-18T21:50:00.000+12:00

Port Suez – Egypt to Ashkelon – Israel

SHAMAL has completed just over 21,000nm and we have reached the Mediterranean

Hello again.

Haven’t we done well. It really is a great feeling to have come this far. Looking back on the trip to date we really have had a wonderful time. No complaints, and SHAMAL has behaved so well and given us a very comfortable trip. She is a great little home. Everyone we have met to date, particularly those with catamarans, and who have come on board have been most impressed on how much Seawind has put into a boat of this length.

The Suez Canal

In Port Suez before we transited the Canal, every boat has to be measured up as a fee has to be paid for the privilege of using the Canal. The Suez Canal Authority [SCA] come on board your boat and physical measure the dimensions. A very complex formula which we are quite sure they themselves do not even understand. It comes from the 1888 Constantinople International Tonnage Convention!!!! It does not recognise that yachts have fin keels so this makes for some very interesting outcomes. We were measured up one day, and the next day a different guy came back apologising profusely that it had all been done wrong and did it again. That worked out well as in the second measure up we shrunk and so did the price!!! This was partly due to the fact that the guy got Alec to hold the other end of the tape. He also got Alec to measure the engine room size as this was to be deducted from the total volume. Our total bill came to US$335 which included the fee for the two pilots that one must have. You change pilots at the half way point. We paid US$225 for the Canal fee, $50 Agent fees, $40 Port Clearance and $20 for two passports.

Monday 9th May was day one of our transit with the pilots arriving for all 14 yachts that were waiting, just after 0500. We were on our way by 0600 with our pilot Mohammed. The Canal is 130 to 200mts wide and 23mts deep. This is the area for the big ships. The contour towards the bank is down to 5mts 10-15mts from the shore. It is 160km long including the passage through the Bitter lakes. We transited with the convoy of north bound ships with them passing us between 50 – 100mts away! It was quite daunting at first but after the first few ships had passed us we became use to their huge size. I will leave the photos to explain the rest. What did surprise us, but in some ways after the visit to Cairo should not have, was the present of the military every few hundred metres along the full length of the Canal. They were all very friendly whistling to draw attention and waving out as you went past. In most places it is impossible to see the country side or desert beyond the built up banks, but we did pass odd town or built up area. I did stand on the cockpit roof in some places to take photos.

Mohammed was very good and Alec did let him take the helm for most of the day but kept a very close eye on him. The next pilot on day two was a different story. After spending a night at Ismailia and the pilots not turning up till 1100 the next morning we were on our way with our pilot Ramadan. He wanted to take over right from the beginning until Alec explained it was his boat and that he would take it off the dock and out into the Canal. He then wanted Alec to use two engines thinking we would go twice as fast!! Alec said if you pay me for the fuel I will use two. That was the end of that argument. Next, once he was at the helm he told Alec to go down and have a sleep. It only took Alec a minute to see he was not a very good helmsman and that he over corrected all the time. Then he was hungry and wanted coffee and cake!! Then Lunch. Then the was the matter of his prayer time. This really got to me as he went below and washed his hands, face and feet in the kitchen sink before going out on deck to face Mecca for prayer time. He did this THREE times!!!! Joye you can imagine how I was feeling about this. Next was the’ baksheesh’ that all the pilots expect. They do get paid but they also demand this gift!! The group had agreed on a US$20 tip at the end of the trip. We were still motoring out towards the Canal and he was asking for his ‘new’ cap. Well I found one to give him which I had not passed out to the Yemeni fishermen. Next we got a long story about his one wife, five children and four taxis – SO!!! We told him all about our son Murray and that put an end to that!! When we reached Port Said just on dark the Pilot boat came out alongside to pick up our pilot. It also wanted ‘baksheesh’. Well Alec had really had enough by now and took no notice. So he then tried to intimidate us by driving very close and revving his engine and slowly pushing us towards a ferry. This came to an abrupt halt when another yacht from the convoy came up which needed their pilot to disembark. We then called into a small very smelly dock to complete our clearance and we were on our way down the channel and into a 20kt headwind and into the Med. Goodbye to the land of the ‘Baksheesh’. All in all despite the last bit I still loved my time on that leg of our journey. One takes the bad with the Good. The other not so good thing here was that it was freezing and we both had our polar fleece and wet weather jackets on. So much for warm weather in the Med.

Now we are off to the Promised Land as Alec calls it. Ashkelon, just a few miles north of the Gaza Strip. We had emailed ahead to the Israeli Navy and given them the 48 hours’ notice that we were on our way. Well precisely at 1155 we had our first call from the Israeli Navy telling us to change course from 22nm off the coast to a waypoint 26nm off the coast abeam Ashkelon!! At this stage we were in International waters still off the Egyptian Coast. We had planned on arriving late afternoon before overtime rates apply. This change of course was now going to bring us in after dark. But that was only the beginning. Next the questions started. Then the repeated questions from another Naval Radio Operator. Next we were given a heading to steer past Ashkelon and slowly converge towards the coast. As this was going on we were still from time to time being asked the same questions of boat details, where we had come from, passport numbers, radio call sign etc etc. Once they got extremely excited saying we were off course. They had told us to maintain a heading which we did. We then had to explain to them do you want us to maintain a heading , or a track over ground. Two different things. It transpired it was track over ground they wanted. Ten miles out a Naval Patrol Boat came out and gave us the once over circling around us waving then heading off again. Still the repeated questions over the radio kept coming. I was doing the radio work and kept my cool just answering each one again and again. We were then given a waypoint to drop anchor for the night and told we could clear in the next morning. Only trouble was that it was in 35mts of water. I told him that just outside the Marina in 10mts would be more suitable. We were given the OK for that and by 2055 we had dropped anchor quite exhausted from the trip. It was a little rolly over night as the wind got up but we both managed to get some sleep. Next morning we were in the Marina and all checked in by 1100. This was after being met and interrogated separately by two Security Agents. They wanted to know things like why the boat name was SHAMAL, being an Arab word, why had we been to Eritrea and Sudan and did we know people there. Also why had we come to Israel? Then it was the turn of the Marina Police who took us off to the Customs and Immigration people. We were given a three month visa. That was after we had given a list of the 10 last countries we had visited with dates. Finally we are in. They were all very friendly and polite. One of the Security Agents had just returned from a six week holiday in New Zealand.

So here we are and will more than likely stay for about ten days as we want to do some land travel and Alec needs to see a Doctor with regards to some sun spots that need attention.

Once again we will sign out for this letter

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Commander

Port Ghalib to Hurghada to Port Suez

2011-05-18T20:59:00.000+12:00

Port Ghalib –Tues. 26th April

Hello Again

Well we have now been here for nine days. The plan was to leave today, but once again the northerly winds are still blowing strongly enough to churn up short sharp seas making the first part of the run to our next port, Hurghada some 110nm north of here, rather uncomfortable. The plan now is to leave in the morning. My ribs are still quite tender and we are in no great rush as we have heard that temperatures in the Mediterranean are still quite cool. Looking at the ANZAC Dawn Service at ANZCA Cove in Turkey yesterday morning on the net, we saw that everyone was dressed in hats, blankets and warm clothing. NO I do not want to swap shorts and T-shirts or swimsuits for winter clothing!!

The first couple of days here was spent cleaning and washing, then we were invited to join a group from the Vasco da Gama Rally who were doing a two day trip to Luxox taking a mini bus. The Vasco da Gama Rally is a group of yachts with a lead boat which is like a guide. It departed from Cochin and ends in Turkey. People join for the company of sailing with others, plus the organisation of port clearances etc., and this last year particularly because of the pirate issue having the safety of sailing in a convoy. We were fortunate to have cross the Indian Ocean last year and avoided the issues one now faces crossing that particular Ocean. Yes there was still that run down the Gulf of Aden to contend with but as we have explained we felt the Indian Ocean this year has had more problems.

Back to Egypt - so after that first couple days in Port Ghalib we all set off for Luxor. A four hour drive passing through a low stark shingled mountain range then across a gravel desert until you reach the Nile Valley. It is quite amazing as this river is literary the lifeblood of Egypt with 90% of the country’s population living and working within the vicinity of its banks. There is a distinct green line where the agriculture starts. Some modern equipment such as tractors are used, but on the whole it was if we had driven back in time to the civilisation of ancient Egypt. The donkey cart is still very much used. Refreshment stops for the locals are still clay water pots on stands in the shade of a tree where one can help yourself to a cool drink of water. No our stomachs were not put to the test with that!!! We saw grains that had just been harvested and were tied in bundles in the fields drying out. We noticed that every patch of land along the route we travelled in the Nile Valley, if it did not have a building on it a crop of some kind was planted. This was also true even when we were in Luxor itself.

Modern Luxor occupies part of the site of the ancient city of Thebes. It is quite amazing as you drive in to see a modern building beside the ruins of something that dates back to 2000 B.C. or more. Once in the city we were taken to the river and then crossed over in a small ferry and taken to lunch. Our bus then picked us up and we headed out the Valley of the Kings in the Western Desert. We were taken into three of the most beautifully decorated tombs and were quite blown away at how well the colours, hieroglyphs and other decorations have survived the passage of time. It was then on to visit Deir El-Bahari –the northern monastery – a temple two different kings and a female pharaoh constructed as their funerary temple. Then as in all tours it was on to see another famous ancient site after another. All most interesting and truly mindboggling at how they were built, discovered, excavated and are now visited by millions of tourists with a fascination for how such a sophisticated civilisation rose and fell. We did the Temple of Luxor, the Temple of Karnak and the museum, all worth visiting, but Alec was really getting a little ‘Templed’ out by the end of the two days. I could have gone on visiting more as the history here is just fascinating. The group were on a time schedule so we had to get back to Port Ghalib as they were due to leave a few days ago. But the good old winds here dictate when you leave so here we all sit and wait.

Port Suez - Thursday 5th May

Well here we are. We have finally reached the end of our Red Sea/Gulf of Suez run taking just over two wonderful months. After Port Ghalib it was on to Hurghada with its modern new marina, an uninhibited growth of ugly new hotels, dirty beaches all sitting in front of a scruffy town behind. Needless to say the once beautiful fringing reef and its ecosystem are fast being destroyed. Most of the tourists in this area come down from Russia. This was our last stop before Suez for fuel and supplies. It was an interesting stopover and supplies in the Metro supermarket were very good as were the fresh fruits and veges on the road side stalls.

Our run to Suez has taken five days, but we have been taking our time stopping off along the way. We did get held up in a place called El Tor on the Sinai side of the Gulf for a couple of nights, again due to strong head winds. We did this run again with the Vasco da Gama yachts. On arrival in the harbour in El Tor we all dropped anchor and out came the local military to check us out. Security here along the Sina is paramount and we knew we would not be able to go ashore. Alec ended up with one other guy, going with the military boys in their boat doing the rounds of the yachts collecting all our passports and crew lists, and not wanting them to disappear they accompanied them ashore where they spent an interesting couple of hours eating fish, drinking tea, chatting, and Alec joking with the military, hence we all got our passports back and were aloud ashore to a filthy beach with a small bar and hotel which we were anchored in front of. Funny no one took up the offer but a few of us did swim in the relatively clean waters as it was so hot. We also just visited each other on our boats for sun downers. Another interesting event.

The infectious euphoria of arriving in Suez, which is common after just completing the run up the Red Sea, which is one of, if not the hardest passages on the circumnavigation for a yacht to transvers, was partly squelched by the complete inefficacy of the marina staff who are meant to help you in and to berth. The mooring procedure is Med style where you have two lines attached either stern or bow depending on which way you want to face, to two separate buoys which are a short distance out from the pontoon. The other two lines are then attached to the pontoon. The marina is a couple of miles just inside the Suez Canal and with the wash from the ships traversing it – the smaller ships seem to create more of a wash than the larger ones - a good strong cross wind, and with 12 yachts all arriving at the same time, this was just a bit much for the Egyptian marina staff to handle. Particularly as one of the tenders to take your lines was a row boat!! After much yelling and instructions flying from all over the place, hands waving in all directions we all somehow manages to get all our lines secure and settle down. Next the local boys scamper up and down the pontoon telling you what you will needed, of course asking for a ‘gift’- baksheesh – for any services rendered!! Talk about ‘sweet talk’ – they really have this perfected!!

Sunday 8th May

Yesterday our group did a day trip to Cairo – just under two hours away. That was interesting with a very strong military presents everywhere. One Egyptian told Alec that because they have no proper Government at the moment the Military is out in force including tanks, armed personal carries and trucks. There are check points everywhere across the country. Of course the Police and Tourist Police are still on duty everywhere as well.

We visited the pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx, then went on to the Cairo Museum, all really interesting. Today Giza is the western extension of the city Cairo, and that really threatens to rob the area where the pyramids and the Great Sphinx are, of the peaceful solitude in the Western desert they once presided over. The Museum was something else. Crammed into a building which is now bulging with the most amazing collection of antiquities in the world, one is truly overwhelmed at what you are looking at. Of course the Tutankhamun Galleries really blew us away. Just beautiful beautiful exhibits. That guy Howard Carter who discovered his tomb back in 1922 must also have been blown away when he first set eyes on the magnificent treasures.

There is only one word to describe Cairo – SHAMBLES –Nearly twenty million people live on top of each other and their rubbish. High rise apartments are crammed in beside each other. Does not look like any sort of building code is in place. How you tell someone where you live or how to get to your apartment is quite beyond me for there are hundreds of blocks that all look identical!! On the trip back to Port Suez we stopped off at the supermarket ‘Carrefour’. Quite a highlight for those who are not so keen on the local cuisine – something Alec and I find quite strange as that is all part and parcel of travelling to all these wonderful different places. But we did go in and stock up on a few products as we have been told once we hit the Med we will find everything much more expensive.

All going well it looks like we will start our transit of the Suez Canal tomorrow. It is a two day trip for yachts as our average speeds are around 5kts. We are to spend a night in the middle at Ismailia. Looking forward to this trip.

OK will sign out for this one

Love to you all

From

The Admiral and the Commander

Suakin Sudan to Port Ghalib Egypt

2011-04-24T19:54:00.001+12:00

Hello To You All Again

Yes another update from The Red Sea

As I start this letter we are STILL in Suakin – Sudan, having been here for nine days now waiting for the wind to drop enough to move north again. There are now 15 yachts sitting in the harbour waiting for the weather window. We seem to spend our daylight hours doing boat jobs, of which there is never any shortage of, and the evenings are spent visiting each other to watch a movie or just to socialise, or, going shore to have a ‘local’ meal. It is all good fun and the group are a great bunch. We have done some exploring of the area of course.

After we had been here a couple of days we took the’ local’ bus to Port Sudan to use the internet, get some supplies and have a bit of a look around. The drive took us along a dry arid coastal plain with Bedouin/Refugee tents dotted among small thorny bushes and the odd garden growing grasses for animal feed and housing, plus some vegetable patches. The trip was only around an hour. Port Sudan really is scruffy, run-down and not nearly as clean as Eritrea. It is Sudan’s second largest city with a population of around 2.5 million. Quite a large number of these people being made up of refugees from the civil war and never ending border disputes this country seems to have. But in spite of this and the incredible poverty all around, the people are very friendly and helpful. We have definitely come across a lot more beggars here. It can be very hard saying no but if you don’t, the ground would open up and you would be swamped with them. The market places are very interesting with a good supply of fresh vegetables and fruits. The local bread here is also very popular among all the yachties. A puffed rounded type which is always lovely fresh and hot, and is great stuffed with the local falafels and a tomato chilli sauce mix. All cooked on a charcoal fire on the side of the road.

Suakin is the more popular check in point to the Sudan for yachties as there seems to be less hassle and it is cheaper than Port Sudan. Also the town is so much more interesting with an incredible history. As you sail into the harbour you could be mistaken for thinking an earthquake had just hit the old town or a tsunami has swept through the place, or, it had been bombed to bits in one of the wars they have had here. The old town is in ruins. But none of the above have been the cause of its appearance. The buildings are made of coral and rock and the ‘cement’ holding this together was made of sand and camels milk. That was all OK while people were still living in the buildings and they were constantly repaired after the rainy season, but, when they decided to move the port from Suakin to Port Sudan many people left for the new city and Suakin was abandoned and the town crumbled. Old Suakin had been a trading centre since the 10th century BC. It was also one of the last slave trading post in the world.

We took time to visit the local museum. It really is a private collection of photos and bits one of the locals has kept over time. Absolutely fascinating. It included photos of Gordon of Khartoum and Lord Kitchener who led military campaigns from 1896 to 1898. There also hanging on the wall was a poem my Mum use to read to us as children by Rudyard Kipling – Fuzzy Wuzzy Home in the Sudan. It is so funny as some of the locals do have very fuzzy wuzzy hair here!!

Friday 1st April

Well we have moved further north again making our way along the Sudanese coast stopping off at reefs and marsas along the way. A marsa [other names for them are sharm or khor] is a natural bay, a bit like a fjord, sometimes meandering a few miles inland. They nearly always have a fringing reef and these are great to snorkel on with beautiful corals and amazing fish life. The marsas are starkly beautiful anchorages here in the Sudan as there is very little pollution, and they are wonderful places to stop for the night as they shelter you from the seas and swells.

At present we are sitting in Marsa Shinab, our 5th stop since leaving Suakin. Think we will be here for a few nights as it is so nice and Alec is doing a couple of jobs. Not only that, the present good weather window will be changing again as we are due for another good northerly blow. Also we are exploring the area. Yesterday we went ashore to climb Quoin Hill which was a recommendation in our Cruising Guide, to get a good look at the area we are in, and yes the views in every direction are magnificent. The countryside is stark barren and harsh with salt flats at the head of the marsa, then low hills inland, and very little vegetation about. There are all those desert colours one could imagine and they change as the light changes during the day. The sunsets also bring out lovely colours in the land scape. There is wonderful bird life everywhere and fish are jumping all around the boat. We have only seen one local who was walking in the shallows with a spear searching for dinner, and yes he did catch something.

Our two reef stops to date have also been fantastic. Our first one was Sanganeb reef where we managed to wrap our anchor chain around coral heads [also called bommies]so we could not bring it up, that part was not so fantastic - but the boat next to us dived and cleared that for us when it came time to leave. Alec could have done it, but the boat next door had done the same with his chain and offered to go down. There were three boats and at one point we when had all three anchors up, and were tied up to each other with the front boat tied to a wreck to hold us all in place. The whole operation called for a couple of very interesting hours while all was being untangled. We understand this is not uncommon on some of the Red Sea Reefs. Then while all this was going on a small French yacht motored in at high speed over the reef – not through the channel – wove his way in between us all, and at one point tried to drop anchor next to us, but we advised him that was not the wisest move, so he motored out back across the reef at high speed. We all stood on decks speechless. Well the boys did have something to say but no need to repeat it!! He was very lucky to leave with no holes in his boat’ or planted firmly on the reef.

The snorkelling at Sanganeb Reef was great and made up for our little mishap, but our next reef – Leoni Anchorage – was amazing. We have NEVER come across such coral or fish like we found here. We anchored in the shelter of the reef along with another boat called ‘Sulyna’- the yacht that had helped us out at Sanganeb Reef - and then got into our tenders and first snorkelled on the inside of the reef then crossed over the shallow waters to the outer reef where you get the drop off. This was truly magnificent. Beautiful beautiful clear clean waters where you could see for miles. Then so much variety of spectacular corals and a huge variety of tropical fish. It was like swimming around it a tropical aquarium. The saying that life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the places and moments that take our breath away , could not be more true of what we are seeing and experiencing here in the Red Sea, and that reef was one of them. At the first Marsa we stopped at there was a flock of beautiful flamingos and once we had anchored we took our tenders over to the fringing reef to get a closes look. They let us get quite close before all taking to the air which made a beautiful site of different shades of pinks and white. At another of our Marsa stops there were the three yachts again and we all took food ashore to cook over a drift wood fire as we swapped stories over glasses of wine watching another beautiful Red Sea sunset. Quite the hard life!! Some of the yachts hurry up the Red Sea when the weather windows are in their favour sadly missing these beautiful places only to arrive in the Mediterranean too early in the season and then wonder why it is still so cold. We are really enjoying the journey. There has been the odd heart stopping moment, once when we were following another very experienced yachtsman’s as he was navigating us through the reefs at night. Also when we stop off at reef anchorages, even though they are mapped and well described in our ‘Red Sea Cruising Guide’, you still need an eagle eye look out which can involve being hoisted up the mast some way with a hand held radio to call back to the helmsman the direction to take. Alec is giving ME the full training in that – yes I am the one up the mast!!!!

Tuesday 19th April

After spending 6 nights in Marsa Shinab we moved onto Marsa Hamisat for a night and then out to Elba Reef in northern Sudan. This was another wonderful stopover and in this reef we came across a school of dolphins. I was so excited so we dropped the tender in the water, donned on our wet suits, as now the water temperature is a little cooler especially with the stronger northerly winds blowing, and off we went to swim with them. In all the excitement where I would climb in and out of the tender as we followed them around, at one stage I slipped off the tender seat and onto the floor. No more than 40cm, but there was a horrid crack, and the pain that shot through my lower right side was enough to tell me I had done some damage. I still got back into the water and had a wonderful time but when I eventually got back to SHAMAL I could hardly move. Think I may have broken a rib or two!! I can only sleep sitting up and are very slow to do things, but no way am I going to let this stop me from enjoying the trip.

We stayed at Elba Reef for 3 nights and then moved onto Dolphin Reef which is in southern Egypt. This stop to date has be one of the highlights of the Red Sea so far. Along with the beautiful coral reef, colourful fish life, white sandy bottoms which gives the waters that gorgeous sparkling turquoise colour, it is also home to a rather large school of spinner dolphins. On our second day there some of the crew from a very large tourist boat came over to say hello and invite us the following morning to go snorkelling with them to see the dolphins. I strapped myself up as I was not going to miss out on another experience with these beautiful creatures, and off we went in their large tender which has a ladder for one to climb back into the tender, so that made things so much easier for me. Well I can’t start to describe the magic it is to swim with these animals. They swim up beside you and along with you, then they drop back down to the floor of the lagoon and swim along watching you and then back up they come to swim with you again. There were Mums feeding babies as they swam, and we saw how when they want to sleep they move into the middle of the group and close their eyes. The ones on the outside seem to steer them along and they just seem to flow with the group. We were invited on board the tourist boat for lunch, and while there the dolphins, being spinner dolphins, decided to show off by jumping high into the air, spinning around before dropping back in again. The crew from the tourist boat took us out again the following day as well to swim with them and then off to explore a different part of the reef. We really didn’t want to leave, but after 5 nights we got another weather window and it was time for us to move north again.

So now we have officially checked into southern Egypt at Port Ghalib, and for the first time in months we are in a marina with fresh water and power. SHAMAL has been given a good wash down to remove all the sea salt and dust which had encrusted all the ropes, rigging and anything else it comes into contact with. As for power, here in the Red Sea the wind generator has really paid for its self. The batteries are often at 100% as the wind always blows here, and the two solar panels just top the batteries up. They both have been great.

When we arrived in a marina we radio ahead and are asked all the usual questions like our boat name, length, width, etc ,so that we can place you in an appropriate berth. Well at a new marina in Oman we made our radio call and answered all the questions, then there was silence for a moment. We were then asked if it would be possible to motor over the top of the pontoon so a hull would be parked on each side of it. His reasoning for this was that the spaces were really for mono hull boats and by going in we would take up two spaces. Well I was silent for a moment as I tried not to laugh, then I explained that would not be possible and that catamarans have to use two spaces if the marina has not been designed with large enough spaces for them.

Well enough for this letter so I will away as Alec wants to add to it.

Love to you all

From The Admiral and The Commander

Alec’s view of;

‘Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin’

Piracy unfortunately is just another peril of the sea. Other perils are, running aground on a reef, collisions with whales and or ships and getting caught up in a hurricane.

Piracy has been well documented over the years in the Gulf of Aden. For example back in 2003 eight yachts were attacked off the Yemen coast. Four yachts had formed a convoy and the other four were solo. They were between 30-50 miles off the coast when the attacks occurred. In another report on 8 March 2005, two sailing yachts, Mahdi & Gandalf, were sailing SW 30 miles off the coast of Yemen proceeding to the port of Aden from Salalah, Oman. Here is an account of their report. At about 1600 we observed two boats approaching us head on from the SW. These boats were 25-30 feet long, had high freeboard and diesel powered. They were coming very fast directly at us. There were 4 men in each boat. The boats separated at about two hundred yards, one boat ahead of the other, coming down Mahdi’s port side firing an automatic weapon. These guys were shooting directly at the cockpits, and obviously intended to kill us. The first boat swung around behind Mahdi’s stern to come up and board us. At that point I, Rod Nowlin aboard Mahdi and armed with a 12 gage shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot, started shooting into their boat. I forced them to keep their heads down so that they could not shoot at us. After firing 3 shots at them their engine started to smoke and I swung around to shoot at the boat ahead. At that point, I saw Jay Barry on Gandalf ram that boat amidships almost cutting it in two and turning it almost completely over. I turned back around to shoot again at the boat behind Mahdi and that is when they turned away from Mahdi and were heading toward the stern of Gandalf. Gandalf was beside us, about 100 feet away. The bow of the pirates boat came right up against Gandalf’s stern and two men stood up on the bow to board Gandalf. That was a serious and probably fateful error on their part. I shot both of them. That boat then veered away and I shot the driver, although I am not sure of the outcome because they were farther away and I did not knock him down like the other two. Mahdi and Gandalf kept going at full speed to put as much distance between the pirates and us as possible. As soon as we were out of rifle range we looked back and both boats were drifting and appeared to be disabled. We were extremely lucky. Rodney J. Nowlin, USN Retired. Some people believe that the piracy attacks on private yachts may at least in part be carried out by human traffickers.

Fast forward to 2011 when piracy has become widespread all over the Indian Ocean, and even large merchant vessels are taken and the crew become hostages. The route we took to reach the Red Sea was coastal cruising up the Indian west coast to Goa and then across to Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. Then again coastal cruising down the coast of Oman and Yemen. On most occasions we were within 10-15 miles of the coast avoiding fishing boats and nets. I did some research where pirate attacks had occurred and cannot recall any occurring within 10-15 miles off the coast. I also believe Somali pirates would not be found lurking around local fishermen as they would soon be spotted and reported. Oman and Yemen both have Police Coastguard boats. A couple of times on the Oman coast Police Coastguard boats checked us out, all very friendly and asked if we needed help in anyway. The most dangerous route I believe is crossing the Indian Ocean from the Maldives, Cochin and Galle direct to Salalah. The coastal route is a couple of thousand miles longer and at times the prevailing winds are not ideal so be prepared to burn plenty of diesel. Then one hopefully arrives safely in the Red Sea “Inshalah” ( God willing ) The other alternate route is via Cape Town and that would of course bypass the Red Sea.

At the moment Yachties are stressed out, bewildered and some have a good dose of paranoia. Some yachts have returned or intend returning to South East Asia. Others are sitting in port waiting to see how things pan out in the Middle East re political unrest. We have 20 Blue Water Rally yachts waiting in Salalah for a ship to transport their yachts into the Med. The first shipping company they approached they paid down a 25% deposit has gone bankrupt. Looking at thirty to forty thousand US dollars per yacht and no guarantee the ship is not taken by pirates. Now that would be interesting !!!! at least no hostages would be taken as they have to fly to the Med. to pick up their yachts. More dollars spent. We have now heard the Blue Water Rally has been disbanded.

We have heard some interesting stories from yachties who formed convoys to transit the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. One convoy of nine yachts had a German yacht in the lead. Divided in to two sections one with four German yachts in the front, followed by five English speaking yachts. Slower boats go in front and the faster yachts follow. An American yacht ( owner in his eighties and very deaf ) had a French/Swiss crew member who when on watch would leave his station in the rear of the convoy and sail through the fleet, narrowly missing other yacht’s, the tiller between his legs doing exercises, and shouting on channel 16 that he was going to teach these Germans how to sail. He would make comments on the radio such as we must follow the Fuhrer. This was bad enough during the day but at night bloody dangerous missing yachts by a few metres. At night the convoy sailed with navigation lights off and in a tight formation. One yacht who had left the Blue Water Rally in Salalah who was not prepared to pay a shipping company to transport his yacht to the Med. for US 40,000 had his Blue Water Rally Insurance cancelled one day out . He was not very happy with this maniac in the convoy. As the convoy sailed pass Aden they had now been at sea for four nights everyone was on edge. The rest of the convoy had to explain to him that he was a danger to himself and to the rest of the convoy so please leave. The yacht left the convoy and sailed in to Aden.

Another convoy of thirteen yachts had a solo sailor who of course had to sleep sometime. His position was in the lead in the convoy and he would advise the other yachts he was going down below for a few hours’ sleep. He would leave his auto pilot on and his yacht would stay on track, well usually. The other yachts would refrain from talking on the radio to give this guy peace and quite so he could snatch a couple of hours sleep. On one occasion he over slept and his yacht drifted off course. The convoy had to break radio silence to wake him up.

We spoke to a couple of yachts who sailed directly to Salalah from the Maldives who had an interesting voyage. Four days out from Salalah one yacht lost their propeller, no problem when it was windy just sail on sailor. The two yachts were 70 miles away when the Danish yacht was taken by pirates. An American helicopter spotted them and shortly thereafter a American destroyer escorted them to the 12 mile limit off Salalah. Two days out one yacht had to tow the other into port when the wind died.

The American yacht Quest which was captured by Somali pirates joined the Blue Water Rally in the Maldives. After paying their fee they were told by one of the Director’s to join one of the Blue Water Rally convoy groups which were basically made up of yachts who were similar in size and speed. This group didn’t want Quest as they had already bonded and been together for some time. A slower convoy group offered Quest a position in their group but they declined. We were told as they had already been shunned by the first group they decided to sail across the Indian Ocean on their own. All very sad in the final outcome. Speculation amongst yachties is that the American Navy unfortunately messed up the negotiations with the pirates. Who shot who ?, I guess we will never know.

We applied to join the Blue Water Rally from Salalah to the Red Sea but were declined. See enclosed email.

This piracy problem is going to be a hard one to solve. With all the political correctness around these days makes it even harder. In the good old days they would be blown right out of the water.

Anyway there are more pirates on land than on the sea. The biggest pirate we have met so far was Mohammad the yachting agent in Salalah. The Vasco da Gama rally this year bypassed Salalah due to his excessive charges.

Massawa Eritrea to Suakin Sudan

2011-03-17T18:21:00.000+13:00

Hello again.

Last night – Thursday 17th March - we motored into Suakin, the last slave-trading post in the world, and our check in Port for the Sudan. It lies just south of Port Sudan. The old town looks more like a movie set from a WW2 movie which has had the heart bombed out of it. In fact what has really happened is since Port Sudan was established as the main trading Port, much of Suakin has been abandoned and the buildings which were made of coral are now crumbling and deserted. They are now considered a tourist attraction and one is asked to pay to see them. We are anchored just off them so I have been able to take photos from the boat.

It has taken us ten days as we have been stopping off along the way. We found six other yachts here and another two others arrived on dusk. It has been great to catch up with those we have not seen since Salalah and Al Mukalla. We heard that ‘Selinaris’ had left in the morning so we only just missed them.

Since leaving Massawa we have hit the Northerly and NW winds which turn the run up the Red Sea into a slog!! But we were well aware of this as it is mentioned in all the cruising books and we just can’t hurry so are enjoying the ride. Our first night out from Massawa took us to Harat Island in the north Dahlak Bank group of Islands. We spent two nights here and were able to give the hulls a good clean. We also went ashore for a bit of an explore. Then it was on up to Difnein Island for one night. The water here was beautiful and we could see the bottom so clearly in 12mts we were sitting in. We both went swimming the next morning before setting out again. One is warned not to go ashore here as there are still unexploded land mines, but we were happy to just swim. That was our last night in Eritrean waters. That was also the time the winds turned against us. We motored sailed for the next thirty six and a half hours in short sharp seas having to tack our way up the Red Sea till we reached the shelter of Khor Nawarat just inside the Sudanese boarder. We sat inside the huge lagoon sheltering behind a sand Island for 4 days waiting for the winds to drop enough to continue on. A Canadian catamaran was also holding out there so we had the company of others which was nice. Then it was on to Long Island for the next night. This was a very pretty spot with flamingos in the lagoons along with other waders. The bird life was quite prolific. That evening just on sunset we had the most incredible thunder storm. The lightening made the sky as bright as day and the thunder crashed around for a three or more hours. The big plus for us was that we had really heavy rain for three hours so SHAMAL had her first wash since we left Muscat, and I can tell you that the build-up of salt and dust was quite incredible. Our rigging and ropes are all nice and clean again.

From Long Island we work our way through the reefs and marked channels on the inshore route to Suakin. Here the seas were not so big until the last 15nm when we were once again exposed to the northerly winds as there is no reef to break the seas just outside Suakin.

So here we will stay for a few days to explore the area and we will do the bus trip to Port Sudan as I understand that is where I will be able to send off these last three emails from.

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Commander

PS

We have just heard from a group of yachts that have come through from Salalah after us that a Memorial Service was arranged and held in Salalah for the American crew who were taken by the pirates and subsequently killed. Some had met them as they had been on the ‘Blue Water Round the World’ rally with them. That was so sad. The Omani American Ambassador came down from Muscat for the service. There was also some representative from the coalition forces who attended and gave a speech after, advising yachts not to sail the Gulf of Aden and that a ship could be arranged – at around US$30,000 per vessel!!!! -to take their boats through to Turkey. Well he put the fear of God into some of them and they arranged to do that, but, in the last couple of days apparently the shipping company has gone under!! Oh help what to do. I am so glad we came through when we did. Also we feel if you made it to Salalah you were past the worst of it. The pirates seem to have moved out into the Indian Ocean more. There has become a real fear among some yachties especially as a Danish family and crew have also been taken by the pirates. We spoke to the captain of a yacht who was only 70nm away from the Danish yacht when it was taken and he was then escorted into Salalah by a coalition warship.

Salalah Oman - Massawa Eritrea

2011-03-07T11:11:00.000+13:00

Hello Again

Well as you can see we have made it safely through “Pirate Alley”. The yacht from Dubai arrived a little later than expected but that is cruising. When it came to departure there were only the two of us. That was Sunday 20th February. There was another boat in Salalah which was to come with us but decided to wait for friends to arrive who were still making the passage across the Indian Ocean. Also a couple of other boats had bypassed Salalah in a convoy they had joined in the Maldives and went straight on to AL Mukalla in Yemen. We heard about the American boat that was taken by the pirates as it was crossing the Indian Ocean, so we had several meetings with Wendy -the captain from the boat from Dubai ‘Selinaris’, and her crew, to plan our tactics on the next leg which was to Al Mukalla. There is a shipping corridor approximately 60nm off Salalah and runs down the coast of Yemen which is patrolled by the coalition warships, and here the ships form convoys to make safe passage to Bab el Mandeb – the entrance to the Red Sea. Being a yacht with a cruising speed between 5-6ks we are too slow to join the shipping convoy as a minimum of 12kts or more has to be maintained. However yachts are welcome to parallel the shipping corridor if they so choose. We decided to take the coastal route between 10 -20nm off the coast which is more direct, as we thought it would be more of a liability to be closer to the warships in the event of being captured by the pirates – which by the time we reached Al Mukalla we heard the sad news that the American yacht crew had been killed. Also the Yemen Coast Guard seem to have their pirate problem from the past pretty much under control. We employed the tactic of “stealth” as Alec puts it. During the daylight hours if we had the wind we sailed, or motored sailed and kept our speed up. At night we had no sails and no navigation lights. We became Seagull 1 and Seagull 2 as our call signs to each other, and never used Channel 16 for radio work. Every day we changed our ship to ship channel and we had predetermined waypoints which were numbered. Over the radio we never mentioned our departure point or destination. The first couple of nights which took us into Al Mukalla some 300nm down the coast were not too bad as we had a fading moon, but after that it was very dark. Even though we were only a very short distance apart we lost sight of each other at times and would put the radar on to check the others position. Seagull 1 which was ‘Selinaris’ decided to follow us and sat off our Port stern a few hundred yards away. We kept in tight formation. These are the sort of tactics most of the convoys have been taking as they cross the Indian Ocean and come down The Gulf of Aden. During the first night we heard one of the larger ships put out a mayday call reporting two small skiffs off his Port bow which thank goodness turned out to be a false alarm. His position was 60nm off Aden so it was well clear of us. We monitored Channel 16 all the time, and from time to time a Coalition Warship would put out a general call to all shipping in the area saying ‘please report any piracy or anything suspicious on Ch.16.’

It took us two days and two nights to reach Al Mukalla, and once inside the Port we found nine other yachts including a couple who were going to join our convoy, had arrived directly from the Maldives. We had to moor in the Port for our own safety and we were told we could go ashore but only till midday as there had been a little unrest a couple of evenings earlier. We only needed diesel here so that was no problem as the agent took our jerry cans to fill. We did have the funny case of ‘Selinaris’ needing the agent to do some food shopping for them as they decided to stay on board. 12 eggs turned into 12 dozen, 6 oranges turned into 6kgs, 12 apples turned into 12 kgs, bananas arrived by the box etc. The agent was very good and said he would take the surplus back. We have since heard he went around the other yachts giving the food away.

Al Mukalla was an interesting place with mini-skyscrapers perched beneath the limestone cliffs and running up into the wadies making it a very photogenic backdrop to the harbour. The people were friendly but like a few places in the Middle East at the moment it has a few who are unsatisfied with government and conditions as they stand at the present time. Here in Al Mukalla Alec also had to do a dive and remove some fishing net and rope from one of the props which we had picked up somewhere along that last leg. Thank goodness the waters were reasonably clean.

We spoke to a Canadian couple who were in town in the morning and the agent called their driver to say return to the Port now as gunshots had been heard. That could have been anything as the locals fire their guns off for everything from a wedding to a funeral and everything in between. The nine yacht convoy invited us to join them for the run to Bab el Mandeb, but after a quick meeting we decided to carry on, on our inshore route. They were heading out to parallel the shipping lane and were also bypassing Aden which we wanted to call into. Also their convoy speed was only 4.5kts and we were doing between 5 – 6 kts. We spent two nights in Al Mukalla .

Our run to Aden took us again two days and two nights for the 310nm trip. During the first night we heard a small ship, which had also taken the coastal route, call up on channel 16 saying it had two unidentified targets out on its starboard side. It was heading north, so that meant it was us as nothing else was showing up on our radar. Even though we were sitting a good two miles away we made a pronounced turn away from it so it could tell we were no threat!! As Alec said some of these ship now carry armed personal on them these days. As we approached the Port of Aden I made a radio call to Port Control asking if it was safe to enter the harbour. We had been listening to the BBC on our HF radio and unrest had been reported in Aden. The Controller came back saying “yes, yes, yes come in SHAMAL. You are welcome welcome”. Kerry, a Welshman and one of the crew on ‘Selinaris’ had been working in Aden in 1962 and was also keen to revisit. His daughter had been born there and we actually found the Hospital. Kerry was very disappointed at how he found Aden. It has really gone downhill since his time there. We found the place very dirty with lots of rubbish lying around, particularly on the beaches, but the people were very warm and welcoming. You could see the influence of colonial architecture which like so many places we have now visited has not been maintained and now looks quite sad and derelict. The agent drove us around the so called sites of Aden and took us to the supermarket for more supplies. Not that we needed much, only some fresh supplies as we are still well stocked up. We ate out at a local restaurant by the Port. During dinner a very small group of demonstrators marched passed and the waiter told us to stay inside till they had passed by.

Again we spent two nights here before sailing the final leg of the Gulf of Aden to the entrance to the Red Sea. The straits of Bab el Mandeb, Alec calls them the straits of Ali Barber!! a name he has taken from the Arabian Nights tales. I will say that the sky’s at night are just like it is described in the stories – studded with a million diamond shining stars, and the seas sparking with the diamond like phosphorescence. The temperature at this time of the year are in the late 20’s to mid 30’s – just beautiful, but it has become more humid since arriving in the Red Sea.

Since leaving Salalah and coming into the Red Sea we have had dolphins with us most days and sometimes quite a few of them will swim along with us for up to an hour. When they come along side at night all you see is the outline of them sparkling with the phosphorescence. The fishing had been good but barracouta are by far the most common that I have been catching. A couple of days out from Massawa I landed a big fat one just under a meter in length as was removing the lure to let the fish go when it thrashed about resulting in one end of the lure in my leg with the bard on the hook out of sight, and the other end still attached to the thrashing beast!! First I had to get Alec to remove the hook from the fish which involved some oral surgery on the fishes part. Not funny at the time but I stayed nice and calm and asked Alec to radio Wendy - who was a nurse - and ask her the best way to remove it. He went off to the loo first!! After taking our sails down eventually Alec manoeuvred ‘Shamal’ up along side ‘Selinaris’ and Wendy came aboard. My First Aid box came into its own as she found the scalpel and blades and ended up cutting the hook out. Only a surface wound and it is all healed up now.

We arrived into Massawa – our check in and out of Port for Eritrea – on the afternoon of Thursday 3rd March. We had made it and what a wonderful feeling it was. This is an ancient Port, and when Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia one of the oldest links in maritime trade was severed as Ethiopia is now land locked. The old name for the country was the Kingdom of Aksum. It is truly a charming place to wander around and with the Italian influence – as they occupied the place from 1890-1941 - seen in the architecture it looks quite out of place here in Africa. The people are just lovely and so friendly. The thing that really stood out was despite the poverty the place is really clean and tidy. The sad thing about Massawa is that in the countries fight for independence the town suffered badly from war damage and many of the once fine buildings that are still standing, stand testimony to this. We got visas on arrival so we could do a trip up to the capital Asmara for a night. It is situated 8,0000ft up in the highlands. The temperature was just perfect. The bus trip was all of US$2.00 each way and took about four hours. The country side is very barren apart from a small area we passed through where the staple crop corn is grown. It was quite strange because also at this altitude there was low cloud and a misty rain. Then a little higher up it was quite clear again and the mountains are covered in the prickly pear cactus plant. Asmara seems to have a slightly higher standard of living than that in Massawa. The Italian street café style of restaurants are prolific with lovely umbrellas tables and chairs on the pavements. You get wonderful coffee and pastries to go with it. Also pizza and spaghetti restaurants are everywhere. We were surprised to find wine and spirits freely available in every supermarket, but the country is half Coptic Christian and half Muslim hence the reason one could buy it. Another thing that looked out of place was to see cyclists, but we have learnt that it is a very popular sport in Eritrea along with football. The tour of Eritrea was created by the Italians in 1946. We went to visit the old Roman Catholic cathedral and climbed the 100mt bell tower to get a good look over the city. The old guy who showed us around pointed out a church from every domination imaginable. This was a place which was well worth the visit.

We did that trip with the crew from ‘Selinaris’. Sadly one of them had to leave the boat here as her Mum passed away, but they came across another young man who was looking for a ride back up to Egypt so have taken him on board. It was here in Massawa we said good-bye to Wendy and her crew as they needed to move north more quickly than we do. We will head out and explore some of the Islands and coral reefs as we head north.

So as we sign off for this letter we have just started the next leg of the trip which will take us up to the Sudan.

Love from

The Admiral and The Commander

Salalah - Southern Oman

2011-02-15T10:41:00.000+13:00

Hello To You All Again

Well we have now been in the Port of Salalah for nearly two weeks. Yachts have come and gone off in both directions, and one returned from his onward passage to Dubai due to strong head winds. All is well. We are waiting for a boat from Dubai to arrive with spare parts for us. We have just had news from them that they will arrive tomorrow. We will continue on with them and possibly another one or two boats. Been good reports from yachts going both ways. Anyway we have been wandering the docks and spoken with the Somali traders who are bringing in livestock, so Alec says he has made ‘good’ contacts there in case of a diversion!! We have also said hello to different members of the coalition forces who use the same Wharf as the Somali traders. In port at the moment are the Korean, Japanese and British Navy’s. The Italians, Chinese and a British ships have just left to go out on patrol.

The day after we arrived, friends from Dubai arrived to spend three days with us which was fun – well fun may not quite describe the way things panned out. Both Alec and Rob have an uncanny way of getting into a situation which can at times become quite complex!!! That is often how our ‘adventures’ begin!! This one started even before we arrived here. We had emailed ahead to find out the correct port procedure, thinking Port Control would be the correct people to make contact with. An email came back with a list of things, one saying no agent is required for vessels under 30 tons. Great we are only 10 tons. Also we each had a current 3 month visa. Once ashore we were driven by the Warf Police to customs and immigration to report in. The young Policeman (the Police run most things here) said we had a ‘very good visa’ so we presumed all was well. But no, the older guy made us wait for an hour and a half. When we asked why he would say just wait. Then an Agent turned up who proceeded to say we could not check into Salalah without him. Oh dear things really did start to go downhill, and Alec was determined to stand his ground producing the letter from Port Control which the Agent did not want to see, saying it was wrong, wrong wrong!!! We left with a bit of a standoff saying we would go back to Port Control and sort this out. Next day being Friday we did nothing as it is the weekend here. Saturday morning we visited Port Control who again told us ‘no Agent is needed’!! Rob and Suzy were flying in that evening so we hired a car to pick them up and then the next day we were to go off exploring. We set off out to the Port gates with our car pass and passports which one must have, to drive to the airport only to be stopped, and directed to the Police Station. In we go and were asked ‘where is your Agent!’ Again we explained everything – Agent not needed. Wrong again Alec! We are told to wait. Twenty minutes later the Agent turns up. Things got a little difficult and Alec was called many things. A phone call was now made to the Coast Guards head man. I was asked to talk with him. After that call we were allowed to go to the airport to pick up Rob and Suzy, agreeing we would all have a meeting in the morning to sort this out once and for all.

Before we had even left the boat the following morning the Port Pilot came by and asked us to go to the Police Station for our meeting. Everyone was there. Port Control, the Coast Guard, Us and the Agent. We were asked our story, which took all of a couple of minutes, then the others told theirs, in Arabic, for an hour and a half. Voices were very raised at times. We just sat watched, listened and waited. Then we were asked where our guests had spent the night – on the boat – how did they get onto the Port – we drove them in – how did they get past the gate – the police let us in – Oh BIG problem, they needed a different pass. Everyone then left the room except us and the Coast Guard Man. He said the Agent was about to make a very big issue out very small one, so take him on as your Agent and pay up and it will all go away!! The agent wanted US$200 – far too much but it had got to the stage that we decided this was probably very good advice. Port Control were upset and left saying it was not the end of the matter as far as they were concerned. We left to go exploring after getting a new gate pass for one and all.

Next day Port Control phoned and invited us all for lunch at the local club here which is very nice, again saying that this problem needed to be sorted. Hope that is all done when we have left. After lunch one of them took us out to one of the local wadies to show us frankincense trees. We ended up driving up onto a plateaux and then dropping into a very deep wadi under sheer cliffs which went straight up into the mountains. It was truly spectacular. As we drove in Alec says ‘great Bin Laden training camp !’ We hop out of the cars as there is a true Bedouin camp here along with their herds of goats. We were chatting away with our guide Said interpreting when suddenly a gun goes off. OK Alec maybe you are right. Then another shot, and another. It was just a couple of the lads showing off – we hope. They did guide us to a frankincense tree which Said had missed. After that we saw the trees all over the place.

Then there was the visit to Job’s tomb. The locals believe that he is buried here in the mountains behind Salalah. Alec, Rob and I have visited this place before, but Murray and Suzy had not. So off we go. His tomb is covered by a three metre long green shroud and you can also see his footprint in the rock outside the door which would be a man’s size 16 at least!! As Rob says ‘one foot before the grave!!’

Well that was adventure one. The next little incident was when we were driving through the hill country behind Salalah. This Dhofar Region, here in the South of Oman, is climactically different from the rest of the country due to the effects of the monsoon rains which occur from June to September, turning the area into a completely different country. The area turns green overnight and clouds and mist shroud the mountains. Springs and waterfalls flow, and the grass grows, consequently the local people are able to farm herds of Camels, goats, sheep cows and donkeys. The hill country is like one big farm with no fences so the animals can wander everywhere. Yes that means across the roads as well. And yes that is just what happened. Alec was NOT driving – and neither was I – when once such small cattle beast decided to cross in front of us. The car breaks were not what they should be ,and, well, machine and beast made contact. The car came off second best. That prime rump put a dent in the bonnet. Our beast bounced off the bonnet, but got up and shook himself and walked away. We drove on down to a local coffee house, and while sipping the hot sweet local brew, we were approached by two local young herdsmen who wanted to know what was the problem with the car. No problem we said but decided it was time to move on as the hill country telegraph may be working quicker than what we thought. Now a report has to be made with the rental car company. We drive straight there to do that and ask for another car. No problem – well maybe a slight one. A police report needs to be made regardless. Our Indian Rental Agent explains that cows are very expensive, camels even more!! The boys explain the whole story and the Rental Agent says it is best if he says he had the accident at the airport and no one else is involved. The boys also manage to get a discount on the excess one has to pay. That is sorted.

That evening Murray Rob and Suzy flew out to Dubai. Alec and I have been trying to behave since they left. We cannot get over how kind everyone is here. We have become very good friends with all the Police, and Alec and the Agent are now good (paid) friends.

We hope to leave within the next two or three days heading for Al Mukalla in Yemen, with the comforting words from an Omani fisherman we met on Masirah Island who asked us where we were heading. When we mentioned Yemen his reply was ‘ Yemen Bad. Bang Bang Bang!!!!.

Will sign out for this note

Lots of love

The Admiral and The Commander

Muscat to Salalah

2011-02-13T22:20:00.001+13:00

Hello To You All

Well we are on the move once more, this time making our way down the coast of Oman towards Salalah where we will join our convoy around mid-February. Our three and a half weeks in Muscat over the Christmas New Year period seem to pass very quickly. Christmas was lovely and the evening was spent with our English friends Annabelle and Blair Tame who had also invited five other guests which made for a fun evening. The dinner was magnificent, and Annabelle had decorated her home beautifully with all the Christmas trimmings.

This has been a cool winter and just before New Year there was a light snow fall on the Al Hajar Mountain Range behind Muscat. An English family were up there camping and you can imagine their surprise when they woke in the morning. They took some great photos which were published in the local paper. So it is not just Europe that has been having the cold weather.

New Year was a little quieter. Alec Murray and I went out for a sail back up the coast towards the town of Seed where a waterways project is under construction called ‘The Wave’. We arrived back at the club just on dark and decided to have a meal there. We were joined by our friend from Port Control who had negotiated a ‘good price’ for us when we first arrived in Muscat last year. He was so pleased that we had come back, and like everyone here said we must call him if there is anything we needed.

A few nights later we watched live on TV an incredible equestrian and camel festival which the Sultan presided over. The Sultan had invited specialised groups from around the world to take part and no expense was spared. Schools with their animals came from Egypt, Jordan, US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Argentina, Russia and the list goes on. The Royal Oman Orchestra was there along with all his Military Bands. It was a real once in a lifetime event of its kind to watch. You may be able to Google it, or it may be on YouTube?

Once our friends arrived back from their holiday in Goa we felt it was time to start moving again. So we are now nine days into our trip south. We are anchored up in a large sheltered lagoon at a place called Al Khawr Jaramah at Ras Al Hadd. This is the most eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. We are hold up waiting for a ‘shamal’ to blow it’s self through. The fisherman have kept us supplied with the most wonderful king prawns which are also in the lagoon, so we are not really too hard done by. This lagoon was once – a long time ago – a haven for pirates!!

Twenty days later – Friday 4th February

We have now arrived safely in the port of Salalah in the south of Oman. What a magnificent journey we have had down the coast. A Thousand Golden Miles. It is such a diverse coastline, from magnificence mountains plummeting into the sea with hidden fjords and sheltered bays, incredible cliffs for miles which the winds of time have contorted into weird and wonderful shapes and colours, with shipwrecks at their base from days past, still visible. Then there were those miles of golden desert sand beaches, with high dunes in places behind, which meet the turquoise blue waters of the Arabian Sea. There were the ruins of ancient cities tombs and forts. The outer Islands were also on our list to visit and again we were not disappointed. Crystal clear clean waters where we snorkelled and swam. On the Halaniyat Islands (Kuria Muria Islands) we spent time beach combing finding broken crayfish pots. Alec and I managed to find enough bits to make one up including a length of rope and floats. We set it each night, but sadly I think they must be nearly all fished out as we had no luck, but it was fun trying. We also saw a lonesome sheep on the beach at the same Island so time was spent finding a container to fill with water for it and we also left it half a cabbage and some bread. Rather mad as we discovered it was eating a local bush which must have been giving it enough liquid as well as there was definitely no water on the Island. We visited Wadi Sharb – which translates to mean ‘gorge between cliffs’. It is a green wadi as the water flows all year. The sides of the ravine are lined with date palms and oleander bushes. The gorge comes out to the sea, and we anchored outside and took the kayak over the bar and up into the waters between the high cliffs. It was quite stunning.

We seemed to be never alone and there was always something to watch. There is incredible bird life here as millions of birds migrate through this area every year. We just happen to be here at the right time to see this. Flocks of them at times swopping just above the water in columns more than a kilometre long. The marine life was also something else. The further south we came the waters became clearer as we seemed to have a green algae with us before we rounded Ras Al Hadd. Mind you that must have been some sort of phosphorescence because at night the seas just sparkled. You could see when fished jumped and the wake of the boat turned into a sliver liquid. We saw turtles dolphins and whales. One whale a little too close for comfort. We were out at the Halaniyat Islands here in the south of the country which are very well known in the area for excellent fishing. A huge whale was swimming off to our starboard side. She then disappeared. We were then watching a smaller one slapping its tail on the water putting on a great show on the port side when Alec looked forward and yelled as we think the mother returned to her baby crossing our bow less than 12 metres in front of us. She was much longer than the width of us – more like our length!!

Another day as we were sailing from one island to the next we saw something ahead which we could not make out, but on getting closer we saw about a hundred local fishing boats all in a huge group. Alec said it looks like the Omani Fisherman’s Convention, so we sailed over to see what was going on. Sure enough they were all fishing and pulling in big fish! This was a little too much for me to just watch and thank goodness on our arrival one boat came along side and gave us a small bucket of sardines and told us to join them. We were in over a hundred metres of water but on a bank and the fish were running. We pulled in four fish each nearly a metre long. We are still not sure what they are called but the fish are a cross between a snapper and a groper. I will be heading off to the fish market to suss out the name of them in the next couple of days. They are a beautiful eating fish and Alec filleted them and I vacuum packed them and now the freezer is full. We have also been catching blue tuna and other fish.

Then there were the people – so friendly with a hospitality which became embarrassing at times. The Coast Guard on a few occasions were sailing by and always called us up to see if we needed any assistance. The fisherman hardly ever went past without coming over to say hello and a lot of the time offering us fresh fish and on one occasion two crayfish. A couple of times while we were anchored in rather remote bays they came by to welcome us saying we were safe to stay and asking if there were any groceries we wanted. I was rather interested to know where they were going to get them from! Then there was our visit to Masirah Island which we have visited in the past during our contacts in Oman. We have become good friends with the local Sheikh – the local leader – over the years and we again went to visit him. He extended his hand of hospitality by inviting us for tea, a wonderful crayfish lunch the following day, a car to drive around the Island, diesel for the boat, we were given a lovely big cuttlefish – that is like squid, and as we were leaving he told Alec that at any time on our travels we needed any assistance in any form, we only had to ask. A very generous gentleman who extended the hand of hospitality in a way not always found today. We were truly touched, but have found many of the Omani people are like this.

So as we sit here in Salalah and make ready for the next leg of our journey, it will be with some regret that we must move on. The other sad thing is that it is here in Salalah that our son Murray will be leaving us. He will fly back to Dubai in a few days where he will stay with Brigitte and Dan before returning to New Zealand.

The next leg of our adventures takes us through interesting areas and it will be a little while before we are able to post you another letter. Remember no news is good news!!

So this is the Admiral and the Captain and our First Mate signing out.

Christmas in Muscat

2010-12-26T00:05:00.000+13:00

Hello Again

Well, a slight change of plan for us. We were originally going to be back in Muscat for only about eight days before heading on down the coast of Oman for the exit port of Salalah. Now we will be in Muscat for both Christmas and the New Year. We have been making contact with different rally groups with regards transiting the Gulf of Aden, to find they really don’t start moving in that area till early February, so, at this stage we have put our names down with one of these groups. Therefore we have postpone moving out of Muscat till early in the New Year to start the trip south. It is a 1,000nm run to Salalah, and we want to stop off and visit towns villages and bays along the way. Also

everyone tells us the fishing will be great the further south we get. Really looking forward to that.

We have been staying with our friends Millie and Ali who are from Kenya. They have a lovely big house and have made us most welcome. In fact we are now house sitting for them as they have just left for Goa in India to spend Christmas and New Year there. They did not want to leave the place empty so it has worked out very well for all. They have also left us a Mercedes to drive around in. Then to top this all off I made contact with another friend here whom I met in 2000 and she has invited us to have Christmas dinner with them. People have been so kind. We also have our good friends Peter and Yai here who have been very kind helping us out.

So our time here in Muscat to date has been fabulous. We were in the United Arab Emirates for their 39th National Day, and here in Oman for their 40th National Day. Also the Sultans 70th Birthday. Celebrations are still going on. One of the festivals they have just had, was the first World Fireworks Competition involving six countries at a total cost of US16 million courtesy of the Sultan. We were not in the country for the first two countries but saw the last four. Each country had a different night and put on a display for half an hour. It really was quite specular. The whole place came to a standstill on the nights they were held. The roads and motorways gridlocked. Cars just stopped on the motorways to watch. That would only happen in this part of the world!! It was held over the last couple of weeks. Then as it is the 40th National Day all of you who have been here can imagine what the place looks like. The whole place decorated in coloured lights. The gardens beautifully planted out and the place is spotlessly clean. It really is a picture.

We have the boat anchored back at the Capital Area Yacht Club and we return every second day to check on it. The other day we went on an overnight trip down to one of our favourite places – Bandra Khayran – to show Murray once again where we went in the 1980’s in our Nolex 25ft. trailer-sailer.

So once again we Wish You All A Very Merry Christmas and A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Much Love from

The Admiral

The Captain

And The Deck Hand

Dubai Back To Muscat

2010-12-15T20:17:00.000+13:00

Hello Again

Here we are back in Fujairah – on the East Coast of The United Arab Emirates. It is their 39th National Day and we will now have four days of ‘party time’!!!! They – the locals - start about 3.00pm driving up and down the Corniche with their cars all decorated up in flags, and some have bits of cloth the colours of their flag draped all over the cars, transfers of the different leaders stuck all over their cars along with stars and even more flags, then, tooting horns, backfiring their cars like a machine gun going off, screeching tyres and making as much noise as possible is the norm. There are bodies hanging out the windows, the favourite is to sit on the roof of the car with their legs in the windows, or sit with their legs in the sun roof, carrying a can of spray foam which you aim in the window of the car you are passing, preferable at the driver. If that misses then you jump from your moving car and run up and spray it in the window then clamber back onto your car. This is all happening on a four lane road. Very much like being at the circus!! The road is crammed with cars so they are not moving at too fast a pace. This will carry on till about 3.00am!!! and yes, the Marina is right on the Corniche!! I can now see why boats were pulling out for the long weekend as we arrived in here. Oh and to top all of this off, National Day co-insides with the Muslim New Year so there is a big fireworks display included in all this huge chaotic festivity.

Now getting back to our return trip to Fujairah. Brigitte joined us for the five day cruise from Dubai to Fujairah as we came around the top of the Musandam, and of course Murray is with us. We did a quick stop in front of the famous Dubai landmark – the Burj Al Arab Hotel – where Brigitte and I climbed into the tender and Alec and Murray did ‘drive byes’ so we could do a bit of a photo shoot. Unfortunately there was no wind at all so we could not put the sails up and also it is still very hazy here, so the photos were not the best. Just one to say ‘been here’. We spent the first night back at Ra’s Al Khaymah.

Next morning it was on up to the Musandam with the most spectacular scenery. Here the mountains which reach 2,087 meters plunge dramatically into the sea disappearing altogether as the Straits of Hormuz cuts a trench between the top of Oman and Iran. This area is known as the Norway of The Middle East as the claw like fingers off the main range create long fjords and inlets with Islands dotted among them. One of these Islands is known as Telegraph Island sitting tucked away in a beautiful fjord known then as Elphinstone Inlet – today known as khawr khasaibi. The Island was used by the Indo-European Telegraph Company between 1863 -1868 when a cable was laid between Britain and India. All that is left now are the ruins of the buildings. This is the place where the saying ‘going round the bend’ is thought to have come from. Not surprised as in those days during the summer months in heat of 45 degrees plus, and with no air conditioning, and in such a remote location, anyone would go la la!! Anyway the waters were so clean clear and warm. We took the kayak ashore to explore and take photos.

Next we decided to call into the coastal town of Khasab which we visited in our 25ft Nolex yacht some 25 years ago, and yes like all places here it sure has changed somewhat. We were now in Oman and with no visa or permit, we anchor out in the harbour to be invited into the Iranian Smugglers pontoon, which we did of course! The boys were all very friendly and intrigued with us, just as we were with them. There we were among 46 inch plasma TV’s, the latest stereos, and bundles of stuff all waiting to make the short trip to Iran. Alec and Brigitte took two jerry cans each and headed off to the petrol station which was no more than a couple of hundred metres away. They found themselves inside an enclosed area and were stopped by a local policeman/customs officer who asked what they were up to. On explaining their mission was to just fill their jerry cans with diesel, he offered to drive them there and back. Brigitte was also able to pick up a yummy ‘local’ lunch for us as well. So much for the ‘official’ paper work. We then headed out to find another nice bay for the night. The Oman Navy called us up on the radio and asked the usual questions of where we had come from and where we were going. Then they asked for our permit number –well we did not have one so I gave them our registration number which sounds ‘official’. He thanked me and wished us a good day and we were on our way again.

We dropped the anchor again in an interesting area – Khawr Kumzar. Kumzar is the most remote and isolated village in Oman. There is no land access in or out, only by boat. The Kumzari people speak their own dialect which is a mixture of Arabic and Farsi – the Iranian language - with a few other languages thrown in. The town keeps growing so houses are densely packed into the narrow valley and creeping up the sides of the mountains.

It was on to another lovely bay the next night, and then on into Fujairah to check out of the United Arab Emirates. Brigitte had to return to Dubai to work. Hospitality in Fujairah has surpassed any other marina in this area. They are very welcoming to yachts and will do anything they can for you. To other yachties who wonder about coming to this part of the world. We highly recommend it. It is a very safe place to leave your boat as we did over the summer, and also very a reasonable price . Haitham Kamal – the club’s Executive Secretary will take good care of you and he made checking in and out a breeze. Major Ahmed Ibrahim Boloushi – the Managing Director also took a personal interest in our needs and could not do enough for us. There is a very clean shower and toilet block and a wonderful club where meals are five star and very reasonably priced. Also shopping for supplies is very good. We spent eight days there and on our last night the Major invited us to dinner at the club. It was lovely as Brigitte was able to return from Dubai to spend the last day with us.

Then three days ago we left Fujairah and started back to Oman. We decided to check into Oman at a northern Port called Sohar. Well I think this was the first pleasure craft, let alone a yacht, that they had ever seen. No one but big commercial shipping goes into this port, but as Alec had read, it is a customs Port and he was wanting to avoid the rather long check in we had had in Muscat on our first visit! As we were heading for the harbour a Police Boat comes out. We try to explain what we are up to, and next minute one of the boys has jumped on board – Well Hello there!! We are then told to follow the police boat in. Nothing aggressive, but all very polite and friendly. We find ourselves in the ‘Police Pound’ as Alec called it. Alec goes off with the boys, once we are tied up to their pontoon, with passports and paper work in hand. He returns an hour later with a number of locals from all the official departments one can think of. We have really confused them. I am asked a number of questions and off they go again this time leaving Alec behind. Sometime later they return with our passports all stamped into the country for three months – not the usual one month. Also no money changes hands. Alec next asks if we can now stay the night as it is too dark to negotiate our way through all the fishing nets outside the Harbour!! It is nearly 11.00p.m. Another phone call is made by the boys and Alec speaks to someone who says yes, and apologies for the delay, and welcomes us into Oman and wished us a safe passage to Salalah – in the south of the country where we will eventually check out. So under police guard we get a good night’s sleep before continuing on towards Muscat the next morning. Now this is really for all of you who have been in the area. Next night we anchored among the Islands of A’Swadi – just lovely. Next morning we sailed through the Daymaniyat Island group which is just the same. Still pristine clean clear waters, and then on to Muscat where we are now anchored off the Intercontinental Hotel at Shatti Beach. And it is just beautiful and very good holding in the sand. We can see the bottom. It is so nice that not all the waters in this area have become polluted.

So enough for now. But before we sign out we will send our CHRISTMAS GREETINGS to you all as I am not too sure when and where our next letter will come from. We hope you have a Wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. A very big thank you to all of you who have written. We do enjoy your emails.

Much love from

The Admiral, The Captain and our First Mate Murray

Farewell To Dubai

2010-11-25T06:22:00.002+13:00

Hello Again To Family and Friends

It has been a long time since you have heard from us and with people now contacting us to see if we are still afloat, here comes an overdue letter with a bit of an update.

Yes SHAMAL is nearly ready to begin the next leg of her adventures. We arrived back in the United Arab Emirates on the 15th October after a four month holiday back in New Zealand over a very cold winter there, and a very hot summer here in the Emirates. We returned to Fujairah International Marina where we had left SHAMAL in the water for the summer. It was still too hot to sleep on board as the temperature was over 40deg. C. when we opened her up, but, we were really pleased how she had stood up to the heat of the summer. No nasty smells, no bugs, and after a quick dive Alec was pleased to see the hulls had hardly any growth on them apart from the props, which looked like small Coral Reefs. Also there was a nice coating of sandy dust all over her. Nothing that a good wash down couldn’t put right. So it was back to Dubai and to Brigitte’s lovely cool apartment. I was so glad we had taken 95% of the food off as it would have spoiled in those temperatures.

We returned again a few days later as we really needed to start work. It took us about 10 days to get ourselves sorted, and then we motor sailed SHAMAL around to Dubai. A 34 hour trip passing between the Islands of the Musandam Peninsula in the Straits of Hormuz, which is the entrance in and out of the Gulf of Oman and into the Persian/Arabian Gulf. We arrived in the Straits at dawn and we were among the Iranian traders come smugglers taking goods at high speed to Iran in small boats that look more like an elongated plastic bucket than a boat, then returning empty a short while later. We had a group of five empty bucket boats come circle around us to have a look and see if they could glean cigarettes or some other goodies from us. No problem as they were gone as fast as they arrived after Alec sent them away. Then it was on to the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah which has a brand new marina where we spent a night. We pulled into the pontoon to pick up crew and then anchored out in the bay as it is always cooler as the boat will sit into the wind and a lovely breeze comes in.

Once in Dubai it was onto the pontoon at the Dubai Yachtmaster Yard where we were hauled out for the annual maintenance. In this part of the world one usually has a small team of ‘guest workers’ ready to do all the work for you. In our case we prefer to do the work – no, I should say Alec prefers we do it. In temperatures of 35deg c plus, all I wanted to do was any cleaning that evolved using water and preferably in the shade under the boat. So my job was scrubbing up the copper antifoul paint which to date is working very well. We have had it on for a couple of years now. Our 2-3 days out of the water turned into 8 as we found extra things that needed replacing and changing. Alec was sending emails offshore for parts, so there was a bit of a wait while they arrived. All part of boating. We were wondering where we would park once back in the water as the marinas here are full and the word going round is that due to security reasons you cannot park off the coast here. But with a little research and some asking around we have found the perfect place by the Jumeirah Palm. We are anchored in a wonderfully sheltered spot about 70 metres from a pontoon belonging to one of the marinas where we can bring the tender ashore. The area is in front of a couple of the big Hotels and swimming off the boat is wonderful. It is all free of charge and we are in walking distance of Brigitte’s Apartment. We now have a new addition to SHAMAL’S floating flotilla which is in the form of a double sea kayak. An early Christmas from Brigitte and Dan – great fun.

Son Murray joined us about three weeks ago which is great. Much of our time here has been work related but we have found time to fit in visits to some of the amazing shopping malls. Not up Alec’s alley but he has to see them!! We have not yet been up the Burj Khalifa – the worlds’ tallest building – as it is still too hazy. Anyway you only go about halfway so it is all a bit of a have. We have taken a ride on the new metro, and it has been great as we have caught up with old friends, and made new ones. Last Friday we were invited to an Aerogulf Reunion. That is the company Alec started with out here in Dubai in 1979!!!! Alec and I have done lots of driving around and have visited six of the seven Emirates as we have been looking for things. Alec is off trying to find a place to fill our cooking gas tanks today. Not to say that we spent a good part of yesterday doing the same thing. The roading system here is really something else. There are just too many of them and all are still at some stage of major construction. Then when you finally get to where you want to be you are told, no not here but across the other side of town!!

As one only get issued with a months’ visa here, Alec and I did what is known as a boarder run the other night. We drove the 140ks to the boarder with Oman and get yourself stamped out of here and into Oman, then out of Oman and back into the UAE. Sounds complicated but is very simple and quick. We took Murray with us and reminisced about all the past trips we had done along that road since the early 1980’s.

The other exciting thing is that at the moment the Louis Vuitton Sailing competitions are on out of the Marina we are staying next too. We have wandered around the yard and spoken with some of the Emirates Team New Zealand guys. We took SHAMAL out the other day but the water police will not let you get close enough to really see much. Tonight we have been invited to dinner at the Dubai Off-shore Sailing Club where the boys will also be attending.

So within the week we hope to up anchor from Dubai and start the trip back to Oman stopping off at bays and towns along the way.

You will all be getting ready for Christmas and the festive season. Again it will be another very simple one for us without any hassle I hope. So we wish you all the very best

Lots of love

The Admiral and The Commander

New Zealand Holiday Comes To An End

2010-10-07T01:09:00.000+13:00

Hello To You All

Yes it’s the Admiral and the Commander here. We are just about to venture out on the next stage of our Adventures. So exciting. We have one day left of our New Zealand Holiday and are really looking forward to getting back to Dubai to get SHAMAL ready for the next sailing season. We hear the temperatures in Dubai are up around 37’c so that will make a nice change from our rather wet cool winter.

The first few weeks back were taken up with Jobs and maintenance on our properties, purchasing boat spares and packing up trunks to send goods back for us and our daughter Brigitte in Dubai. We then started on a road trip heading North as far as the Bay Of Islands, visiting friends and them returning to Pukekohe – our home town. We picked up our son Murray and then headed South to visit family and friends. We went as far as Nelson at the top of the South Island crossing Cook Straight this time on one of the car ferries. Not like our last visit when we crossed with SHAMAL. It was a fun couple of months on the road and many thanks to everyone who made the time to catch up over a coffee or meal, or had us to stay. We really do appreciate your kindness for everything. We headed back north to continue on with jobs, maintenance, and even more visiting, and eating!! Yes we have both put on a couple of kilos which we hope to shed once we are back on the water.

Alec had his hernia operation which went very well. We have had the usual dentist and doctor visits and by what we paid I think we have set them up for a mighty fine Christmas!! Prices really have gone up.

We took a trip to Hamilton a couple of weeks ago for Alec’s Mums 93rd Birthday, and then again last week with friends to visit a small aircraft factory where a microlight is made called the Batam. Alec took his first flight in five years. How time goes. He took a year off work and forgot when that ran out. He keeps telling Murray that once we have finished sailing around the world that the two of them are flying around the world!! Yeah Right!!

So this is it. Bags are packed and those final phone calls have been made. I have squeezed the last items into the cases and have an extra one out on the lounge floor for Murray to bring up in a couple of weeks, as he is coming to join us for a couple of months. Tomorrow night we fly out to Brisbane where we will spend the weekend and then on Monday fly on to Abu Dhabi.

So will sign out and keep you posted

Much love

The Admiral and the Commander

Muscat to Fujairah (U.A.E.) - Dubai

2010-05-20T22:31:00.007+12:00

Hello To You All Again

Just a very quick note from the Middle East.

Well here we are now sitting in Dubai. SHAMAL is in the UAE [United Arab Emirates] but not here in Dubai. We checked into the country in the Emirate of Fujairah on the 27th of April after a wonderful three weeks in Oman visiting with friends and relaxing in beautiful bays where the waters were so-ooo clean and clear. We were still swimming around midnight some nights as the water was so-ooo good.

Thank you to Peter and Yai, Millie and Ali, and Grant, who had us around to meals. It was great to catch up. A big thank you to Alex Omega and Tau who had has to stay. We look forward to catching up again with you all on our way south towards the end of the year. Another lovely surprise we had in Muscat was catching up with Garth and Koreti from NZ who were with us in Oman in the 80’s. They were visiting the country with their daughter Maryanne who works in Dubai.

As we said in the last email, Oman is not a cheap place to enter but we saved our money by not staying in the marina. It is definitely a must to visit for all you yachties out there. The coast line is wonderful.

Once again our trip from Muscat to Fujairah was a mixed bag of weather where we motored for most of the morning on dead flat seas till the breeze kicked in mid morning and then we were able to sail till around dusk when the winds died and we were back to motoring again. I did manage to catch a fish but it went back as we were unsure of what it was!! We arrived in Fujairah the following day morning.

We were told that there was no available space at the marinas in Dubai and also it is very expensive so we decided to check into the Fujairah International Marina and drive to Dubai – 100km’s or so and check things out for ourselves. Our daughter Brigitte, who lives in Dubai, came over to pick us up. After some investigating we have decided to leave SHAMAL in Fujairah for the northern summer as it is only costing us NZ$350 per month on a wet berth. We are automatically made members of the club and get a 20% discount at their bar and restaurant which is really nice. We have met a couple of other ‘liveaboards’ in the Marina. They have put air conditioning units into their boats – very much needed at this time of the year. Summer is here with temperatures now reaching the 40’s along with the dust haze that reduces visibility to 3,000 -4,000mts some days.

We will bring SHAMAL around to Dubai when we come back at the end of September as we are looking forward to exploring the Musandam area which is at the Straits of Hormuz at the entrance to the Arabian Gulf. Also we will lift SHAMAL out here in Dubai as she will need a good clean and her zincs renewed after spending the summer in the water. Alec has got costings for that and it is not too bad. He has also had our two water pumps overhauled which he was impressed with the work done and also the price. One of the shafts was bent and they made up a new one in a machine shop.

We will be flying out of Abu Dhabi for Brisbane this coming Wednesday, we hope as we are on stand-by tickets, where we will visit the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show on the weekend and visit Alec’s brother Richard and his wife before returning to New Zealand.

So that is all from us for a few months till we arrive back and continue with our travels. Look forward to catching up with those of you in NZ

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Commander

Goa - Panji to Muscat - Oman

2010-04-08T09:15:00.009+12:00

Yes it’s us again.

Well we left Goa at 2.00pm on Friday 19th March, crossing the Bay just outside the river mouth doing a good 6-8kts on a close reach with a 1,000nm crossing of the Arabian Sea lying ahead of us to reach Muscat. We have had similar distances in the past taking a maximum of eight days, but, with it being mid to late March it is not the most favourable time to make this crossing as the north east trades are starting to run out and in our case it looks like we will have westerly’s ahead of us. We don’t have the fuel to motor the whole way so it looks like we will be doing alot of tacking.

Early morning on Day 2 Alec got me up to see what we could have driven into had it still been dark. We were motoring as the sea was like a mill pond and just in front was a fishing dory [a rather large dinghy which the Indian fishermen tow behind their vessels] which was bow straight down in the water and the stern sticking out about a meter. That could have made a mess if we had hit that!! It must have been like that for some time as it had its own little eco system living around it. The water was crystal clear and we could see the fish everywhere.

In the first 3 days we only covered 336 nm. The winds never got above 6-7kts. For that distance we were still watching out for fishing vessels and again there were plenty of them, but once clear of those it was just the large ships we had to watch out for . When you bring up the photos you will see one of our chart plotter screen showing what the shipping looks like in the Arabian Sea – and that is only the ones who have the AIS system.

In the next 24hour period we picked up a lovely breeze reaching between 17-20kts at times and were humming along again but unfortunately heading towards Pakistan. The other thing which kept us amused at times but has now become rather a nuisance is listening out on Channel 16. Alec now calls it the Monkey Channel. Every evening this guy comes on – we think he may-be a Pakistani Fisherman - and he calls up ‘The Monkey, The Monkey’ in the weirdest voice, referring to the Indian Fishermen. Then we had another singing ‘One little, two little, three little Indians, but the one Alec wanted to get on the microphone and help out through sheer frustration was a couple of Indians in the big ships trying to decide how they should pass each other. It is common to hear one ship calling another just acknowledging which side they will pass each other, but in this case it got all a little confusing for them. One kept saying we will pass Starboard to starboard but the other said NO, Port red to Port red. This went on for a good 10 minutes. I think the Port Red guy won out in the end as by now he was screaming out that they had to ‘’obey the rule’’!! We hear lots of arguments among the Sub-Continent crews and their choice of language and what they call each other is not for the faint hearted!!

Once we were clear of the Indian Coast and all the Fishing Vessels I have had my fishing line out but to date nothing. Mind you if I was a fish I don’t think I would like to be swimming out here among all these super tankers and cargo vessels. We have seen dolphins, and one night it was lovely watching them swimming beside us. You could not see them but the phosphorescence just sparkled in the wake they left behind them. You could see their trails for a good few metres. That same night we had a little bird come rest his weary wings perching on the rescue bag right beside the Port helm where we sit and do our watches. He stayed with us till dawn.

After six days out as the winds were more westerly we did yet another tack, this time south, heading towards the Red Sea. Unfortunately the set drift [current] has not been in our favour for most of the trip, and can be at times between 1-2kts. But we are back on track again now with 330nm to go. There is suppose to be more wind as we approach the Omani coast. I was on watch last night at midnight, a rather hazy night with a part moon out, and we had a merchant ship two miles abeam off our stbd bow with the usual AIS symbol showing on the chart plotter, plus radar return, and also I had visual sighting. No problems as I could see he was going to pass across the bow just over a mile in front, but, on the radar I was getting two echoes. [Multiple echoes can happen when two ships are parallel to each other as Alec keeps telling me] In this case I had only one ship on AIS and visual. On one of my visual lookouts I screamed to Alec to get up and look at this!! Yes another ship was just about to cross our stbd bow just under a mile away in total black out mode. No steaming lights, no navigation lights, no any type of light not even a port hole light, and no AIS transponder or anything apart from now showing on the radar a second clear blob which told us a ship is out there!!! All we could see was this humongous big thing moving at a good 20 -22kts through the water. Alec thinks it may have been one of those huge new super container ships by its profile. Maybe the Skipper thought he was already in Pirate waters, and as we would only show on his radar as our AIS is receiver only and not transponder, that we may have been one!!!! Anyway all was safe and well and as Alec says the mark one eye ball wins again. He has now given me my watch keepers ticket, saying he is still working on his. That is only because my watch is the 2200 – 0200 one and that seems to be when there is the most activity about.

Day 8 sees the wind change to the south and we now running on a broad reach with no more motor sailing for 36hours which was lovely. We leave the Arabian Sea and enter the Gulf of Oman. We both notice the nights getting cooler as we are heading north away from the equator. It is not until the first few hours of day 10 that we see the coast of Oman. We made our way to Muscat but were unable to reach the Port in daylight so dropped anchor about 11nm south in Bandar Khayan – a sound with several lovely sheltered bays. We were back in our old sailing waters again. Next morning we upped anchor and slowly made our way to the Port of Muscat. We were told by Port Control we could not enter the Harbour unless we had a shipping Agent. Oh dear we had not counted on that. After some talking back and forth the Port Control organised an agent for us and by late morning we were anchored in the small craft mooring area. It was not quite as straight forward as we thought – typical Arabs. It took four hours before the Agent came out in a small Police boat and took our paper work ashore to process. He said he would get us a one month visa and it would only take half an hour!! By sundown he still had not arrived back and we were just getting settled for the evening thinking we would finish things off in the morning when we got a radio call to say to move the boat to Berth 5 as a huge cruise liner had just pulled out. This we did and the Agent handed over our passports with the month long visa with us having not filled out any paper work. He then requested his fee of US $700!! Well of course this we refused to pay. He said we could not anchor inside the port area overnight and sent us off to the Marina about five miles away saying that he would be down in the morning to collect the money - yeah right!! Alec told him he thought the pirates were off Somali and not here in Muscat!! As it was now dark and the Marina office had closed for the night we anchored outside next to the British Ambassador's Residence. In the morning we got into the tender and went into the Marina to see if they had a berth available, which they did for a mere US $125 per night!! We were rather shocked at this but decided to spend a couple of nights there so we could give SHAMAL a complete wash down, and then make arrangements to moor somewhere else. Once again Alec told the office staff he thought the Pirates were off Somali and not here in Muscat!! A couple of days later we had organised to anchor just outside the Marina at the Capital Area Yacht Club with temporary membership of US $25 for a month. Talk about extremes. It is a lovely spot with a beautiful clean beach and waters so clear we can see the bottom easily at 6metres. We are able to use all their facilities.

As for the Agent and collecting his money, well he never turned up, but we both knew we could not leave Muscat until we had our paper work. Alec and I set off to find him after the weekend and he was still demanding his US $700. We decided to visit Port Services where we met a very nice Omani gentleman who got on the phone to the Agent and negotiated the price down to US $300. Still a little high, but a vast improvement on US$700. We were then able to get on with catching up with all our friends.

So here we are, back in the Middle East. We have already started exploring all the wonderful bays and beaches in the area. SHAMAL has now over 17,000nm behind her and this last leg took us 9days and 6hours. We have now been away from NZ for 11 months. Our plans are to stay here in Oman till the end of April and then make our way up to Dubai where we will take SHAMAL out of the water for the summer, and then return to New Zealand for a few months to visit family and friends. Then we will be back to continue on with our Adventures.

So from the Admiral and the Commander we will sign out for this post.

Love to you all and for some we will see you soon.

Galle to Panaji - Goa - India

2010-04-01T17:36:00.008+13:00

This is only the Commander

Hello again

Yes It's Team SHAMAL Here Again

As I start this note we are about 60nm south of the Indian Port at Goa – Panaji – where we hope to stop for a night or two before heading out across the Arabian Sea to Muscat – Oman. No we don’t have a visa but have found out through our son ‘The Shore Manager’ that New Zealand is one of only five countries which can gain a visa on arrival. The other four are Finland, Luxembourg, Japan and Singapore. Time will tell. We have used a bit of diesel on the run up the Indian coastline and it would be nice to be able to fill the tanks and jerry cans before we make the crossing of about 975nm. Winds are a little light and variable, but in saying that we have had lovely runs every afternoon when the sea breeze kicks in sometimes well into the night.

We left Galle with winds up to 20kts and were cruising along at 9kts for a few hours which was a nice push out across the Gulf of Mannar towards the south western tip of India. In Galle we met one of sailings characters who had left Sri Lanka 28 days earlier to cross the Indian Ocean to Salalah in Oman, but had returned due to poor winds and strong currents taking him in the wrong direction. He says he did just over 2000nm and ended up where he started!! He had enough stories to tell which would be enough to keep anyone in port, but Alec could see he was feeling quite stressed from this unsuccessful trip. He told us he had been boarded by Indian fishermen at the bottom of India and had nearly all his diesel siphoned from his tanks. He had been rammed by the fishermen but there was no sign of damage to his boat. He had sailed northwest out towards the Nine Degree Channel which is above the Maldives and was hoping to head to Salalah but ran out of wind and drifted back to the Indian coast off Cochin. He called up the port in Cochin and asked if he could come in for fuel but they told him to go away and ask the fishermen for fuel as he did not have a visa. He is from Australia and they are not one of the five countries on ‘The List’. Poor guy if half of what he said was true it was not much of a trip as his average speed was only 1.4kts!!!

So with Robs stories and advice from him that we have left it too late in the season wind wise, off we set. To date we have had a good run if a little slow at times. We have done a lot of tacking when the breeze has been on our nose, but that’s all part of sailing. As for the fisherman we have had no problems. The Indian Cruising Guide stated there have been reports of fishing boats off southern India coming up to yachts and stealing items, in fact at one time the advice was to stay 80 miles off shore. This is the rumour-mill working at its worst. Only about four or five fishing boats have approached us for something. The first wanted diesel and held up a jerry can. Alec went out and gave them a friendly wave but with the flare gun pistol strapped around his waist, and they headed off in the opposite direction all smiles and waving. Anyway the sea was too rough for them to get too close. Two other lots we gave biscuits, coca cola and cigs to and they were quite happy. The one we found really rather funny was at dawn one morning and I was asleep and Alec had gone down to the loo. I was woken by this guy yelling out wanting me to make him and his four crew cardamom tea would you have. Again it was too rough so he moved on. Some come up very close to SHAMAL but so far have none have been hostile or threatening. There have been hundreds of fishing boats about, and night of course is the busy time, but with the radar on we have picked up most of them. One guy did cross over our bow last night with no lights on only a few meters in front of us. For the first three night we were also in the main shipping lanes but again they all have AIS which as I told you about in a past letter is wonderful as we know how close they will pass us etc. These ships have been great and if very close it is always them who have changed course a few degrees as we have been sailing. So ‘no problem’!! as the Indians say. It looks like the 800 or so nautical miles will take us just on 7 days. Yes a bit slow but it has been quite relaxing. We are cruising not racing.

We have been cruising anywhere between 5 -20nm off the coast but have seen hardly anything of the mainland due to the haze. You can smell India at times!! The only annoying thing is that we have been inundated with bugs. Flies, mosquitoes and other buglets.

Thursday 18th March.

Well we arrived in Goa yesterday morning at 1030 and have dropped anchor up the Mandovi River opposite the town of Panaji. All the way in we were calling up Port Control on the radio, but no one was talking to us. Also once we arrived we called and called but all ‘not knowing’. So we waited for the customs boat to come out, but again ‘not knowing’!! So we took the tender ashore and Alec set off to find the Harbour Master and Customs etc. He asked around everywhere but everyone was ‘not knowing’. So he headed off to the Police Station. He was directed to the Police Sub-Inspector who was not in the office but would be back in half an hour. One hour later Alec left the office having seen not seeing him, but saying he would be back in the morning. He had changed some money so we proceeded to fill up with diesel which was simple enough.

This morning we both ventured out again to see our Sub-Inspector. This time he arrived within 10 minutes of us being there. We have discovered this whole process may be much easier than we thought. Alec saw on his desk that visiting ships are issued crew shore passes and not visas. Later this afternoon he is coming out to the boat so we will see how things pan out.

Oh dear all a little too much for our Sub-Inspector to arrive today. He went home for his afternoon nap and must have fallen into a very deep sleep!! I phoned him and we are to call into his office first thing in the morning. Never mind we had a wander around the town for a bit of a look and had a meal.

Friday 19th March.

Another trip to see our friend the Sub-Inspector. Wonders never cease. All done in under half an hour. No stamps in passports, no money changed hands, no bribes paid, we got to keep our cigs and whisky, and no visit to see SHAMAL. We were cleared in and he asked Alec when do you want to leave so Alec said now, and we were cleared out – ‘No Problem’!! May have taken a day and a half but no hassles so we were very happy.

So today at 1400 after a quick tour round the town in a Tuk Tuk to see the sites, and a trip to the fruit and vege market we headed back to SHAMAL, raised the anchor and headed out into the Arabian Sea for our leg to Muscat.

Goa/Panaji – Impressions – This is a hard one to sum up. The water front of any busy waterway is never the best face of a town/city in this of part of the world, and each time we go ashore here we feel like a disinfectant shower when we return to SHAMAL. The waterways are used for everything! Oh I mean EVERYTHING. Even the poor fish have to jump up for fresh air. I am quite sure we could nearly walk over to town. Our fist trip out in the tender we had only gone fifty metres when clunk, the outboard stopped dead. Alec lifted the motor to find a plastic sack bag around the prop. You could not see it in the murky waters. Last night as I was standing in knee deep water as we were loading the diesel into the tender, things were floating by including flower wreath things. When we got back to SHAMAL the flowers were stuck along the side of her hull plus this brown scum!! Yes, well there just may have been a funeral or two up river!! We both had a scrub out on deck, then showers. Our Murray said he hoped we put Grandma back into the river and advised us not to suck her up in the water-maker intake. Thank you very much Murray, we will NOT be making water while in this Port!! At night on the river the place comes alive with three floating Casinos operating and then seven disco boats, all with flashing lights and the works, which cruise up and down till nearly midnight each with music at full volume and each with different songs and deejays calling out. Good thing we were so tired we just dropped off to sleep. Even though the main commercial port is in the next bay around there are a huge number of ships anchored just outside the bay as this is also India’s largest iron ore port. Barges go up and down the river all the time carrying the ore out to the waiting ships.

This area is known as the ‘Phuket’ of India – it’s jewel. Well it ain’t no diamond and that is for sure. The town does have a charm of its own as the Portuguese have been here which is evident everywhere with all the lovely old buildings. Again not quite like the Portuguese left them. There is a lovely park/gardens and the main road around the waterfront is lined with beautiful old trees which give fabulous shade during the hot afternoons. No doubt the beaches further out will have more to offer but we won’t get to see them. The fruit and vege market is wonderful with a great variety and good prices. We had lunch out at a vegetation restaurant which was also very cheap. Trouble is in this climate you are not hungry at lunchtime we just find we want drinks. We were unable to finish what was served up to us, and were sitting by the window. Next thing a wee child’s hand holding a small bowl comes through the bars on the window so we filled it up with our left-over’s.

So to all our boatie friends who were interested to see what we thought of coming this way. Yes we are glad we did. It may have been a little challenging, but again one of life’s experiences, and it is always good to see new places. Well isn’t this what this whole adventure is about. Also it has been nice to have a break before heading out across the Arabian Sea to Muscat a thousand miles away, and to pick up diesel and freshies. We met some crew and guests off a Super Sailing Yacht this morning who were also obtaining shore passes and they had come from the Maldives, saying they had had a good run wind wise from that direction. They were heading out for the Port of Salalah in the south of Oman again saying that Goa is also a good angle wind wise to leave from. Perhaps you could obtain your visa before coming especially if you want to head off Inland and do some sightseeing, and also for peace of mind, but with the different immigration departments being miles apart, and if you only want to restock and have a quick look like we have done, I think the shore pass idea would be a lot easier. There is also a TLP [Temporary Landing Permit] which can be obtained for a maximum of 72 hours and your passport is held for that period at a cost of US$40. Do check these things out on the internet before heading out as things are always changing. We are still meeting yachts that are heading for Salalah and then the Red Sea. The crew off the Super Yacht mentioned they had to make Salalah by the 24th to join a convoy to the Red Sea which is the way yacht’s do that leg these days.

OK will sign out for this letter.

Hope all is well with you all

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Commander

Sri Lanka

2010-03-31T06:51:00.005+13:00

Hello from Sri Lanka

It is times like we are having at this very moment that one needs a good sense of humour or you could lose your mind through sheer frustration!! As I sit and write this Alec is nearly pulling his hair out. We have a ‘local’ engineer on board who arrived with his tool box – one hammer and a chisel – to do a job for us which really needed an assortment of good tools. Alec is on the phone to the agent explaining the problem, but this bloody fat crow is sitting on the back squawking it’s head off as Alec is talking, and you all no he is a little hard of hearing these days!! Each time I chase the crow away he comes back with vengeance and squawks even louder, and, he has just been joined by a friend!! Alec can’t hear what is being said, the guy on board with the hammer and chisel has just joined in the conversations yelling in Sinhala – the local language - to Alec from the engine room, and the whole thing is turning into a complete fiasco. Also it is very hot and humid. Problem is that we need this job done. The water maker pump bracket has broken off its mounting from the engine. The two bolts holding it in place have sheered through. There should have been at least four bolts holding it in place. Our local so called engineer was trying to knock out what was left of the bolts instead of unscrewing them so Alec very quickly put a stop to that.

Ten minutes later. The engineer has left – Alec gave him a short sharp shift - and arrangements have been made for us to move over to the work pier first thing Monday morning where there is power we can plug into. The agent has told us we need a permit from the Navy to move anywhere in the Harbour first!!

Last night we had our first look around the town of Galle. It is said to be Sri Lanka’s most historically interesting. Some Historians believe Galle may be the city of Tarshish of Biblical times where King Solomon obtained gems, spiced and peacocks from. There are plenty of gem shops around but one needs to be very careful as there are also plenty of fake gems about. These people seem to operate every type of scam known to man. The old town has not really been looked after which is such a pity as there are many wonderful old buildings, but it is reasonably clean. In 1663 the Dutch built the 36-hectare fort which is now a World Heritage site and today it is the old township. Pity as the New township is in much of the same state of repair. But there is something quite charming about the place. There are none of those sewer smells often associated with this part of the world which makes a welcome change. We went for a walk along the Fort Walls just before sunset and watched the cliff divers. Like most people here they want money for anything they do for you or show you but it really is only a pittance. The people are all very friendly and nothing was too much for our took tuk tuk [ three wheeler ] driver who has also become our local guide. He found us a restaurant and then left us for an hour and a half to have dinner before picking us up and bringing us back to the boat. The dinner was nothing to write home about, in fact quite disappointing, but is only our first meal out so we will see how the food maps out.

Monday 8th March.

We have now been here for 12 days. This place has been so incredibly frustrating when it comes to doing our boat jobs, and yet we have had a look around the local area plus an amazing trip inland to the hill country where the tea is grown. Our trip locally took us to a beach along the coast for a swim one afternoon. It was one of the local surf beaches and Alec and I really enjoyed that, to be told later that a big fat crocodile had been spotted there in the surf sometime earlier!!! Great, thought we had finished with those beasts when we left Australia!! We also visited a lowland tea plantation – didn’t know tea could be grown so close to the coast – a spice garden, where I was totally conned into buying products I really don’t need but the massage was worth it, a wood carving shop and so on. We did these trips while also waiting to do the job on the water maker which became rather drawn out. Last Monday we moved to the work wharf to start work. Again our engineer turned up with no work bag and the Agent then said we must pay US$50 to connect to the power. Another untruth to add to many we were hearing now!! We said no more money was going to be paid out so they left. Alec then started on the job himself. He did go outside and consult our Tuk Tuk driver who took him to an engineering workshop and they came back with the boss. He had a look at the problem but did not like the fact the space was rather cramp and hot to work in but offered to extend the broken bracket once Alec had it off. The long and short of it Alec and I took it off and replaced it once it was modified. Our night at the work wharf turned out to create another problem. The galley hatch window cracked with the surge of the sea pushing SHAMAL against the huge rubber tyres we had to tie up against even though we had all our seven fenders out. That will have to wait till Dubai to be fixed! It has a lovely bit of silver tape over it at the moment.

Our Tuk Tuk driver was really feeling sorry for us with trips back and forth to the workshop and invited us back to his house for dinner one night. It was a wonderful experience and the best food we had the whole time we were there. Another friend of his came and they told us how the tsunami had effected all their lives. Times are still very hard for many, but some of these people are not helping themselves. But in saying that the sickening thing is the Leaders of the country have not used the millions they were given to those who were affected – oh you see the token projects, but they lined their pockets and the people know this. One of the President’s son’s was given a fat sum to build a plush top class Hotel!!

The highlight was the trip into the Hill country. For this trip we hired a driver for the four days and three nights. He took us past his house on the way which was, and is again, right on the coast. The first house was totally washed away with only a concrete pad remaining in the tsunami but his wife and son were safe. Two of my Great Great Grandfathers on my Mum’s side of the family lived in Ceylon back in the 1800’s and one had a coffee plantation, so off we went armed with information my cousin had passed on – thanks Terry – to find out what we could. We headed for the city of Kandy. Only 115km inland and at an altitude of 500m. It took us the whole day to get there as the roads are – interesting! The driving is also interesting with everyone passing on corners as they want to be in front of you all the time. We stopped at a rubber plantation, and everywhere else I wanted to take a photo of. We ate at very ‘local’ places which was fun. Lunch is a plate of “short eats”. This is a selection of patties, pastries, bread rolls, spring rolls etc which are placed in the middle of the table when you sit down. You eat what you want and the bill is added up according to how many are left. I tried not to think about the hands that may have wandered over someone else’s leftovers. It’s times like these I am glad I can’t eat these foods and a plate of spiced rice was just fine thank you.

Kandy is a pretty city built around a manmade lake. We arrived on dusk and by the time we had found a hotel for the night there was no time left to really have a good look around, but our driver did take us to see the Kandy Dance Show which was quite athletic at times as drummers beat out rhythms on double ended drums. The costumes were really worth the visit. One included men’s bare chests covered with necklaces of silver and ivory and bangles of silver worn on the arms and ankles. They have huge silver crown head dresses and huge silver earings. How they moved was quite incredible. After the show Alec and I went for a walk around the lake before going back to our Hotel for a light dinner.

The other main reason for our visit to Kandy was to obtain an Indian visa which is recommended one does here rather than Colombo as the queues are shorter and you are issued with it within 24 hours. So next morning our first stop was to the Assistant Indian High Commission Office. Another interesting experience and extremely frustrating. We waited for an hour and a half before we were even seen and filled in the 4 pages of questions like; what is your Father’s name, Have you visited Pakistan, List all the countries you have visited in the last 10 years!! But the one they could not comprehend was our ‘Hotel’ address while in India. We filled in ‘SHAMAL’ . First they wanted to see our airline docket and when we told them we were taking a boat in that was all too much to comprehend. They were really ‘not knowing’ about this. They made us sit down for another two hours or so then came back saying it would take a week to get a visa as they had to phone Wellington New Zealand. Yea Right !! So we left without a visa and decided it was time to go on our historical family information hunt which saw us visiting first the British Council. Here we met a wonderful woman who became so interested in our project she had us visiting half of Kandy’s historical sites. We gleaned the most information for the old church records and after that things sort of came to a halt. But armed with that information the next morning we ventured higher into the tea growing country where coffee was first planted, but this crop was mostly killed off by a devastating disease so was replaced with tea. We passed through the region of Kothmale where a family member had a plantation. Our friend from the British Council made arrangements for us to visit the Tea Research Institute as her husband worked there and is not open to the public. That was most interesting and he has promis3ed to try and follow up family connections for us. We ended up in the town of Nuwara Eliya which is just beautiful. A place at 1889m so the temperature is just perfect. You can see it was established by the British with its hedges, rose gardens, English country styled houses, an 18-hole golf course, the race course, and the list goes on. From here we visited another Tea Plantation and after a tea tasting session we came away with enough tea to keep us going for quite some time. Also the climate here makes the place perfect for growing vegetables which we stocked up on. I also heard about the local fruit cakes which I got a large slab of for Alec and he says is really good.

The next day was the trip back to Galle. Our driver wanted to return the way we had come but we said no which slightly upset him. But what upset him even more was he learnt we had a couple of bikes onboard and asked if he could have one. When we said NO he was in a huff for the rest of the morning!! But we did arrive safely back at the coast.

Back in Galle we finished off the water maker fitting, gathered a few more supplies and finally said good bye to the new friends we had made, and the grubby Harbour which I was not sad to be leaving and hoisted sails on Wednesday 10th March heading out across the Gulf of Mannar towards India. Paper work all saying our next Port of call is Muscat – Oman!!!! The sad thing about the Galle Harbour is that it is really a Navy and Commercial Port. Cement boats come in and unload twice a month and if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction your boat gets coated in the fine dust. But for those of you who may come this way in the future Sri Lanka is well worth the stop. There is a real charm about the place. Funds were put in place for a new marina in 2008 by the Japanese but there is no sign of it yet. We live in hope!!

So enough from us for this letter.

Love to you all from

The Admiral and The Commander – Yes our Galle paper work as given Alec a promotion!

Phuket to Galle - Sri Lanka

2010-02-26T22:22:00.008+13:00

Hello again,

Well our week to ten days at the ‘Yacht Haven Marina’ turned into three weeks while the work progressed slowly and we waited on parts to arrive. So SHAMAL was washed and polished and the list in Alec’s ‘jobs to do’ book were nearly all crossed off which was great. We kept doing outings and visiting different stores etc to replenish supplies which other boaties tell you about. We were becoming familiar faces with the local restaurant owners and quickly becoming part of the local scene which really hit home when the Marina manager asked one morning if she could find us a permanent berth for the season. Help it’s time to move on when those sort of questions come at you.

So on the 10th February we untied our mooring lines after farewells had been said and cards swapped and motored on out and up into Phang Nga Bay north east of where we were. It is just beautiful with over 40 Islands and Islets dotted all over the bay. At the head of the Bay are huge mangrove forests – quite different from the type we get at home – where fisherman live. We did not have time to explore the top end of the Bay. The Islands are quite spectacular, some tall limestone pinnacles covered in jungle and rising straight out of the sea. Others more low lying and covered with jungle. We anchored in a lovely spot between two Islands and while doing so a local fisherman came along side and sold us some fresh prawns so that took care of dinner for us that night. We swam in the slightly murky waters which is a result of silt from the rivers which feed into the Bay but apart from that the water is quite safe and clean and the water temperature is just perfect. Next morning we took the tender to explore the Islands at close hand. Some of them in this area have “hongs” - which is Thai for room – You enter into a cave in your tender or sea kayak, [think we will have to add that to the list of 'got to get'] mostly at low tide, and paddle through coming out into an open to the sky lagoon. Was a bit claustrophobic for me in some of the caves and we had to return to SHAMAL and get a torch, but once through it was well worth it. Again because of the beauty of the area you are joined by a million other people doing the same thing as you, but one advantage of having your own boat is that you visit these places before the hordes arrive.

From there we moved on up to Ko Phing Kan, or James Bond Island as it is called as it was here that the movie ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’ was partly filmed. Being a little late getting away we joined the tourists ashore to have a quick look around. Yes another very pretty Islet but there are other Islands in the area just as good. We then headed back down the Bay and spent a night anchored in the lee of Kho Rang Yai. Yes another gorgeous spot to watch the sun set and all the tour boats return to Phuket for another day.

Next morning it was back to Ao Chalong. Alec will tell you about our little incident as we passed by a couple of American warships at anchor!! We were back in the Bay before mid day and decided to check out with customs as the following day was Saturday and it was time to move on. Once that was complete we visited the supermarket deciding to leave the last of the fruit and vege shop for the morning, and went on out for a our last dinner. Saturday morning we picked up the last of our fuel and were returning to SHAMAL when my phone rang and it was Brigitte saying she was in town. Plans change and we were able to spend Saturday and Sunday morning with her. Her company had put her in a lovely Hotel at the top of the Island and after she had visited us in the morning we hired a car and went to the Hotel to spend the night with her. So that saw us returning to the ‘Yacht Haven Marina’ for dinner that evening. Sunday she had to return to Abu Dhabi and we needed to leave Phuket as we had checked out. They do give boaties 24hours grace in most of these places. So with the last of the supplies on board we motored around to the south western side of Phuket and dropped anchor once more in Nai Harn where we went ashore for one last walk on dry land as it was going to be some time before we would do that for a while.

While at the ‘Yacht Haven Marina’ we were talking to people who said we should make a slight diversion on our way out and head North West of Phuket and offshore about 60nm where lie the Similan Islands which is one of the top dive sites in the world. So we upped anchor from Nai Harn at 2.20am and dodging all the other anchored boats we motored on out and made a heading for the Similan Islands. Winds were light and we did not arrive till 3.00pm but what another beautiful place. The Islands are covered in lush rainforest with exposed smooth granite boulders, white sandy beaches and coral reefs. It is a National Park so not many people live there, but at this time of the year it is visited by dive boats from the mainland. We picked up a mooring and spent two wonderful nights here. I spent most of the time in the water which was as clean and clear as one could imagine, not to say how wonderful and warm it was. The fish and coral life was fantastic and for those who dive you get to see about everything you would want to. There are even whale sharks here. I did not come across one. Alec used our powersnorkel to go deeper but I was quite happy just snorkelling about.

That little adventure had to end and on Wednesday 17th February saw us dropping our mooring buoy and moving on from the Similan Islands on a heading for Sir Lanka. So today is day four of our trip out across the Andaman Sea passing through the Nichobar Islands and now we are in the Bay of Bengal 406nm out with about 680mn to go surrounded by lots and lots of blue blue sea!!! We were thinking of spending a night at the Nicobar Islands but were strongly recommended against doing so. They are administered by India, but unlike the Andamans further to the North the Nicobar Islands are not open to Yachts. You are told it is to protect the native peoples [the Nicobarese were said to practice cannibalism so who is kidding who here?] but it will be something to do with the fact the Russian military installations on the Islands which are now in the hands of the Indian military are there. Anyway yesterday we sailed through the Sombrero Channel and said hi and bye as we went.

I have also had my fishing line out but so far nothing. The day we left the Similan Islands we had pods of dolphins follow us throughout the whole day and into the night.

Day 7. We have now covered over 1000nm and are only about 85nm out from Galle on the south west corner of Sri Lanka. It has been a wonderful run with no storms, seas never more than 2mts and a downwind run so we have been able to use the M.P.S. nearly the whole way. I caught a skipjack tuna Day 5. Line still out. We have had numerous flying fish landing on the boat and one night around 12.30 Alec was asleep up here in the saloon while I was on watch and he woke with one flapping about on his chest. It had come in through the saloon window – slapped with a wet fish!! Yesterday saw the start of the local fishing trawlers pulling up alongside to do some bartering. We were still nearly 200nm out from Galle. The first had a lovely yellow fin tuna and they wanted cigarettes which we handed over in a net along with biscuits and fishing hooks. The second gave us coconuts and a beautiful big papaya and was given the same in return. This off shore supermarket is not a bad one at all. More have come along side and we are now just having a friendly chat and off they go. Sadly it is cigarettes and alcohol they are after. They have all been very friendly and we fly the NZ Silver fern flag which we are sure helps. They all know about our New Zealand cricket team!!

Well as I finish this off this morning we are berthed in the Galle Harbour which is still under high Navel security surveillance . Trip 8 days and covering 1,125nm. We arrived yesterday morning having slowed down so as to time our arrival in daylight. It is prohibited to enter the harbour at night and in any case one does not want to be mistaken for a Tamil Tiger boat making a surprise night attack on the harbour which the Tamils did in 2006 – hence all the Navel security here, even though the war is supposed to be over . The procedure was quite straightforward with us radioing ahead to the harbourmaster who then sends a Navy gun boat out to meet you. We anchored outside along with an Italian yacht who had also just arrived from Indonesia, and we were boarded filled in paper work and a quick visual inspection was done. In other words they just wanted a look. Don’t think we look like the type to be a threat. Two of the Navy guys stayed onboard and we then entered the harbour and tied up to a plastic pontoon which looks like plastic bottles tied together hence it snakes about with the current. Both yachts have tied up what is known as ‘Mediterranean style’ where you drop anchor then back into the pontoon and tie up to it. We were met by our agent and then continued the clearing in procedures with a visit from port health, customs and immigration. A one off fee was paid to our clearing in agent to cover everything and the only person who wanted a ‘little gift’ was the Dr. From health. He got the usual cigarettes and biscuits. So all the horror stories one hears about Sri Lanka being all too difficult to do are not true in our case. Alec went ashore with the agent and was given two shore passes from the Port Authority to get us in and out of the port. There are manned gun emplacements both side of the harbour and in the evening two booms were pulled across the Harbour entrance to close it off for the night. Even the local fishing fleet have to check in and out of the Harbour. We then spent the extremely hot afternoon catching up on sleep. Today we are doing the usual pre-trip checks and refuelling then will go into town and see about a trip inland to do some sightseeing for a few days.

Now to find somewhere to send this off to you all. Anyway don’t think that will be a problem with internet these days so will sign out once again.

Thanks to all who have sent us mail. Terry a big thank you for all the information you sent through. I will see what I can find out.

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Captain.

Hi From Alec

After riding around on Motorbikes, an Elephant and the odd hire car I purchased a copy of the Phuket Gazette and read about the following. Living on land can be more dangerous that sailing. Except when one sails too close to American warships. More about that later.

Maimed pilot: “ I will fly again “ Cathay Pacific Airline Pilot Scott McDonald is trying to put his life back together after his lower calf and foot were sliced off by a speeding motorbike.

As he lay bleeding by the side of the road, a passerby who witnessed the accident used the American’s cell phone to call for help before pocketing the device and fleeing the scene.

When his phone rang he parked his Harley Davidson Fatboy by the side of the road turning the parking light on and still straddling the bike, he answered the cell phone. What hit the American was the foot pedal of a speeding Honda Dream ridden by two Thai men.

Rampaging Elephant : Two Swedish tourists were riding Captain, a 20 year old bull elephant which went berserk . The raging bull grabbed a tree, pulling it down onto a car. The mahout jumped off and the elephant continued to smash more trees. The two tourists managed to get off Captain’s back by grabbing an overhead cable and jumping onto a car below. We jumped off the car. Suddenly the elephant rolled the car over before stepping through its window. One tourist with a bone protruding out of his left leg managed to hop on one leg into a nearby hut. The owner said Captain is a nice elephant, but he had the wrong Mahout. “ It is like a car being driven by someone other than its owner “ she said. Will how about that.

Road rage claimed the life of an elderly German expat. Aged 66. The 32 year old Thai arrested for the killing confessed to cutting of the German’s pickup truck outside the Chalong Police Station. Shamal was moored in Chalong Bay half the time we were in Phuket. The German lived in Thailand for more than 30 years and spoke fluent Thai and I never saw him stick his finger up at anyone a friend said.

We were cut off when riding around several times but we just went with the flow.

When we were sailing from “ James Bond Island “ back to Chalong Bay to check out (so called after filming “ The Man with the Golden Gun “ ) two American warships were anchored outside the Phuket Port. We noticed large orange buoys place at intervals around these two ships with aerials attached. To mark a no go zone for any boats after what happened to the USS Cole in Aden harbour a few years back. So we changed course to sail pass the bottom two but infringed their no go zone by a few metres. Must of been that cross current !!! Well a siren went off and three sailors with rifles came out on the flight deck on the stern of their ship. Then a small Thai patrol boat came towards us but turned away when we made a positive change of course. Just before we turned into Chalong Bay the Thai patrol boat was shepherding another yacht away. In the future we will stay away from motor bikes, elephants and American warships.

Phuket - Thailand

2010-02-01T03:32:00.012+13:00

Hello Again

Well we have been here in Phuket for nearly a month now and by first appearances we though the place was rather over-run with tourists and tourist things, but we are really enjoying the place now that we have had a good look around. One can either go with the tourist flow or it is very easy to go off and do your own thing. The climate is perfect at this time of the year with temperatures around 32 degrees during the day and dropping to about 25-26 degrees at night. We have a lovely breeze of around 10-15kts most days. The sun shines and the water temperature is perfect. We have had the odd shower of rain in the evenings which has been most refreshing. The people are lovely, the food is great and the place is a shoppers dream. I brought myself a lovely pair of silver shoes last night but have no idea when I will get to wear them, but could not resist them at only NZ$10!! The NZ couple who we were out with said I will just have to wear them when we have drinks in the evenings. They will look great with my swim suit!

Alec decided in all his wisdom that the quickest and easiest way to get around was to be like everyone else and hire a motor bike!! Our Lonely Planet did warn us that it can be a ‘high risk proposition’ as hundreds of people are injured or killed every year on Phuket highways. So with this in mind off we set to do jobs and explore the place with me clutched to Alec’s back like a leach. If I was going to fall off he was coming too! Funny thing was after the first day I really started to enjoy the ride even if I did yell into his ear from time to time to watch out for the vehicle in front or the bike coming in the opposite direction but on the same side of the road as us! It certainly makes getting around the congested roads very easy. You are first in the queue at the traffic lights and just hope that when they turn green the other bikes will fall into a sort of orderly queue as we all pull out at the same time. Once we got totally lost in Phuket town but it really is a great way to see the place. We had reports of Phuket town being run down and dirty, but we found that quite to the contrary. It is a bit of a hotchpotch, but the place is very clean and the local people are making a huge effort to keep it that way. They are always sweeping the streets and washing and cleaning their little patch around their business whatever it may be.

One day while looking for one particular business we ended up on a road that took us to one of the high hills that overlooks much of the southern end of the Island so on up we went. It was here at the summit they are building this huge Buddha. The view was great looking down on both sides of the Island, but these Buddha’s really are very ugly. On the way down we came across an elephant sanctuary where to raise money to look after them you pay for rides, so we stopped and spent about an hour or so learning how they had come from the logging camps on the mainland and that the authorities were most concerned about their wellbeing and inspected them often. After photos and a short ride we were on our way again.

After ten days moored at Ao Chalong at the south eastern end of the Island where we took the main sail off and put it in for minor repairs along with our MPS, plus had sun cover made for the tender along with other odd jobs, we dropped the mooring line and moved around to the western side of the Island for a look. Our first couple of nights were spent at Nai Harn, a charming bay where we swam then went ashore in the evening for a beautiful seafood meal. We then moved on to Patong where its foreshore lined with hotels, restaurants, shops, night-clubs etc all of which overflow into the back streets. We spent another couple of days there swimming reading and relaxing during the day and going ashore in the evenings then back to the boat in time to watch the different fireworks. Not sure of the reason but some of the resorts seem to let them off every evening. Well this is the high season for tourists. Then we headed back to Al Chalong to pick up ordered goods before heading up the east coast to ‘Yacht Haven Marina’ where we are having yet more jobs done. No SHAMAL is not falling apart, in fact she is in very good shape, but as many of you will know owning a boat is an ongoing maintenance thing. All part and parcel of the cruising game. Alec has serviced one of the winches and is currently working on the anchor winch. Cosmetic really, it is just that the paint on the outer casing is starting to bubble so he is scraping it back and will clean it up and give it a repaint. We will move on out of here next week once all is finished and the boat has had a buff and polish.

We have not done as much sailing as we would have liked but hope to get out for a few days to explore some of the Islands to the north east of Phuket Island which are said to be just beautiful. We have met lots of people from all around the world, some who are doing the same as us and will keep on moving, and others who are finding it very hard to leave this part of the world and have been in the area for a couple of years or more. Sri Lanka is our next destination passing through the Nicobar Islands on the way.

We found this quote in a local yachting magazine and think is very appropriate for us and all our friends out there.

TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW YOU WILL BE MORE DISAPPOINTED BY THE THINGS YOU DIDN’T DO THAN BY THE ONES YOU DID DO. SO THROW OUT THE BOWLINES. SAIL AWAY FROM THE SAFE HARBOUR. CATCH THE TRADE WINDS IN YOUR SAIL. EXPLORE, DREAM, DISCOVER. --------------------- MARK TWAIN ---------------------

OK that is all for this letter. Hope all is well with you all. Again many thanks to all who have written to us.

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Captain

Singapore to Phuket

2010-01-19T20:05:00.008+13:00

Hello Once Again

First and foremost we hope you all had WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS with family and friends, and A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2010. Thank you all who sent us Greetings or those lovely cards and news of what you have been up to. We were out and about exploring new bays and Islands for both Christmas and New Year.

Now that you have received and read all your Christmas Mail and all that news which comes in for near and far, it’s back to those rather long and boring SHAMAL’S news letter which arrive in your inbox from time to time. I can hear you saying – oh it’s them again.

As I write this we are sitting on a mooring buoy in Chalong Bay - Phuket, having arrived here on Monday 4th January. So as you can see we have covered quite a bit of ground since our last post.

On the 9th December we upped anchor and went out into the channel to find our Customs boat to clear out of Singapore. The same procedure with passports being passed in the fishing net to the Customs Boat etc. We made the short run of 9nm across to Sebana Cove in Malaysia to clear in. It lies up the Sungai Santi River. Again it is another of these Marina Resorts which is lovely. Away from the hum drum of Singapore, but unfortunately once built the follow up maintenance is rather lacking. Still we really enjoyed this stopover and spent three night there. We got all those little jobs done which are too difficult to do out at anchor and SHAMAL got a really good wash down and clean. Their swimming pool was just beautiful and we used that. We then set off in a cab to visit a local town getting our first glimpses of Malaysia. The country side is lush and green but unfortunately like many places in this part of the world the jungle is being cleared to make way for the latest crop – Palm Oil.

On the 12th December we headed back down the river and out into the Singapore Strait again negotiating our way among the hundreds and hundreds of ships of all shapes and sizes as we made our way up the West side of Singapore and across to the West coast of Malaysia. That trip of 44nm took us 9 hours. It was a lovely warm sunny day with a light breeze and we did have the sails up, but we needed to motor as well as we passed behind and in front of shipping. That evening we dropped the anchor a good half mile off shore in shallow water away from the ships but still in view of Singapore. We were just at the entrance to the Malacca Strait. The next day was a short run of 19nm and again we anchored in very shallow water off a group of Islands called Pulau Pisang which sit 8nm out from the coast. The next day was a 44nm run then it was on to the Water Islands – Pulau Besar - just off the city of Melaka – formerly Malacca. Here we spent a couple of nights with a really good thunder lightening and rain storm on the second evening. The first day we arrived early enough to take the tender ashore and walk around the big Island which had two beautiful resorts built on it where no expense was spared, and a magnificent Golf Course. But the really strange thing was it was all closed down. When we asked why we were told something ‘bad’ happened!! We could get no further information on the place. The golf course was still being kept in pristine condition but the Resorts were shut tight. There were day trippers coming to the Island and others camped on the beaches. There were some nice bungalows which were occupied, but, no one was talking!!

The next day we took the ferry across to the mainland and caught a taxi into the city of Melaka. This city was once the most vital port in Southeast Asia long before Singapore and Penang were even on the map. What a wonderful historic old city where Malay Indian Chinese Portuguese Dutch and British have all left a rich tapestry of History. It was the centre where Chinese junks came carrying spices silks porcelain and gold, where each of the colonisers left their mark on the architecture, where as many as 2,000 ships would dock here and where pirates plundered passing sailing vessels. It was a lovely hot day and we wandered the streets of the old town taking in the sites and visiting the Museum before taking a river cruise on what they call ‘The Venice Of The East’. Melaka is now a World Heritage City and is in the process of having a very tasteful clean up. This is one city I would recommend anyone coming to the East to visit. The Malaysians are a very warm and welcoming people. Our trip back to the Island later in the afternoon was an interesting one. Our ferry broke down and for a period we were just drifting with the tide and winds back towards Singapore. The four of us saw the funny side but many of the locals were quite terrified. Well you do hear the odd story of ferries sinking the these waters!

Our next stop was Port Dickson where we went into the Admiral Marina. Another one of these beautiful Resorts. That evening we all went out to dinner at the Resort restaurant, and this time it was my ‘B’ turn to come down with food poisoning!!!! I spent the whole of the next day in my bunk, but thank goodness it was only a 24 hour thing and I was back on deck the next morning still feeling a little seedy as we motored on out of the marina. We were doing our first night sail again which we had not done for some time and it was a first for Bridget. That morning we had some heavy rain and wind gusting to 39kts but that cleared and by evening we were motoring with no wind but a lovely fine night. The fishing boats and fishing nets do make for interesting navigation at night. Also we stayed well clear of the coast as they have lots of fishing stakes about. Bridget and I took first watch from 10pm to 2.00am. By 8.30 the following morning we have a reef in the main as yet another line of squalls are looming on the horizon, but by 8.30am the wind has dropped to 3kts and we are making that as we move through the water under motor again!! Around 5.00pm that afternoon I caught my first fish in ages. A beautiful Wahoo. That fed us all for a couple of good meals. It took us till 1.40am the following morning to finally reach the South end of Penang Island where we dropped anchor in a sheltered bay. We decided we would move on up to the City Marina the following morning.

George Town – the main city on Penang, is another wonderful city with a rich history with a strong Chinese presents which is reflected in the older shops and houses. Penang means Betel Nut Island. Our Marina was right next to Chinatown and Little India in the old part of the city, but also the car ferry wharf which took motor bikes and cars back and forth to and from the main land. A little noisy at times but most interesting. Here in the Marina we met up with another lovely couple Sue and Brian, on their South African built catamaran. They lost their first boat, a monohull, in the 2004 tsunami but thank goodness were not on board at the time. Ken and Bridget spent time shopping for a new computer and a few other things while Alec purchase out a very special type of screwdriver and tried to fix the Starboard loo which had stopped working. I did our Thailand visas and Alec and I also had a couple of long walks exploring parts of the old and new city.

Then on Christmas Eve after morning coffee and Christmas cake with Sue and Brian on board SHAMAL we motored on out of Penang hoisted the sails and headed off up the coast to Pulau Bidon. A tiny Island that reminded us all of NZ bush with thick jungle all over it right down to the water’s edge. We could have been in one of those lovely bays on Great Barrier Island. This was our first trip in ages where they sea was not dotted with fishing boats everywhere. It made for quite a relaxed trip for a change. But the next morning [Christmas Day] as we set off towards Langkawi – the last of the Malaysian Islands before we enter Thai waters – we are in the thick of an area of fishing traps!! ‘B’ boat traps if you are not careful. There we were a good 9nm off the coast and in 25mts of water and these giant bamboo poles tied together in clumps with tiny flags on top. We dodged these for most of the trip. By mid afternoon we were anchored in the Langkawi archipelago at Pulau [Island] Daylang Bunting, a spectacular Island with huge high limestone cliffs rising straight up out of the sea. Beautiful sea eagles can be seen souring these cliffs and swooping into the sea catching fish. Langkawi means red eagle in Malay. On this Island we went to visit the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden!! The fable goes that a local Princess drank the lake’s water and became pregnant hence I only just put my feet in!! It’s a beautiful little lake where you can sit on a pontoon with your feet in the water and have a “fish spar”. Whatever the fish are they come up and nibble the dead skin on your feet!!! In other parts of the East you have to pay for a fish spar. There were also monkeys about which were very friendly.

Next morning we motored over and dropped anchor just off Kuah, the main town on the main Island of Langkawi. This area is just fabulous. We all loved the place. Apart from being duty free, the people are great, it is clean and tidy, it has beautiful Islands and white sandy beaches. Eating out is a treat with a great variety of eating places and prices are a pittance. We took SHAMAL for a trip around to a place called ‘Hole in the Wall’ in the Kilim Geoforest Park. We entered into a river through a narrow gap between towering limestone cliffs several hundred feet high and motored on up about 1k before dropping the anchor. Again we saw the sea eagles swooping around the cliffs. We took the tender out for a bit of an explore and in an arm of the river where we saw a sea otter. Alec spotted the floating restaurants. At one of these we had the most delicious ‘local’ meal of fresh fish. This place had been recommended in a brochure.

We returned to Kuah the following day and took a berth at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club where we took on fuel, more supplies and made good use of the duty free liquid refreshments which one could purchase there. We all took a half day tour of the Island which was really interesting. Our driver took us to the Cable Car where we got wonderful views over the Island. We also visited a craft complex and saw a good part of the Islands beaches and local villages.

December 30th saw us moving on again. We had checked out of Malaysia and were now entering Thailand’s waters, and our first stop was at one of the prettiest little Islands I have ever seen. It was called Ko Koi Noi. This tiny Island had a small knob of vegetation with high trees growing on it. There was a long sand spit with one palm tree. The sands were pure white and the sea was that lovely turquoise colour. As we had our drinks that evening in the most perfect of temperatures as the sun was sinking, we watched two sea eagles going to and fro from their nests in the high trees. We were amazed at the size of their nests. They were huge. The eagles seemed to disappear into them. We also watched a couple of dugongs swimming by.

New Years Eve saw us reaching the Islands of Rok Nok and Rok Nai. We anchored in the channel between the two along with about 10 other yachts. We arrived after dark just before 11.00pm. I was ready for bed but decided to stay up and see the New Year in which I am glad I did. It really is celebrated in style here. Local people on the beaches let off fireworks and also these small lit up hot air lantern/balloon things. They rise high into the sky till the light goes out. It is such a pretty sight as they send lots of them up. We spent New Year’s day here as well as it was such a pretty place. The waters were clean and clear and full of beautiful colourful fish. We swam and Alec and I spent some time giving SHAMAL’S hull a good clean. These warm waters do see a bit of growth on her. Next day we had an early start in order to reach the next group of Islands by lunch time. We had a wonderful run, sailing the 37nm in six hours. These are the well known beautiful Islands of Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Phi Phi Leh. The later was made famous as the movie ‘The Beach’ was filmed here. They really are quite stunning. The only trouble is the whole world wants to visit them and they were sure out in full force while we were there. We have never encounter so many tourist boats in one place at one time. It was quite unbelievable. But we spent a couple of days there visiting the village and taking SHAMAL into the different bays for a look. Again huge high limestone cliffs rise for hundreds of feet straight out of the sea, then you enter a bay with perfect white sandy beaches with the jungle coming to the water’s edge in places. This is one of the areas that was devastated by the2004 tsunami. Phi Phi Don has a small sand spit joining what really is two Islands. There are beautiful bays on either side and this is where everyone arrives and leaves the Island from hence it has all the hotels and restaurants here. Also a fairly dense population, which was hit hard with a great loss of life when the waters swept right over the sand spit.

Then it was time to move on again. We needed to check into Thailand ‘officially’ and one has to check in at the same port you intend to check out of, so it was on to Phuket . That was another half day run. We were anchored in Chalong Bay just before midday which gave Bridget and Ken a day and a half to have a quick look around before they flew back to New Zealand. Alec and I started immediately on making contact with different boat shops etc with regards to having a few jobs done. Our Starboard loo was still not working for starters and we needed small repairs done to the main sail and MPS.

We said goodbye to Ken and Bridget on the morning of the 6th January. They left with an extra suitcase with all the goodies they purchased along the way. I hope they enjoyed the experience of visiting new places and trying different foods as much as we did. The fresh fruit and veges here have been wonderful, and Alec kept us supplied with a beautiful fresh fruit salad for breakfast every morning. He even brought an electric food processor and we are now into mango and paw paw smoothies every day.

Well I will sign out for this letter. Take care and as I said at the beginning, we wish you all the very best for 2010.

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Captain

Observations : From Alec

Singapore: Yachts cannot anchor anywhere around Singapore and one must go in to a Marina or pick up a mooring buoy at one of the sailing clubs. All boats are required to have a AIS ( Automatic Identification System ) transponder. We were told even the local yachts who race or sail to another Marina or club need a transponder. When we departed the Changi Sailing Club for Sabanna Cove in Malaysia I decided first to have a little sightseeing trip up towards the causeway ( the one the Japs came across in 1942 on their bicycles ) The Police/Coastguard patrol boats motored slowly pass us on several occasions, took a good look and then sped off. In Singapore waters we received several messages on our Chart Plotter regarding the AIS. We only have a AIS receiver which allows us to receive data about other vessels but not allow other vessels to “see” you. In Singapore waters we received all kind of messages on our chart plotter regarding the AIS. Examples AIS SRM Alarm, test calls, you have entered so and so zone eg. A40 and even had a message which said “why have you” The best message said “ well done” Maybe we sailed in a no go zone. At one stage there were 320 ships ( targets ) on our AIS list within 24 miles of Shamal. How is that for traffic.

Had a bit of a problem obtaining diesel in Panang. The local Shell Service station by the Marina would not sell me any diesel without a letter from some Govt. Department. The Marina Boatmaster had a scam going at RH 3.0 per litre. Met an English lady who employed a Indian guy as her Skipper/Deckhand. Got talking to him and found out he use to work in Abu Dhabi etc etc. So off in the tender to the fuel barge to visit his mate. 120 litres later at RH 1.9. I love beating these scams if I can.

Malaysia up to now had been scam free.

Interesting fact about Penang . Penang was a U-Boat base for the German Navy in World 11.

Langkawi: All crew members said was the best place up from Singapore. Before we left for Thailand we stocked up on beer at NZ 65 cents a can. A bottle of Gordon’s Gin NZ $ 16. Took on more diesel but not Duty Free anymore but at NZ 80 cents a litre one cannot complain. Islam appears to be very low key. Young couples out after dark holding hands. Oh my God. Definitely forbidden in the Arabian Gulf where we use to live. Cab drivers have no meters but did not rip you off. We all agreed that Langkawi would be a great place to retire in. A lot quieter than Phuket. In actual fact yachties sail often between the two. Visa runs and order their spare parts in Langkawi being duty free and get their boat maintenance done in Phuket with its better facilities. Met one Canadian cruising couple who arrived in this area in 2001 on their world trip but have not left. This is now their retirement base.

Religion: Approximately 95% of Thais follow Theravada Buddhism ( Lesser Vehicle ) They believe every individual is responsible for their own enlightenment.

The ultimate end of all forms of Buddhism is to reach “nibbana ” blowing out or extinction of all desire and thus all suffering. Having achieved nibbana , an individual is freed from the

cycle of rebirths and enters the spiritual plane. In reality, most Thai Buddhists aim for rebirth in a “ better “ existence in the next life. To reach this goal carry out meritorious actions such

as feeding the monks, giving donations to temples and performing regular worship. We rode our motorbike up the hill behind Chalong Bay to visit Big Buddha ( a very large statue ) and noticed many

Europeans were being bless by the monks.

Crime: Crime against visitors is generally low although actual murder and violent assault figures for the Thais are high. Thailand has a homicide rate of 9.7/10,000 compared to

8.6/10,000 for the USA, usually considered one of the highest. However, Thais kill each other and rarely kill visitors.

The above information sourced from the Lonely Planet and cruising guides.

It was sad that Ken and Bridget only could spend one and a half days in Phuket as they already extended their tickets once back to N.Z. Ann and I are now enjoying Phuket after our first impressions of this place being so overcrowded. We were told Phuket has 4 million tourist per year on a island the same size as Lake Taupo.

Ken had a good work out with the Chart Plotter. Ken and Bridget had a beautiful Thai meal in down town Phuket before they departed and no doubt will be visiting those Indian and Thai restaurants back home in due course.

Nongsa (Batam) to Singapore

2009-12-09T08:25:00.007+13:00

Hello One And All

We left Nongas Point Marina in Indonesia on the 25th November, a beautiful Marina come Resort with all the modern facilities one could wish for at a fraction of the price we would pay back home or for that matter in any so called western country. It was like arriving at a luxurious Resort on the French Rivera where “Mr Average” just could not afford to stay. From there we negotiated our way across the Singapore strait either crossing in front of or behind ships, with only one humongous, giant, enormous, super super size tanker bearing down on us with a slight threat to run us down, and that was one of the few times I am found yelling at Alex to step on the gas, which of course he was doing, before we ended up as a statistic of the Straits Shipping.

Once safely across you are now passing between so many moored ships[hundreds sit out here on Singapore’s short coastline] which are waiting for something, or being refuelled before carrying on their journey. Next came the requirement of clearing in through customs. This one is a little out of the ordinary. You are given long and latitude coordinates and once you arrive at those you then call customs up on you VHF radio then sit and wait for them to come alongside. We were out in the middle of a big bay just outside the shipping lanes! Then you wait for the Customs/Immigration launch. You then place your passports and other documents into a fish net which they are holding out and collect forms from the net which you fill in and are passed back in this net. This all takes about 20 minutes or so and that is your customs part done. A little different. Once in Singapore we still had to visit the Port Authorities to finish proceedings and pay port fees. Just a few dollars. Our visa for Singapore was two weeks and we anchored off the Changi Yacht Club for that period while waiting for parts to arrive, doing jobs which took us to every corner of Singapore and waiting for Ken and Bridget – our crew for the run up to Thailand – to arrive. We had met Ken and Bridget at one of the Auckland Boat Shows and then visited them in their beautiful Lockwood holiday home up on the Island of Aore just opposite Luganville – Vanuatu. They also own a catamaran.

Singapore was fun. It is clean and very efficiently run. People were great and really went out of their way to help us. We caught up with Wendy Baker who is living in Singapore and was marvellous at heading us off in the right direction and giving us tips on the running of things. We also had a lovely meal out with her. Many thanks Wendy for your help and time. Their transport system is fabulous and we used their rapid rail to get around everywhere. Also taxis were wonderfully cheap. When Bridget and Ken arrived Bridget and I were able to explore the shopping centres so I got my ‘shopping fix’. We also stocked up on supplies. Near the Changi Yacht Club is the Changi Museum . Well worth a visit - dedicated to all who were in Singapore during World War II. This was a very moving experienc.

As I said Singapore was fun but it is time to move on again and visit other places. So will sign out for this post.

Lots of love from

The Admiral and The Captain

And our New Crew