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.