Catherine and I have started our new adventure aboard ubulukutu, we have joined the Red Sea Sailing Safari and will live aboard until May next year, except for a visit home at Christmas.

Here we are in Ishmalia half way down the Suez Canal.  The picture is taken from the flybridge of a motor 'trawler' that is coming with us, so were about the same height as my lower spreaders!

We do look a bit odd compared with all the other boats that sport gantries with solar panels and all sorts of cruising gear attached, there is a book running on when we will have something fitted to ubulukutu (currently nothing planned)

Here is one of the 10 boats in Egyptionn waters as we approached the coast

Motoring down the suez canal.  We have to have pilots, ours were fine but one boat had a bad experience, and one lost a jacket they lent to their pilot.

Twice we have anchored in the middle of a reef, an odd feeling because all around there is just water, we have snorkeled and seen more fish than ever.

 

we are in Hurghada now and will stay in this area until the 10th January, then we will go south for 2 months after which we are hoping to go up to Jordan to see Petra, we will sail back out the suez in April and go back to Cyprus, and eventually   back to Turkey in May

 

Please keep up posting, I think there are a lot of forumites who envy you !

 

rgds from the snow

Yes we are 007, it was by chance as the numbers were allocated in the order in which we agreed to come, but Albert and Sheena who organised the rally say they thought it was appropriate, due to the massive undertaking of shipping from Dubai and getting ready for the start - we only just made it, arriving in Limassol 2 days after everyone else.

Follow us on facebook 'red sea sailing safari' and I will post here also when we get good connections.

Im thinking of writing a short piece on 'living on a Hanse', or maybe just a long post here.

 Most of the other boats are heavier cruisers who tend to take a straight line to where they are going, and sail if they can.  We sail when we can, and take what ever line that means.  Overall we get there at the same time, we go 20% further and use half the diesel.  

We have 10 boats, 2 US, 1 Canadian and 7 British (although one of these is an Irish couple who also fly an Irish flag of the port spreader).   We are all getting along well and having a great time.  Good parties, great sailing, new experiences, its warm, its cheap.  Most locals are very happy to see us and welcoming, their economy is shot to pieces and no one is coming because the news makes it sound dangerous.  

Im starting my PADI diving tomorrow, for half the price it would cost me in Thailand!  Ive never dived, but this is too good an opportunity to miss.

If we come again, Id be happy to show other MYHANSE users how.

By the way, Im 2 berths away from a 470 German flagged

 

Prevailing wind in the Red Sea is from the North, so downwind all the way, next February and March its all upwind to get back

This is me learning to dive at Hurghada.  I wanted to learn so that i could dive on the boat, but I've found that its great fun just diving and looking at the sea bed and fish.

Egypt is a very cheap place to learn, PADI open water for less than 200 US.

There are lots of dive centres, and a lot of Russian tourists.  There are very few 'westerners', I think we are put off by the news, but in fact it feels very safe here.  The Navy are interested in who we are and what we are doing, which Cathie says is a good thing,  and the people want to know why there aren't more of us here.

Getting here is of course a bit of a treck, but we are still in shorts and t shirts at the end of November, and we are eating cheaply (but well) and we can by wine and beer without any problem.  

The sailing is pretty good, Northerlies 10-20 Kts most of the time, and there are lots of reefs and islands to search out.  Other boats that we meet are very welcoming because there are so few of us.

One thing to watch though are the local boats, fishing, diving, tourist, I dont think any of them have read the COLREGS.  Even when local meets local, its like the roads, lots of hand jestures and shouting, no rules.  We called up a motor boat yesterday that was bearing down on us, we were under full sail and they had apparently no clue what to do.  I called on 16 and they were completely shocked that I had done so, but did back off and go round my Stern.

The authorities are not used to us, and therefore there is a bit of confusion about how to deal with us, but that is about the worst of it, otherwise its an interesting place to be for a season.

How's your Arabic , must be fluent after Dubai and now being put into practice!!

Will have to meet up for a dive, as now have my advanced diver certs and need some warm water with more fish, although I was chatting to an Egyptian colleague who said to watch out for the sharks - in the Red Sea!

Rod

Diving here is quite cheap, we will be hanging around in Hurghada in March next year if you want to pop over, we have some good contacts.

Haven't seen a shark yet, local advice is to stay low and still, assume its the same everywhere? 

No we didn't sail because we didn't want to risk pirates, although we know someone that will sail boats round into the red sea for you, but he didnt want to go at the time we needed.

So we shipped the boat with SevenStar to Turkey.  My sister has a flat near Bodrum, so we re stepped the mast there.  It wasn't the cheapest place to go, it was much cheaper to go to somewhere like amsterdam because more ships do that route, but we wanted to join the rally which started in Cyprus.  

That makes sense now. It seemed to me it would have been a a very big adventure to go round the horn but you hadn't mentioned it therefore I was trying to figure out how you had got to the top of the Red Sea

Anyway keep the postcards coming, its certainly more exotic that what is a very wet, dreary Blighty at the moment.  

We are staying here in Marsa Abu Makhadiq today, will bake bread, inflate the tender and tidy the boat.  Our next leg south is designed to find us a great BBQ spot for one of our many parties.  Life is good.

Here is my take on the Red Sea (almost none of it I knew before agreeing to come).

Egypt is suffering very badly, its economy is in taters and the place is a mess. This is probably because of all the politics.

Tourism is at an all time low, a mixture of fact and fiction.  Most of the press is very negative about the risks of coming, particularly in the West.  There are some Russians here, although that will fall off with the currency problems, a few Germans and a few French, almost no Brits.

I think the press paints an extreme picture, which is a problem.

The sea is wonderful - under the water! the reefs are easily dived and snorkeled, the water is warm and clear, and there is a lot of life to see.

Most stories about sailing here are either about pirates, or about the strong Northerly winds that sweep all in front of it, making Northwards passage difficult.

There are no pirates in Egypt, they are further South.  In my time here it is true that most wind is from the North, but we have had only 2 days above 20 knots, so for a Hanse, going North is not an issue.  So sailing is not as much of an issue as some think.

However, reefs are everywhere and you will certainly need to anchor near them on any sort of stay.  Best advice is to anchor before 2 pm, so that the sub is still up and you can sea your way.  Charts, even the electronic ones, are unreliable, so EYES and best.  Secondly the paperwork is sometimes hard.  There are few boats here, we are unusual just because of that, and even more unusual in that we are here to cruise, not to passage the Red sea and Suez, we will go oit the way we came in!

The military and the coastguard do not always see eye to eye, and so sometimes we have the 'wrong' bit of paper.  However, there are plenty of places like this in the world, smile and be polite, and ask for help - usually works.

The people are 95% friendly (like anywhere else if you remove politics) and welcoming, we have received gifts and kindness several times.  Some shopkeepers are a bit pushy and will try and give you tourist prices.  We dont wear tourist clothes, turning up in flip flops and boat ware, mostly with a few days stubble and hair washed in the salt water of the sea.  SO we just say we live on a boat and want local prices, and the problem is small if you avoid the main day tripper locations.  We took a minibus up the coast the other day to see a mosque and Coptic Christian church built by the Italians, but re-built by Egyptians.  After that they wanted to take us to the 'Bazaar' by which they meant all the rubish you can buy anywhere in the world, they were very surprised when we said, can we go and see the vegetable market, and we need eggs and water!

In sailing terms, the traditional boats have gone from the Red Sea, (still on the Nile) to be replaced with hundreds of dive boats and tiny fishing boats with outboards. And very few yachts.  We have been here since October and have seen only 4 transiting (of course we wont see them all), a couple of live aboards and one that is used regularly from Hurghada by local businessmen.

As a cruising place it has a lot to offer for the experienced, and a lot of confusion and danger for the inexperienced.  For Charter, the reefs and lack of 'party' towns might be a problem.

However, since we have been here, I have put a local business man in touch with Hanse, and 2 385s and a VAR 44 will be coming next summer to start a sailing school and charter business.  I am currently advising him what needs to happen to make it easier for his business to grow (just because he is a nice chap and a fellow sailor).  So watch out for the development of sailing in Hurghada, and don't be put off by the press, but don't expect 1st world facilities.

Mark

Current location Marsa Alam, Red Sea 

they used the prevailing northerly wind to sail upstream the Nile, probably holding a palm frond at the bow of their boats.

not bad as sailing tradition...

Thanks to Mark for his description of the realities of the modern (modernising?) Egypt.

I took JH's remarks as midwinter yearning for the sun to return back to the frozen wasteland Nordic types insist on living in.

Phil O. in sunny Australia

We have reached our most southern point of the safari, on Dolphin Reef.  24 deg 09.35 sec N 035 deg 42.44 East,  The southern reefs are much quieter than those round Hurghada, and so there are more fish, they are bigger and the coral is less damaged.  I can also recommend Greater Mahabis Island (24 deg 18.8 N 035 deg 23.25 E) and Wadi Gemal (24 deg 39.16N, 035 deg 09.5E), as lovely places.  The closest provosioning is at Marsa Alam, a small town where the locals very rarely see any modern boats and are very welcoming.