Maldives to Marmaris, via Djibouti, Port Ghalib, Hurgada, and the Suez Canal.

We departed Uligan in the Maldives on the 21^st of March at midday; heading out of the archipelago on starboard tack, close hauled. For the first two hours we motor-sailed, partly because of lack of wind but mostly so that we started the passage with the service batteries fully charged. Our first 48 hours were plagued by light and variable northerly winds. So variable that, although Kurukulla was set up to sail at a set angle to the wind, the autopilot repeatedly alarmed every 10 minutes indicating a wind shift of more than 20º. Very frustrating but it kept the watch-keeper awake!

After two days the winds settled to a constant 6-10kts from the NE and Kurukulla showed her pace averaging 5.5 knots over the next 5 days. The downside of departing from the Maldives for this passage was the lack of good quality, fresh, produce with which to stock up. We sailed with what we could find but some had to be ditched within days, it had obviously been kept refrigerated for too long when in transit to the Maldives.

Becalmed in the IRTC

Our planned route took us to a waypoint at the eastern end of the 500 mile Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor (IRTC) which we intended to join before passing through the area at greatest risk of piracy. This would provide us with cover to a point 110 miles east of Djibouti. The beginning and end of the western Indian Ocean transit were great sailing, beam reaching in 7-10 kts of wind, the middle 4 days were excruciating, drifting in the midst of the ocean with 0-3 kts of wind from varying directions with Kurukulla struggling to achieve 3 kts at best. We held out and didn't motor for more than a few hours at a time; this was necessary in order to recharge the batteries (on stbd tack the solar panels go into the shade of the mainsail halfway through the afternoon limiting their output!); eventually our patience paid off, a steadily building southerly wind! This lasted until we were halfway through the IRTC when again the wind died to nothing and we were forced to resort to the motor in order to maintain progress. This is not an area of the world where you want to hang around! Fortunately the windless phase lasted only a few hours and we were off again on a reach on port gybe which lasted all the way to Djibouti.

Eighteen hours after we left the IRTC we were sailing under mainsail alone, biding our time, in order to enter Djibouti in daylight. By 0730 we were anchored off the now defunct Yacht Club, (currently used by US Forces as an R&R facility) awaiting our agent to come aboard and steer us through the formalities of entry. In the event it was all very simple, a visit by the Coast Guard, a visit to the Immigration office in the commercial port and a visit to the Harbourmaster. All done! After that our agent insisted on taking us out to lunch which seemed a rather strange invite, this season being Ramadan and he being Moslem! He took us to a local restaurant where there were a few people milling around outside but inside was rammed with diners! On offer was roast goat, chicken, mountains of rice and fresh salad. All that was missing was a glass of wine or beer! The food was generous to the extent that we were not allowed to leave without a “doggie bag” bursting with the uneaten remains (the tradition here is that you eat all that is offered! If not you take it with you. Not to do so is an insult!)

Our Djibouti taxi

After lunch we were given a lift to the local Mall (very modern and impressive) in a local minibus. The doors were tied on with ginger string, the seats were held together with plastic bags as seat covers and the steering obviously had about half a turn of slack before anything happened! Notwithstanding these defects we got to the mall in one piece.

The prime trader in the mall is a large Geant supermarket, very modern and well stocked. The prices however came as a bit of a shock after so long in Asia, double or treble what we had become accustomed to paying. After buying a few essentials and visiting an ATM to acquire some local currency we headed back to the boat for a bit of a rest. I had been on the go since 0200 and was wilting in the heat!

The next two days were spent quietly onboard, there not being a lot to see or do in Djibouti. On the evening of day three we were invited to dine aboard Black Duck with Riley and Clara, her owners; she was a boat we had first encountered in Galle. He is American/Australian and she is Danish. They had set sail from Tasmania just as Kurukulla and I were arriving in Australia. Subsequently a very enjoyable (if slightly drunken) evening was had by all.

In the boat landing ...

Our plan to leave Djibouti on Monday, 10^th of April, was scuppered by a forecast of strong northerly winds spreading down the Red Sea. At best it now looked as though we would depart on Friday 14^th or possibly late on Thursday 13^th; we had to wait and see! It was simply not worth leaving earlier to face a 1000 mile beat to windward.

In the event we set off at first light on Friday, northwards, to be steadily lifted by a NE wind which was veering towards the E. By the time we reached the narrows at Bab El Mandeb we had gybed twice to stay out of the shipping lanes and were benefiting from a wind firmly in the south. Giving Perim Island, which guards the Bab El Mandeb straits on the Yemeni side, a clear berth to starboard we headed north enjoying a relaxing downwind sail. It was not to last! 90 Miles later, as we drew level with the Hanish Islands, whilst passing between them and the Yemeni Coast, the wind died away to nothing. Not to be beaten we started the engine to motor onwards until the wind picked up. I noticed the engine seemed noisier than usual but all checks revealed nothing until it gave a final cry of grief and came to an abrupt halt. Another check around, including for ropes round the propeller, revealed nothing untoward. A very brief attempt to restart the engine was successful but the noise was appalling! We shut it down immediately and resigned ourselves to sailing north.

We had intended calling into Sudan but fortunately the gearbox failure forced a change of plan. Had it not happened we might have ended up stuck in Suakin, just South of Port Sudan, sitting out the military coup. As it was we decided to head further north still to get repairs done in Port Ghalib in Egypt. Port Ghalib was 850 miles to our north and, as we were to discover, not quite as described. It's web site described it as a full service marina with a range of facilities. In fact it is a 10% built daydream of some Kuwaiti billionaire surrounded by oceans of sand and not much else. But first we had to get there! The next 10 days were initially spent drifting downwind in light airs and later working the wind shifts, battling light winds, whilst beating northwards. Only in the last 24 hours before reaching Port Ghalib did we ge any significant wind and of course the morning of our arrival it was blowing 26 knots from the north making sailing alongside an interesting challenge.

In messages, via Garmin, the marina had told us we would not be allowed to enter in the hours of darkness (1800 – 0600) and not to arrive before 0900. Of course we arrived 15 miles from the marina at 1900 the night before entry and then spent the night, sailing under main alone, slowly gaining to the north. By 0900 we were ready to enter but it was not until 1000 that we were given approval to enter; or so we thought. The day tripper diving boats, setting off for their outings, took priority; their passengers looked less than impressed with the heavy seas! At 1000 the marina manager informed us, on VHF, that they were ready to receive us. Much to their horror we then sailed in when what they had intended was for two of their RIBs to tow us in. By the time we were near the Port Control station, aiming for the quarantine berth, we had the RIBs in attendance simply getting in the way.

The one who got it wrong!

Eventually I brought Kurukulla to a halt, 2 metres off the berth and they pushed us on whilst we secured our lines. It was only then a very irate Marina Manager informed me it was “not allowed” to sail into the harbour, “It was too dangerous!”. Admittedly there is a German yacht high and dry on the reef, outside the port, who had gotten it wrong some time long in the past! This has obviously frightened them into banning all yachts sailing in.

The remainder of the day was spent wrestling with the bureaucracy until, at 1700, we were told we would be towed to a quiet alongside berth where, if needed, we could lift the engine ashore.

The move to our berth! This was our tug!

They had decided that the winds were too strong for the RIBs to tow us and a 50 ton motor yacht turned up to do the job, much to my alarm! It was un-manoeuvrable and far too big for the job. A recipe for disaster. That said, I take my hat off to the skipper driving it and his crew, they managed the whole process without causing any damage. Phew!

The marina development by night

The next two days were spent firstly researching the problem which transpired to be a failed gearbox causing the engine to lock-up. Next problem was finding a mechanic, capable of pulling the engine into the cabin in order to dismount the gearbox off the back. Here our agent “played a blinder” or so we thought. Within hours he had brought onboard a mechanic and the guy had the engine out and the gearbox off by the end of the day. We even ran the engine sitting on the deck of the cabin to prove our analysis. It ran perfectly proving, without a shadow of doubt, our problem was the gearbox! Another mechanic; Mahmoud, from Gear Box Marine at Hurgada, 120 miles north; took the gearbox away to strip and early next day forwarded us a video of the disassembled gearbox; not a pretty sight! They had found a spares agent in Cairo and were promising a rebuild in 6 days.

The Port Ghalib development,  Part constructed.

I was not holding my breath but true to his word they had it back onboard late the following Wednesday and the local mechanic had it 90% reinstalled that evening. They came back next day to complete and left me the job of tidying the job up, re-clipping all the cabling, and cleaning up. Not something that occurs to Egyptian mechanics! That done a quick “Basin Trial” where the gearbox sounded much better, if not perfect, and were were ready to depart.

Our hotel pool....

During our 6 day wait for the gearbox repair we had been joined by Jeff, a friend from UK, and to avoid the chaos onboard we moved ashore to an apartment in the middle of the development. £30 per night for 3 persons, with pool etc, not to be beaten. Just don't expect cooking pans and gas to use the apartment's cooking hob; we asked for pans on day one and gave up hope as we departed! Delivery was always a day away!

Tomb of Merenptah

On the Monday we organised a trip to Luxor which proved to be a great idea but involved a 0330 start! By 0800 we were in Luxor and by 0900 our guide had reached the front of the admission ticket queue for entry to the Valley of the Kings (you might get the impression that despite being sold as a package deal by our agent this was not the best organised trip!).

Tomb of Ramases IX

We visited the tombs of Rameses III, Rameses IX, and Merenptah, (10 minutes per tomb to avoid overcrowding!) all dating back ~ 3000 years, before heading to the Temple of Hatshepsut, the iconic temple you see in all Egyptian tourism advertising!

Tomb of Ramases III

Here we had 30 minutes to wander the site before heading to the most important part of the day (at least as far as our guide was concerned) the artisan *workshop” where we were shown the workers producing original Egyptian artefacts.

The Temple of Hatshepsut

At the rate they were working it would take 3000 years to produce the thousands of items in the shop! I suspect the “Made in China” labels had all been removed but that was as near as they came to being artisan products! Sadly our guides disappointment that we did not launch into a buying spree coloured the rest of the visit. I suspect some of his fee came from the “kickback” from the shop owner!

Nile view restaurant! 

After the “all inclusive” lunch in the “Nile View Restaurant”, (which didn't have a Nile View because of the screens stopping dust and debris invading the restaurant from the building site separating it from the banks of the Nile) we were then taken, by boat, across the Nile, to the Temple of Karnak; an immense site with mind boggling structures.

Temples of Karnak

Crossing the Nile

Amazing to think that this temple was constructed around the same time as Stonehenge in UK. Also of note was the empty plinth where the obelisk, now standing on the northern embankment of the Thames, in London, once stood!

Plinth of the missing obelisk, now in London. Temples of Karnak

By the end of this visit we were under pressure from our guide to leave and head back to Port Ghalib, what no one had explained was that this was to allow us to pass through the police checkpoints (of which there were many) which do not allow “tourists” to exit Luxor after 1700 in the evening; we had been told we would be leaving at sunset i.e. 1915. Once we realised we were leaving 2 hours early we suggested to the driver we should stop for dinner en route but this suggestion also fell on stony ground and we ended up stopping at the same unenticing cafe/bazaar that we had stopped at on the outward journey. As a consequence we were back in Port Ghalib by 2115 and not midnight as predicted by the tour vendor, our agent! Notwithstanding we had all enjoyed the day, especially the insight into rural Egypt on the journey to and fro, so overall a success but far from what what it was advertised to be!

Two days later, with all bills paid, (the total price of entering Egypt at Port Ghalib for a 40' yacht,, excluding tours but including agents fees, was close on $US1000) we were ready to set off for the Suez Canal. The first sign of things to come was that I managed to break the gear/throttle lever the night before departure. A “new” one was produced overnight (or at least newly spray painted white!) at a cost of £160, the most expensive gear lever in Christendom! That problem solved we prepared to set off. I decided to do a quick trial of the gearbox whilst alongside, before letting go the ropes, and ….... it jammed in ahead and would not move to neutral or astern! A quick disconnection of the operating linkage proved that it was the gearbox at fault, thereafter a quick visit from a mechanic confirmed my diagnosis; hence, we settled for a re-run of the previous six days! We were going nowhere!

The following day Mahmoud, the owner of Gear Box Marine (GBM), arrived mid morning to inspect the problem. An hour later we were again manoeuvring the engine off it's mounts and separating the gearbox from the engine for him to take it back to Hurgada and dismantle it …... again. In the meantime I looked up the price of a new Twin Disc, Technodrive gearbox, £696.00 ex VAT from the UK, possibly the better option; but we decided to wait for the strip down diagnosis the next day. Three days later, after pulling the engine out twice, we eventually had a noisy but working gearbox such that, after 2 weeks alongside, we could leave. That was when we were told that the Coastguard would not give us approval to leave for another two days! Fortunately that was quickly rescinded and we were then told that we had to be out by midday; it was now 1030 and we needed to re-victual and water! In the end we just made it!

The only problem was, 24 hours later, the gearbox seized again! At this stage I decided there was no way we would get a successful repair in Port Ghalib so turning back was not an option. We headed for Hurgada, 120 miles further north. At least Hurgada was a large town with the previously employed GBM engineering facilities.

Skipper relaxing, during the calms ....

It took us 3 days to get there, plagued initially with no wind and in the last 36 hours strong north winds against which we had to battle and, of course, we were again to arrive just after sunset when entry to the marina is prohibited. Next morning, having sought shelter overnight in a bay to the south of Hurgada, we completed a 15 mile beat to windward in 30 kts of wind and arrived off the Hurgada marina. Despite our agent in Port Ghalib having promised to inform them of our impending arrival, without engine, they seemed quite surprised to see us. They obviously had little idea on how to manoeuvre a sailing vessel, without engine, into a berth with lots of advice being given to me, at Kurukulla's helm, to “stop here” and “go backwards”. Eventually we were safely alongside their fuelling jetty and I breathed a deep sigh of relief! After all that we were ready for a rest... but it was not to be. I had to go to the harbourmasters office and check in before I could relax. It proved to be the most expensive marina to date, four days - $US 380 ! This later morphed into one month stay for $US 780, a rather better deal.

Sunset on the last night before Hurgada

As our 30 day visas for Egypt were about to run out in only a few days we were now forced to take temporary residence in Egypt and extend the customs clearance for Kurukulla; another £300 bill, (excluding the agents fees; these fees remain outstanding until you leave and render an unpleasant surprise when you finally depart). After living in Egypt for 3 weeks I'm still not sure I would want to be resident here despite Hurgada being a tourist diving centre and much more lively. Many Egyptians seem to think all Europeans have bottomless pockets!

Having eventually settled in for a long awaited rest, that evening the mechanics arrived to again remove the gearbox. Next morning I was able to go see the internal damage for myself and it was obvious the gearbox was beyond repair. Hence, with the aid of Mahmoud I again started the process of acquiring a new gearbox, which would have to be ordered from UK, Spain or Italy. The biggest problem was that no one was prepared to even estimate how long it would take to arrive. Hence my decision to book into the marina for a month... Any incoming gearbox has to pass all the bureaucratic hurdles of import controls and customs "checks", otherwise known as extortion, before the owner can get their hands on it!

To make life even more complicated the UK supplier, Engines Plus from Gloucestershire (the UK Sole Diesel agents), then decided that it would be impossible for them to ship to Egypt, via DHL, because of the delays and bureaucracy they were likely to encounter. One step forward, two back!

At least the town here is more interesting and has more to offer than Port Ghalib which was at best a two camel town. Needless to say all of this put my arrival back in the Mediterranean and return to UK back a few weeks.... !

After five days of to-ing and fro-ing I eventually managed to persuade Engines Plus to supply a new gearbox. Ultimately the MD agreed to accept the order provided I arranged collection, shipping and all clearances into Egypt, via DHL; (The only alternative supplier I could identify was the Sole Diesels agent in Alexandria who wanted to charge over twice the UK price of the gearbox, for him to then import it from Spain). In making my arrangements I was ably assisted by Ahmed of Egyptian International Motors (EIM), Cairo, who agreed to arrange inwards shipping to Egypt via his DHL account and to handle all the clearances; his fitter would then assist Mahmoud in installing it. What could possibly go wrong?.........

It took another six days to reach an agreed form of the paperwork to accompany the item, and hopefully speed, the gearbox through Turkish customs, at which point it was Friday (the equivalent in Egypt of Sunday in Europe), meaning that everything stopped until after the weekend. The next obstacle was DHL's automated system for booking shipments as it would not allow the UK dispatcher, Engines Plus, to book it to another company's DHL account ...... EIM, whose account it was, assured me it could only be booked for collection by the dispatcher! Another impasse! Eventually I persuaded Engines Plus to actually talk to DHL by telephone, (an old fashioned concept of doing business) and they agreed to accept the tasking. This was close of play Tuesday; after two and a half weeks, scores of e-mails, and innumerable telephone calls to UK, I eventually received confirmation that DHL had been tasked, and agreed, to collect. Now I can sit back and the wait starts..........or it should have done!

Not my normal style of dress! En route Hurgada

By now I was on first name terms with Katherine at Engines Plus and my start of working day (0900 UK time, 1100 Egyptian) phone call revealed that DHL were still waiting for acceptance of the tasking from EIM; they were the receivers, in Egypt, whose account it was being charged to. At the Egypt end Ahmed assured me (sending photographs of his account screen as proof) that no request had been received but 2 hours later he came back to say it had now arrived and approval had been given. I immediately phoned Engines Plus again and passed on the good news. An hour later they e-mailed me to say according to the DHL website the booking on DHL, that they had raised, had been cancelled as time expired and they would have to go through the whole process again! They also intimated that this was getting beyond a joke and was not at the top of their priority list!

To try to speed things along (or perhaps more accurately get them moving) I contacted the DHL help desk in Egypt. The person I spoke to, Shady Raoof, was a breath of fresh air and assured me that he could solve the problem. He then telephoned Engines Plus direct and unfortunately got Hedley Beavis, (Director and Company Secretary), not Katherine. Hedley refused point blank to have the company involved any further and basically said that if any more input was required from them they would cancel the order and refund the monies paid.....Really helpful! ….. I shall not be dealing with them again! Shady however had an alternative option and offered up the necessary form that would allow the package to be pulled from Egypt and not pushed from UK. So far so good. As it was now close of working day in Egypt he assured me that, if we completed the one form necessary, he would action it the following day. Great. All I needed now to complete the form were the size and weight of the package. There was only one possible source for this information so I telephoned Engines Plus again; this time I got a work companion of Katherine who informed me that Katherine was busy downstairs dealing with DHL who had arrived to collect my gearbox! ….... You couldn't make it up! …... This was starting to run like a Whitehall Theatre farce! …. I was assured that when Katherine returned she would e-mail me with the dimensions of the package and the outcome of the discussions with DHL. Quick as a flash …....... nothing! As a consequence I waited until almost close of play (UK time) before phoning again; this time Katherine gave me the dimensions. It was only after I started to give these dimensions to DHL, later on, that I realised that for a gearbox measuring no more than 35cm in any direction a box measuring over 125cm in length seemed rather excessive! To make things worse I then discovered that DHL charge by what they call “Volume related weight”, i.e. they use the box dimensions to estimate the weight and this weight is then used to reach the cost, $US2100 ! A further phone call to Engines Plus, next day, revealed I had been given the dimensions of the wrong box (surprise – surprise) and the true dimensions measured a maximum of 35cm in any one direction, result … shipping cost $US200 which was much better!

Kurukulla at Hurgada Marina

Once I was sure the gearbox was on it's way I returned to the question of recovering the VAT. When I raised this subject with Hedley Beavis at the time of paying for the gearbox; he assured me that his company could definitely not supply it VAT free but that DHL could be tasked to recover the VAT as they processed the outgoing shipment. I assumed he knew his job and accepted his word …. Wrong! ….....A call to DHL and a confirmatory call to HMC&E showed this to be absolute balderdash! DHL cannot process VAT refunds and HMC&E advice was that only the vendor can effect a VAT free sale when it is being exported by a courier. HMC&E advice was that, to meet the rules, - “All they have to do is retain a copy of the airway bill and to place it with their copy of the receipt, as proof that it was exported and entitled to be sold VAT free”. Simple, but initially too difficult for Engines Plus!

Having been picked up at midday on Friday the 9^th of June, by mid day on the 11^th it was in Cairo. Despite a minor hiccough over the delivery address (soon sorted out by Ahmed at EMI) it looked as though DHL were on track to meet their predicted delivery date of 13h of June, great! This all worked as planned and by Sunday the 18^th it was ready for collection from EMI in Hurgada. Next problem was availability of Mahmoud who was working away. Fortunately he was due back on the following Tuesday.

The replacement gearbox

Throughout all of this saga I had also been having a running debate with the management of the marina over the total lack of facilities; no toilets, showers or laundry facilities available, all of which were advertised in their publicity. It reached the stage where I stormed into the manager's office having been told by his “secretary” that he was too busy to see me! On entry I found he was not present and did not work from here! His office was in Cairo! Fortunately a resident of one of the marina side apartments overheard the altercation and took pity on us offering us use of the facilities of their apartment. Thank you Hein and Marja, you saved our day! The story was that the “VIP” facilities were under maintenance and unavailable (despite the fact we had been given access to them and used them once, after which they were quickly permanently locked!) The PR Manager informed me that they had “no idea when the facilities might be back available and I had to realise this was Egypt not Europe, things are different here!”. I am not sure he realised how insulting that statement was to his fellow countrymen!

By close of play Wednesday we had a working gearbox installed. We were set for departure on Thursday midday after topping up with all the usual, water and food.

Hurgada's best Mosque

It was then we discovered that Egypt was shutting down for the coming week for the festival of Id-ul-Adha when all government departments close for a week! This left us with a choice of officially departing Egypt from Hurgada (no visa is necessary to transit the Suez Canal) or potentially delaying again at Suez waiting for Customs and Immigration clearance. We chose the former having already suffered enough delay! After relocating to the “International Port” where we berthed on filthy black fendering more suited to a cruise liner (you cannot clear out from the marina!) and waiting the mandatory two hours for the “over-pressed” officials to attend to us (there was nothing else going on in the whole International Terminal but it still took two hours!) we were free to leave. By now it was too late to make for one of the “allowed anchorages” (where you are allowed to anchor when in transit without visas”) on the Sinai side of the Red Sea and hence we settled for an “illegal” anchorage in the lee of Bluff Point on Small Gubal Island some 30 miles north of Hurgada. To prove the gearbox and to save time we motored to windward in the face of 25kts of North wind. Fortunately we arrived just as night fell and were able to pick up a mooring usually used by dive boats during the day.

Next morning we set off early, again under engine, motoring into wind, heading for the anchorage at Marsa Zaytiyah, a small oil terminal 15 miles NW of the Gubal Islands. This was another “illegal” anchorage but by now I had given up caring and no body came to check us. We anchored inshore of several rig support vessels and a tanker discharging/embarking cargo and spent a very pleasant night, undisturbed by the authorities. From here we did cross the Strait to a beautiful anchorage at El Tur (aka Tor), our first “permitted” anchorage for those on passage who do not have a valid Egyptian visa. It is a popular Foil Boarding resort with a beautiful white sand beach, none of which were we allowed ashore to enjoy! Our only attempt to go ashore, to buy fuel, was thwarted by two military guards who although sympathetic to our needs were refused approval, to let us briefly ashore, by their superiors (the decision took 45 minutes to be referred up and down the chain of command!) We returned onboard with our empty Jerry-cans.

Anchorage at Ras Abu Zenima

The following day we made a late start, intending to sail north, taking advantage of the lighter nighttime winds. 1800 saw us departing the anchorage heading for Ras Abu Zenima, a bay with an apparently obsolete mineral loading facility, which is the next “permitted” anchorage as you sail NW. The distance was 55 miles, directly to windward, hence we sailed 70+ but arrived midday the following day. Not a beautiful anchorage but good holding on sand and well enough protected. Good enough that we decided to take a rest day here and depart, about 36 hours after our arrival, at 0500 on the 28^th of June. This allowed us to reach our final “permitted\” anchorage, at Ras Sudr, 40 miles directly to windward, by nightfall. The flog to windward up the Red Sea had been the longest beat to windward since our ill thought out sail, in the Caribbean, from Curaçao to the BVI, some years back, and had been decidedly less pleasant.

Anchorage at Ras Sudr

At Ras Sudr we opted for the easterly of the two recommended anchorages, just off the large desalination plant and taking care to avoid the sea suction pipe on the bottom stretching offshore from the plant. The holding was again good, on sand, and we settled for a relaxing night. The following day would see us underway early again heading for Port Suez and the entrance to the Suez Canal. Initially it looked as though we were in for a final beat to windward but the wind veered consistently during the morning meaning that we reached the outer anchorages of the Canal waiting area without tacking. From here, on reaching anchorage W1 we dropped the sails, sought clearance from Port Control, which came back immediately, and then motored into the Suez Canal “Yacht Club”, keeping clear of the main channel; here we moored head and stern between buoys off the club house at around 1600. No sooner had we completed this manoeuvre than the marinaio appeared in a small boat inviting us to go stern to on the outer berth of their jetty. This we achieved, mooring alongside a local motor boat, securing ourselves in the only empty berth on the pontoon. Not long after Mostafa, from Felix Agency, appeared and we started the process of getting a canal transit organised. There was some hope that we might get away the following morning early and therefore started a slightly frantic set of preparations, we needed water, fuel and food; none of which could we go ashore to get ourselves, we were required to remain within the secure compound, attached to the clubhouse, but we were not allowed in that either!

Port Suez "Yacht Club" jetty

My understanding was that the club is owned and operated by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) for the benefit of transiting yachtsmen but it seems to have been taken over almost entirely by local boat owners. The only facility available to transiting yachtsmen is a set of bathrooms and showers inside the secure area!

Late that night, having been shopping on our behalf and arranged delivery of 100ltrs of diesel, Mostafa finally informed us that we would not be commencing our transit the following day; it was not his fault, he had tried his best, but the SCA would not give approval; hence, with no alternative, we passed the next day restfully in our secure compound. At 2230 that night the news finally arrived that we were approved to transit, starting somewhere between 0600 and 0800 next day; that being Saturday, 1^st of July. By 0730 we had slipped our moorings and were waiting adjacent to the main channel for our pilot, Mostafa, to arrive which he did shortly afterwards aboard an SCA Pilot Cutter.

First leg of Suez Canal

Having introduced ourselves we set off keeping to the west side of the canal on the very edge (It seemed rather counter intuitive keeping to the Port side of the channel!). Initially we were being overtaken by the northbound convoy passing some 50m on our stbd side and later we were to have the southbound ships heading towards us. Notwithstanding the size of some of the shipping passing there is plenty of room in the edges of the canal for small craft but caution is needed to avoid the vast amounts of rusting, obsolete, infrastructure adorning the edge of the canal; rotting redundant jetties, berthing piles etc. and even the occasional snapped off navigation mark, all of which represent a distinct hazard to small boats.

By 1530 we were berthing alongside in the new, and half constructed, SCA marina at Ismalia Almost before we had tied up Mostafa was ashore and heading for home, he didn't even stop to ask for baksheesh,which we had been warned to expect. 

Ismalia with half constructed marina in foreground

30 minutes later were we to find out the reason for his haste. The berth he had directed us to was not available for use as the marina was yet to be commissioned and handed over to the SCA! We were thrown out and had to anchor off for the night! After a couple of rapid phone calls to Felix Agency we were ensured that our pilot for the next day knew where to find us and sure enough Sayeed arrived, spot on 0900, in an SCA Pilot Cutter.

Fishermen in the canal

Sayeed on the helm...

Unlike Mostafa, Sayeed was determined to helm for the majority of the transit. I was quite happy as it freed me to do more sightseeing! The only break he requested was at 1300 when he took a 10 minute break and retired to the foredeck to undertake his religious devotions.

By 1715 we were in the eastern channel at Port Said (the western was blocked by the closed bridge) and dropping Sayeed of onto another pilot cutter. He too declined the opportunity of requesting baksheesh.

Second leg of Suez Canal

We had decided to head straight out into the Mediterranean and not spend a final night in quarantine at the SCA Yacht Club at Port Said. I had been assured that the berth there was not very comfortable as it is susceptible to the wash of all the passing traffic. By 1800 Sunday afternoon we were out in open waters, in 18kts of NW breeze, navigating the shallows off Port Said with the departing northbound convoy. Given the wind was “bang on the nose” for Marmaris I opted to make ground to the north to get us clear of all the commercial traffic, navigating our way through the numerous oil rigs and well heads that populate this area. By midnight we were becalmed, in fact from midnight to 0600 we made one mile, backwards, due to the easterly current. Frustratingly the winds stayed this way for the next 24 hours, nonetheless we persevered; I was determined to end the circumnavigation as I had started it, under sail!

By the time we left Egypt our courtesy flag was a bit ragged, as was I !

For the next days we tacked to windward in an effort to cover the 385 miles to Marmaris, taking advantage of any windshifts, but slowly, with an average of only 5-6kts of true wind, 3-4kts of boat speed! The forecasts kept promising us west to south west winds but the reality the majority of the winds were westerly or north westerly! By 1800 on the 6^th of July we had reached the Greek Islands of Kastelloritzon, still some 80 miles east of Marmaris. Ultimately I capitulated and we motored for the night of 6/7 July; the wind had dropped to zero and the seas were lumpy; to say the least, my least favourite conditions!

Late on 7 July 2023, after nearly seven and a quarter years (one tenth of my life to date) we were back from where we had started the circumnavigation, on 2^nd of May 2016. Kurukulla was looking very little worse for wear and had stood up to the journey with surprisingly few dramas. Loss of a forestay in New Zealand and the Gearbox failure in Egypt being the only memorable ones.

Sunset en route to Marmaris

Her owner just felt a few years older! We had consumed 4166 litres of fuel whilst motoring for 1120 hours and battery charging for the rest. My thanks go to those who have helped crew her along the way, Christoph, Malvena, David and Yiorgos; very few of the ~34000 miles have been covered single handed.

This was intended to be the last blog for this year but a further nasty surprise was in store for us. The berthing and storage costs at Marmaris Marina had quadrupled, in Euro terms, gone up by a factor of 10 in Turkish Lira! It was now €100 per day (water and electricity extra) and €10,000 for 10 months storage ashore.

Kurukulla (centre) at Marmaris Marina

These compared with €30 per day and €2500 for storage in 2015/16. As a consequence \i started looking for alternatives. By chance I had retained a business card from a small yard in Paros, Yiorgos's home island, and a quick phone call had us booked in for 10 months storage ashore at €180 per month; slightly different! Hence after three days at Marmaris we set off to deliver Kurukulla to Paros and her winter quarters.

Next year will be a year to relax and cruise the Mediterranean …....... or perhaps a trip to the Caribbean, who knows?