We spent a few days in Naxos in an isolated bay with a couple of other yachts before catching up with the Red Sea gang. There were no restaurants or bars and only a couple of farms and of course a tiny little church, but it was an interesting place as the goats had to walk across the beach to get to their milking shed.
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Choras, Calderas and Churches
Agios Nickolias – Crete
We had really no idea where we were heading to after leaving Egypt, with a choice of Cyprus, Turkey or Greece. It was dependant on the weather and the problem of the Shengen visas which only allow 90 days in most countries of the EU in any 180 day period. Continue reading
Egypt & the Suez Canal
The long sail down the Gulf of Aqaba and up the Gulf of Suez was a mixture of brilliant and frustrating sailing. We flew down from Jordan with the wind behind us and little traffic on the water. Once we reached the beginning of the Gulf of Suez things changed and we flogged the 200nm against the wind.
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Jordan and the Red Sea
Local mode of transport
We had decided at the last moment to visit Jordan as it was just a 100nm detour with our friends Gigi and Patricia. We arranged to meet at the Royal Jordan Yacht Club at the top of the Gulf of Aqaba which is a small body of water that has Saudi Arabia on one side and the Sinai desert on the other which is Egyptian. As sails go, it was quite fun as we had a following sea which pushed us up at 7-8 knots and we arrived 10 miles shy of the yacht club to a rather unusual request. The radio call went something like this…..
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A journey along the Sudanese coast.
We woke up the next morning to see that we were in a great anchorage with plenty of room for all of us. True to his word, Mohammed our agent, was waiting on the dock to be picked up and he duly arrived with all our paperwork and cleared us in in about 30 mins. He had SIM cards, money for exchange and organised our diesel. We were then free to go off and explore this small town so Donazita, Mike and us headed into town. We passed many buildings in ruins but this time it was due to neglect not war which seemed very sad. It was seriously hot and most people were inside but when we got to the market we saw stall holders braving the midday heat – along with the various goats, chickens and cats. – continue reading …->
Dijbouti and Eritrea – surprising destinations..
We eventually left the comfort and protection of the Lamu anchorage in a convoy of three boats and turned left to head north towards the a Gulf of Oman. Notoriously the most dangerous stretch of water in the world – sailing up the Somalian coast towards Yemen. Nearly all the yachts transitting the Red Sea come from India in effect bypassing most of the Somalian coastline but we were sailing right alongside the coast for over 1000 miles – the first boats for years to do this run. continue reading…
A major change of plan
When we got back from Rwanda we spent a few days in Nairobi with Will again. Nairobi has hellish traffic and we were due to arrive at 5pm but didn’t actually get in till about 9pm which turned our 23 hour bus trip into a 27hr one! Add to that the hour it took to get to Wills place and we arrived very weary but happy to be upright! The flat was full of people when we arrived and so it didn’t take long for the party to begin. Six degrees of separation reared its head when we discovered that one of their friends was a mate of my nephew in Buenos Aires so we promptly Facetimed him in Argentina…. the night ended up with drinking games until dawn- all fun and games in Nairobi – continue reading …>
Rwanda – Africa’s success story
We boarded the bus in Nairobi for Rwanda at 5pm and splashed out the grand sum of $44 each for the VIP seats. They were so wide that we couldn’t even sit next to each other but as most of the journey was at night it didn’t matter. We all had to get out when we reached the Ugandan border but it was pretty painless and we were through within the hour. We travelled through Uganda, which was much greener than I had expected and arrived at the Rwandan border early in the morning. We were both stiff but managed to get some sleep on the bus. We headed straight for the hotel for a shower and some lunch followed by a lazy relaxing afternoon by the pool.
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Another fun visit from our girls…
Lamu waterfront
Our daughters flew into the tiny island of Manda where we were able to pick them up by dinghy!! Just walked up the jetty and met them from the little plane. I think that will probably be the first and last time we will ever be able to do that… straight back to Indian Summer where Ian was like a kid in a candy store with all the spare parts they had brought over and I was thrilled to get my supply of licorice. It’s the only thing you just can’t get anywhere and I love it! continue reading …- >
Lamu archipelago – a different Kenya
We had a slow sail from Kilifi to Lamu due to headwinds arriving at midday to the waves of Proud Cat and Tiger Lilly welcoming us to the anchorage. Lamu is an island in the far north of Kenya about 55nm south of the Somali border just a couple miles off the mainland and is the favoured holiday spot for the continue reading….>
S/V Indian Summer 1 