Hurghada

The winds finally slowed enough to let us head north and we are now in Hurghada, Egypt which is near the southern end of of the Gulf of Suez. We may have just done our last night time sail. The Gulf of Suez has a lot of hazards, so it is safer to sail during the day. Hurghada is a tourist area, so our goal is to provision (they have supermarkets here!) and leave once we have a weather window.

Egypt

After 11 days and stopping at 3 different places to anchor and wait for the wind to die down, we finally made it to Egypt. We were all very happy to arrive in Port Ghalib. Many of us are out of fresh vegetables, fruit and eggs, so it is great to be able stock up (to some extent). Port Ghalib is a relatively new tourist area and there is not much else here other than the marina/hotel complex so there is only one small store for food shopping. The complex here is a lovely facility with a focus on attracting divers, but with the current economy and reduced tourism in Egypt lately, there are not very many guests.
We spent our first full day here on chores. The boat needed to be cleaned,  the sand from the places we anchored was all over everything and we have access to water and a hose at the marina. Laundry needed to be done - it is amazing how often you'll wear the same thing on a boat to minimize the amount of laundry you have to do.
We just returned from a whirlwind, 2 day trip to Luxor. After a 5 hour bus trip, in a day and a half in Luxor, we saw  the Valley of the Kings, Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple (tomb of the female pharoah Hatshepsut), Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple (which is actually a number of temples), and Luxor Museum. Words can not describe what it is like to walk through these places. The magnitude and detail of the temples that were built over 3000 years ago is amazing. I will have to come back to Egypt some day to see more antiquities.

We plan to leave tomorrow (23 April) for the next port which will put us near the southern end of the Gulf of Suez.

Cleaning a fish while trying to hold steady in bouncy conditions

The Wreck of the Umbria

The Wreck of the Umbria

On the Wreck of the Umbria

Anchorage at Khor Shinab

On land at Khor Shinab

Sunrise  - leaving Khor Shinab

Pufferfish from dive at Gezirat Wadi Gimal (3rd anchorage between Suakin and Port Ghalib)

Gezirat Wadi Gimal

 Trash washed up at Gezirat Wadi Gimal - you see it everywhere :(

Tomb of female Pharoah Hatshepsut

At the tomb of female Pharoah Hatshepsut

At Luxor Temple

At Luxor Temple

At Luxor Temple

 The following group of pictures are from Karnak Temple (which is really a number of temples). Pictures can not convey the scale of this place.

On our way...slowly

We left Suakin,Sudan on April 7th and are slowly making our way north. I was able to make my first dive in the Red Sea which was on the wreck of the Umbria. It is an Italian ship that was on its way to Massawa when WWII broke out. The skipper of the ship scuttled it rather than let it fall into the hands of the British. There is still cargo in the holds and it would be nice to do more dives on it, but we needed to continue moving. The weather windows where you have good winds can be quite short so you need to move quickly when they occur. We anchored the night of April 8th at Khor Shinab. A khor is a narrow opening into the land that often offers good protection from the sea and wind. Khor Shinab was starkly beautiful, it made you think of a lunar landscape. On the 9th we sailed to Elba Reef, this anchorage does not provide as much protection from the wind, but does have very nice snorkeling and a large number of dolphins that visit daily. The forecast looks like the wind will drop enough tomorrow so we can continue to move north, though it does not look like it will be a long enough window to make it to Port Ghalib. That means one or two more anchorages before we check into Egypt.

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Pictures from Sudan

Ruins on Old Suakin

Market in Suakin

Camel in Suakin market

Waiting for milk in Suakin Market

Local fishing boats

Old Suakin (from the mast of Endelig)

Endelig from the top of the mast (I was checking fittings)

Trying the local food on the streets of Port Sudan

Good produce at the market in Port Sudan

Pictures from Eritrea

Entering the Red Sea

Henry (Captain of Endelig) in Massawa, Eritrea

Mike (he can help with anything) from Massawa & Henry

Local swimming competition

Bombed buildings in Massawa

Beautiful tree lined street in Asmara, Eritrea

Sietse getting a beard trim in Asmara, Eritrea

Cathedral in Asmara

Market in Asmara

Market in Asmara

Local transportation in Asmara

Girls in Ghinda - lunch stop between Asmara & Massawa

Local transportation

Sudan

After anchoring one night at Khor Nawarat and another night at Reef Island, we reached Suakin, Sudan on March 31st. We were  hoping that the weather would support a short stay and heading north quickly, but it looks like we will be here at least until the 7th of April.
Suakin is a relatively small town with few things to do. There is Old Suakin which is the old town that is in ruins. The buildings were built from coral and have crumbled over the centuries. They are planning on restoring this historic site. Old Suakin had been the major port in the past and was the last slave trading location in the world.
We are anchored in a small harbor with a restaurant that has internet access and good food. Internet access is a fairly new in Suakin, it was not available last time Lo ,the rally organizer, was here (around a year ago). Yesterday we took a bus to Port Sudan, Sudan's second largest city. We wandered through the markets, tried local food and had an enjoyable day seeing a little more of Sudan. The Sudanese people are truly some of the friendliest and warmest people I have ever encountered. People are continuously welcoming you to Sudan, asking if they can help you, inviting you to join them when they are eating and asking questions about your home country. You definitely feel like a welcome guest.
I will try to post some pictures if possible (the connection to internet may be too slow).