Friday, April 24, 2009

dudedudedudedude egypt yeah!!



I’ve been in Egypt for just over a month now, and it’s been quite a mystical adventure! Not only have I seen the beautiful land and monuments here, but I’ve also gotten to know a few of the beautiful people here very well. From my base in Hurghada I’ve traveled to Luxor, Aswan, Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, and now Suez, at the foot of the fabled Suez Canal.
I’ve been very busy since my last entry. The next day I went to the city of Luxor on the Nile River. The town itself is relatively small and pretty dirty, but it is surrounded by the most incredible sights. I stayed at an awful little place called ‘The Grand Hotel’ for $4 US per night for 2 nights so I could explore the surroundings. First I visited the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens where they have discovered the tombs of over 60 ancient kings, pharaohs and their wives buried deep below the earth, whoa man, pretty nuts. Next was Hatshepsut Temple and Colossi Memnon. Of course my camera battery died precisely the moment I arrived at the Valley, so I only got one picture. But I have the sneaking suspicion that there may be pictures on the internet of these places if you’re really curious.
I somehow still had energy once I got back to the ‘hotel’, so I decided to drink a few beers and go for a bike ride through the scenic town up to the ominous Karnak temple, so much fun!! It’s a 20 minute ride, but I took about 4 hours getting there rolling leisurely through the streets, stopping anywhere that struck my fancy. I’m not sure what is more dangerous, the Gulf of Aden or Egypt by bicycle. On my way back from the temple I enjoyed the sun setting over the Nile riding past Luxor Temple, WOW. I ran into a few people from America I had met earlier and we went out for a few drinks. By now I’ve met so many incredible travelers that what I’m doing doesn’t seem that crazy to me anymore, but these people couldn’t believe that I was just in Egypt for a little while, didn’t know how long I would be there, didn’t know where I would be the next day, why I was just riding around on a bike and that I was living on a sailboat from Holland that I joined 3 months ago in Thailand. Ok I guess that does sound a bit odd. I don’t meet many people from North America so it was fun to hang out and trade stories and visit for the evening.
Early the next day I decided to hop on the train for the picturesque town of Aswan to go on a sailing/camping trip up the Nile for a few nights, so rad!! I met the captain of a felucca, which is a small sailboat native to the region, and for 3 nights we sailed up the river with a few other people, stopping at beaches and Islands along the way. The days were filled with relaxing in the sun, playing cards, drinking beers and telling stories, while the nights were filled with playing music, drinking beers, campfires and exploring the islands. Also on board were a couple of hilarious boys from Edinburgh, a super rad social worker from Peru, a funny young Polish boy and 3 great Spanish girls from Barcelona and Madrid. Together with the captain and his mate, who were like 17 or something, we had a great adventure for 3 days and 3 nights. After we left the boat my new friends and I all went back to Luxor, cleaned up and went out for a night on the town, ending with drinking red wine and a sheesha on the rooftop terrace of our hostel enjoying the warm Egyptian night breeze.
After I arrived back to Tulipano in Hurghada Peter decided that he wanted to leave for Suez the next day. That night I went out with my friends in Hurghada one last time. Our friend Hisham had met a Russian lady the previous week and they were to be married in 2 days, so that night we all went over to his flat for his bachelor party for him. It was a great and late night, but it was sad because we knew I had to leave the next day. We said our goodbyes and on Monday Peter, his wife and I set sail to go up the remaining stretch of the fierce Red Sea.
We arrived in Port Suez after a day and half of good sailing. Just as we were motoring into the marina the wind rapidly escalated to over 25 kts., dark clouds rolled in, and with the surrounding dessert hills all around us it quickly escalated into a violent sandstorm. 2 Egyptian boys from the marina arrived in a dinghy and with difficulty we were able to tie up to the mooring buoys and we were safe. We spent the rest of the cold evening down below sheltered from the storm.
After a few days of resting in the marina we took a car from Suez to Cairo. When we got there I split off and called my friend Fayed. I met him in Giza and he took me to the Pyramids!! Yeah!! So freakin rad!! I’ll post pictures when I can. The Pyramids really are a spectacular sight that can only truly be appreciated by seeing them in person. We met up at a coffee shop later with my friend Captain Sam and Fayed’s crazy friend Mohammad, and on a whim he suggested that we go to his house on the beach in Alexandria. OK LET’S GO!! We took a taxi 2 hours to the beautiful city of Alexandria, and in one day I had been in Suez, Cairo, Alexandria, and had seen the Pyramids and the Mediterranean for the first time!! The next day Captain Sam and I just relaxed, strolled around town, played on the beach and hung out, it was great.
Now I’m back in Suez. Peter and his wife left with Tulipano 2 days ago, and I’ve been staying with my good friend Ahmed at the office of Felix Maritime Agency. Ahmed is a very special young man, and we’ve gotten to be quite close friends in the past week since I’ve been here. Today my friend Lo arrived to the marina and I will be joining him on his boat, Mistral, to Alanya, Turkey.
My time traveling through the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea has been filled with many magical adventures; sailing over 5,000 miles across the sea, playing with dolphins, saving a runaway ship, swimming with sharks, speeding motorcycle rides through the jungle, exploring ruined castles, ancient temples and a sunken shipwreck, sailing through pirate infested waters, camping and sailing along the Nile, bike rides through crazy cities, sandstorms, gales, awful calms, rough seas and making a few great friends. While traveling alone it’s so important when you meet good people that you generally make a connection with, but it’s sad because you know you will just be leaving again in a short time. I’ve treasured my time with Hamou, Ahmed, Hisham, Captain Sam, Patryk, Milko, Kurt and Katie, John Todd and Todd Johnson, Mireia, Anna, Alba, Ahmed, Fayed and Crazy Mohammed, and I’m very lucky that I’ve met these people along the way.
I have a load of pictures form my time in Egypt and I’ll try to upload them when I can get a decent connection!!

F00dz 4 d00Dz Update:
I’ve been keeping my eyes open, looking for special ways to use the remainder of our foods for dudes project fund. I really wanted to find someone special who could not just use money, but do good things with a little bit of help from us. It’s been difficult, because it seems as though the megatourism that is Egypt’s main industry has made it difficult for foreigners to find real friends, not just people looking to trick tourists into buying useless overpriced garbage. I’ve been lucky enough to make some real friends, and one in particular was the perfect candidate.
The morning after we arrived in Suez, Peter woke me up very very early by banging on my wall and yelling at me from my upward hatch because he is mean and he hates me, and that put me in a very bad mood. I went down to the dock to hook up the hose so I could spray down the boat, and a young man from the marina introduced himself. His name was Ahmed. Everyone in Egypt’s name is Ahmed. Well not everyone. There are also men named Mohammad. We tried speaking for a minute, but being exhausted from the previous night and annoyed from being woken up so discourteously I was in no mood to make a new friend. After a few of my grumpy mumbling sentences Ahmed asked me if I spoke English, and I just walked away without saying anything more. I’m sorry Ahmed!
I got some rest and was in better spirits later, and I saw Ahmed again drinking some tea up in the yacht club. He offered me a cup and I sat down with him. We instantly connected, and in the next week we became quite good friends. When Peter left and Lo was not here yet he kindly put me up for 2 days in the office of his employer, Felix Maritime Agency, which was a life saver. He took me in and treated me as his brother. He’s a great kid, and a hard worker, but he makes only 10 Egyptian Pounds per day, which is about 2 dollars. He deserves much more but that is the way it works here. He used to play soccer for years, but he had to quit so he could go to work to help out his family with bills. He would also wish to someday marry his long time girlfriend, but that is also very expensive and difficult for Egyptian men to afford.
We had to say our goodbyes today because he was going back home to Port Said. Before he left I took him aside and asked him if I could help him in any way. At first he refused, but after a while I convinced him to take $40 to bring back to help his family. I told him that the money came from my friends and family back home, and the only thing I asked him is that he use for it for good for his family, he agreed and was very thankful.
I will see Ahmed again in a few days in Port Said, and I am excited to hear what he plans to do with your help. So thank you again to all of the foods for dudes project donors!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Pirate Alley/Yemen/Red Sea/Egypt!!

Hello from Egypt!! IT's been a long crazy month!

Yemen was great. After the long passage of the Arabian Sea and starting through the Gulf of Aden AKA ‘Pirate Alley’ we decided to stop in Mukalla to provision and rest for a few days. I took the dinghy ashore and waiting for me there was a friend named Saeed. He saw us coming in and wanted to meet me. He took me around town on the back of his motorbike for a wild ride through the lively Arabian port town. Saeed and a few of his friends have a group that meets every night to learn English together. He asked me to join them the following night and of course I said yes! The next day I met his friends Rashad, Saeed and Mohammed and they took me out a half an hour down the coast to a beach where we sat and talked and ate and hung out for hours. They’re really incredible guys. We chatted about Arabic, English, Islam and Christianity, Yemeni and Arabian politics as well as American politics, amongst other fiery topics.
Sadly in the morning I had to say goodbye to my friends, and Peter and I headed out to get through the rest of the Gulf of Aden. The rest of the Gulf was very quick, we had great wind and a favorable current which made for incredible sailing. Thankfully there were no incidents with pirates, although one day we saw a pirate mother ship off in the distance with 5 smaller boats trailing behind.
The Red Sea was a wet and wild ride with very strong head winds and violent, short and steep seas. For 5 days we fought upwind with the boat heeling over and slamming continuously on the hard waves. At times it sounded like the whole yacht was going to break in half. For days it was too wild to go above deck except to make sail changes and put in reefs. It was very exhausting. Peter said he has never had such rough sailing.
. We stopped briefly in a place called Port Ghalib, Egypt, and it was awful. It was just the worst tourist trap dive resort completely devoid of any authenticity or soul whatsoever. After 3 days there I was definitely ready to leave.
Well we are now in a lovely town in Egypt called Hurghada. It’s a great little diving town right on the water, only minutes away from the best diving in the world We’ve been here for 9 days already and it has been the best time. I’ve made a few friends in town, Mohammed and Ahmed, and pretty much every night I go to their tiny little fish restaurant and hang out all night there or go shoot pool or just to their apartment. I’ve also been diving a few times, and it really is pretty incredible. Huge beautiful reefs, hundreds of fishes, eels, rays, and other crazy sea life, and plenty of ship wrecks! The other day I went diving at a wreck called Susanna, and we entered through a window and explored the inside of the ship. It is nose down and tilted to the side so when you enter you get completely disoriented and you can’t tell what direction is what. It was nuts man.
Tomorrow I am going to the city of Luxor for a few days to see the Valley of the Kings where all of the tombs of pharaohs have been discovered. Then I will travel to the town of Aswan to hang out for a few days. When I return we will leave Hurghada and make our way up to the Suez Canal!
There is a big celebration in town tonight, so I’m excited to go with my friends and dance all night!


Notes from journal:

2/22/2009 00:47 15*32’N 71*12E Arabian Sea
Well we’re back on the open sea and I couldn’t be happier. The world doesn’t get much bigger than this.

2/23/2009
Caught a monster today!! 55 inch Mahi Mahi, 40 lbs.!! We’ll be eating that thing for a week straight. This was the Muhammad Ali of fish man, it took me 45 minutes straight to wrestle that sucker in.
Slow sailing, lots of motoring. It’s really beautiful out though, smooth water, slight cool breeze. Moments like this make it quite obvious to me that God does exist.

2/24/2009 04:00 15* 19’N 67* 05’E Arabian Sea
The Fat Little Pigeon
I had just made a cup of coffee and sat down for night watch when I noticed tiny chirping sounds behind me. I had a look around and noticed that I was being visited by a fat little pigeon perched on the back of the dinghy. I asked him what he was doing so far out in the middle of the ocean. He responded with a facial expression as if to ask me the same question. Good point. He explained that he had gotten lost a while ago and was now just flying around in circles. I told him I had been doing the same thing for 25 years now, and that he was welcome to stay and rest for as long as he needed. I brought him some fish and some dry noodles and we sat in silence for hours enjoying the night sea together.

2/26/2009 04:00 15*23’N 59*56’E Arabian Sea
It was a very special evening. I first noticed around 5pm that there was an unusually large amount of algae floating like big billowy clouds through the water. For miles and miles it was all around us. At sunset my dolphin friend Fancy Rabbit and his wild gang put on quite the performance off in the distance. They were going nuts! In a single file line they were jumping high out of the water, over and over, keeping up with our pace and making sure we noticed.
Around 8pm I saw the first electric wave. Because of all of the algae in the water, the bioluminescence was absolutely wild. Each wave and each wind gust turned the water into bright, shiny, magical bursts of light and blue fire. Usually you can’t even see it until the middle of the night when it is pitch black, but tonight it was brighter than I’ve ever seen! And as it became darker it only got better. Gusts of wind on the water turned into electric blue ripples and our wake was so bright it illuminated the sails with bright flashes. Gradually, very slowly, the dark star-filled sky melded with the dark star-filled sea and for 3 hours I was gliding through space surrounded by glowing, flickering fluttering stars! Headed straight toward our faithful friend Venus’ open arms and with the Southern Cross to port we make our way across the Arabian Sea. It’s funny, just when the sea starts to become routine she surprises yet again just to keep you on your toes.

2/28/2009 11:15 15*35’N 57*25’E Arabian Sea
We’re only a few hundred miles from the Gulf of Aden AKA ‘Pirate Alley’, and I think we’ve both been thinking about it quite a bit. Supposedly the chance of attack is low, but the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization has informed us that there have been a few completed ransoms in the last few weeks.
We have completely separated from the rally now, so we’re just sailing through on our own, so if something were to happen there would be no one around. Peter also just told me that he has a gun on board, a very nice Walther p99. Elina had already told me about it, but I was just waiting to see if Peter would bring it up. He took it out to show me, and we took turns firing rounds into the water. Peter said it was because he hadn’t shot it in a long time, but I think we both just wanted an excuse to shoot a gun in the middle of the ocean. Boys will be boys.
I really hope we don’t have to use it, but we have it on board just in case something should happen. Everyone’s gotta go sometime, what a hell of a way to go out.

3/2/2009 22:40 15*19’N 52*28’E Gulf of Aden
So we are now entering Pirate Alley, pretty thrilling. To quote the 2009 Red Sea Pilot addendum, “Piracy is alive and all too well between Salalah (Oman) and Aden (Yemen).” In another message from the UKMTO they state that “owners and masters of vessels should be prepared for possible attack, all passengers and crew should fully understand the risks associated with transiting these areas… demonstrate a willingness to defend yourself, do not surrender immediately at the first sign of a threat.” Well I asked for an adventure! Should I be scared?? I feel like I should be but I’m just not. I feel like I’m adequately educated of the risks and what to do if there is an attack, and I feel mentally prepared to handle anything that may happen.

3/3/2009 21:45 14*40’N 50*27’E Pirate Alley
There were a few fishing boats not far off this morning. Usually the fishing boats are no big deal, in fact many times they will come up to your boat and trade items for fish and other things. But in pirate alley sometimes the fisherman are armed and will attack your vessel. No problems though, we seem to be doing just fine. We’ve decided to stop in Mukalla, Yemen less than 100 hundred miles away. We’ve been at sea for a long time and I’m looking forward to seeing Yemen.
I was doing the dishes tonight (just like every night!) and I got to thinking about happiness. Everyone is so concerned with this elusive state of being called ‘happiness’ or the ‘secret to happiness’ or this and that whatever. But does it really have to be that complicated? I think that being happy is a very simple endeavor. Call it youthful naivety or hippie idealism or whatever, but can’t each of us figure out what makes us truly happy and just do that?? Can’t it be that simple? I think so. I think that if everyone just chilled out a bit, stepped back and just did what truly makes them happy, and fulfilled, and satisfied in the soul, we might all be a bit better off. I guess maybe the challenge is figuring or what really makes you happy.

3/5/2009 Al Mukalla, Yemen
Amazing 2 days in Mukalla. Wild Arabian town. Playing with kids in the water, the English group, goats, motorbike rides, truck rides, beach hang outs and the crazy Arabian markets! It’s been a great but short time here, I really wish we could stay longer.