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| The Egypt Flag is hoisted, Country Number 37 |
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| The Reefs of Egypt |
Beyond Sanganeb Reef
We bid farewell to Sanganeb Reef and Sudan on a brilliant afternoon, sailing a northerly course towards Port Ghalib, Egypt, 320 NM away. (The charts show Port Ghalib under a different name, Marsa Alam, as does our Red Sea Pilot) The winds were light, seas flat and at 1400 hours, we figured to arrive at Port Ghalib in the daylight. Many reefs were hidden by the late afternoon sun, so a well timed departure would ensure our arrival into Port Ghalib before the reefs disappeared in a setting sun. Up to this point, our Red Sea sailing experience was conventional: Good southerly winds just north of the mouth of the Red Sea at Bab-el-Mandeb, light winds central Red Sea, and northerly winds from the border of Egypt and Sudan to the Suez Canal. With Sea Child, we had no real concern with the conditions, expecting to tack upwind once the northerlies arrived. We had practiced upwind tacking while back in Phang Nga Bay, Thailand, honing our double-handed skills. We felt prepared and accepted the wind changes that were ahead.
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| Sunset our first night out from Sanganeb |
We began the journey under full main and screecher in southerly winds, and as night fell, those warm winds died and we motor-sailed north. We had some friends sailing up the Red Sea as well, and though we were not in tandem, we often shared information via satellite texts along the way. Taimada, a German flagged catamaran with our friends, Ute and Hans onboard, sent us a message that they saw us on AIS, as we passed their location south of the Egyptian border. This 0200 message gave us a sense of confidence as we continued on. Sailing on an obscure sea, where western humanity was thousands of miles away, can be disconcerting. Just knowing that one familiar vessel was somewhat close by brought a smiley face to our log, given that earlier in the day we heard warnings for "Live Fire Exercises" with a lat/long broadcast every 15 minutes on VHF Channel 16. We marked the Navionics with the precise location of these exercises, an area 15NM to the east of our current location, in the central Red Sea. We had altered course to 330 degrees, towards the southern border of Egypt and well away from the firing area.
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| AIS targets in the Red Sea |
Out of the Tropics
Just on the border of Sudan, there is a tiny island called Geziret Zabargad (St. Johns Island in English), the largest island in a group of islands in Foul Bay, Egypt. We saw the bright glow of the island well to the south on our second night at sea, a dark and starless night with intermittent rain squalls passing by. We were just north of the Tropic of Cancer, sailing out of the tropics for the first time in over 4 years. The rains brought a welcome chill to the night air, and again, exhaustion was beginning to set in after 36 hours sailing. This exhaustion was compounded by the uncertainty we felt at even sailing near this military outpost lighting up St. Johns Island. We sailed past at 0200, ignoring the urge to stop and rest up just until dawn, pushing onwards towards Port Ghalib. While in Sudan, we heard about the appeal of St. John, the beauty of the island group at Foul Bay and the spectacular snorkel sites. But stopping there was highly discouraged, and given that the winds were still favorable, we continued onward.
After sunrise, we found a heavy dew had covered Sea Child in a fine red dust, so wet that we needed to close up ports and doors to keep the water out of the cabin. Every surface of Sea Child, every winch, every line, every countertop, every cushion, the solar panels and the rigging, all were covered with a dust so fine it took hours to clean. (It was as if the sands of the Sahara desert wished to join us on our world journey, and even two years later, we are still finding the fine red dust in the most obscure places!) A hot, humid hair hung thick over Sea Child, and the seas had a flat bump from the north, maybe a foot. We were sailing along nicely at 7.9 knots.
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| Dinner at the reef |
The battle with the red dust was overshadowed by our arrival into Egyptian waters. As we sailed along the Red Sea coast, we were fascinated by all we saw: The looming sand dunes rolling over the hills on shore, the scatted shells of once busy building sites. There was the source of the red dust, so fine as not to be seen in the air, just felt under foot. The Eastern Desert, between the Nile River and the Red Sea, tumbled to the shore, isolated and dry and harsh. There, for the first time, our eyes fell upon sights we had dreamed of for years. The skies were clear and the many reefs of Egypt very easy to see as was their brilliant blue green turquoise waters.
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| Eastern Sahara Desert on the shores of Egypt |
By late morning, the north winds filled in strong at 19-20 knots, bringing a steep, rough wind chop on the nose. We had expected that the journey up from Sanganeb Reef to Port Ghalib would be easy, textbook sailing. But once we faced the Northerlies combined with the steep N chop, slamming hard at Sea Child, we decided to stop, sleep, eat, and swim. After 45 hours of sailing up the Red Sea, under clear blue skies, Sea Child dropped anchor at Dolphin Reef, +125 NM to Port Ghalib.
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| Sailing into the North Winds |
Our overnighters took a back seat to day hops up the coast, sailing approximately 55 NM a day or less, all while avoiding numerous Egyptian dive boats. We had gone from absolute serenity in the beautiful Sudanese waters to a fleet of behemoths surrounding most of the Southern Egyptian reefs. As Sea Child sailed around one of these reefs, the dive boat RAMADAN V came powering into us from behind as if we were a scooter on a crowded Asian street, pushing us away from a nearby reef. Welcome to Egypt!
Trouble at the Reefs
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Egyptian Dive Boats
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From Dolphin Reef we sailed up to Gezirat Siyal Reef, Samadai Reef/Dolphin House, and Ernestos Reef before arriving in Port Ghalib 6 days after our departure from Sanganeb Reef. Our guide book, Red Sea Pilot by Elaine Morgan & Stephen Davies, 2nd Edition described Samadai/Dolphin House: “…..shelter is adequate even in strong N’lies and you can be comfortable here overnight,…..with 10 HEPCA/USAID* moorings laid….Diving is reported to be excellent on barrier reefs in NW and SE corners” (page 199, Red Sea Pilot, 2nd Edition, 2002). It was true that the reef provided excellent protection, and our arrival into this reef was around 0800. The reef was deserted, with the exception of a huge pod of dolphins, leisurely swimming in the reef. We searched with our binoculars for the aforementioned orange buoys, spotting some very near the shore of the reef. And while we quietly and slowly worked our way into the pristine reef, many of the dolphin came up to us, curious and playful as well. We grabbed one of the orange buoys, truly believing these were the mooring buoys that the pilot book had mentioned.
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| Approaching Samadai/Dolphin House |
During our stop at Samadai Reef/Dolphin House, we loaded our dinghy with dive gear, tied up to large buoys at the edge of the reef, and set out to take in our first (and sadly, only) dive in Egypt. As we hit the water, a spectacular underwater world opened up before us. Tall pinnacles covered in giant coral and groups of colorful fish hid the bubbles of approaching divers, about 20 minutes into our dive. The writeup in our 2002 copy of the Red Sea Pilot and its description of Dolphin House was incorrect. Our dive was interrupted by HEPCA, the governing body of the Egyptian National Park.
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| Dive references |
What is HEPCA, you ask? HEPCA (Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation) is an international NGO working in marine and land conservation in Egypt. According to our guidebook, HEPCA, together with funds from USAID (United States Government Aid Agency), had laid numerous moorings (up to 570!) along the Red Sea reefs, from the border of Sudan up to the Sinai Peninsula. These orange buoys were designed to protect the reefs from careless anchoring, and while our book mentioned them, the only place we saw them was at Samadai Reef/Dolphin House. Or at least we thought these orange buoys were those referenced in the Red Sea Pilot. The buoys were orange, but they did not say HEPCA/USAID.*
While we were diving at Dolphin House, we left Sea Child on one of these orange buoys. However, as the guide book also states, “You cannot leave your boat unattended. ……local dive boats protecting their turf can and will make your life difficult if you break the law.” Turns out that the law changed between the time of writing our guide book, Second Edition 2002, and our visit to the Red Sea, 2016. Before our passage from Malaysia several months back, we searched for the best resources to give guidance up the Red Sea, and our options were limited. While most details about reefs and for the most part clearance procedures were accurate in the guide book, this detail about laws and HEPCA and Dolphin House did indeed make our life difficult.
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| HEPCA Officials at the Reef |
As we surfaced from our dive, we were met by the giant metal siding of a behemoth Egyptian dive boat. A man onboard was calling us to him, motioning for us to board his boat. He had a phone in his ear and was talking very broken English, impossible for us to truly understand what were his intentions. We decided to grab our dingy and remove our dive gear as we returned to Sea Child. We were followed by their RIB, and while I was in the dinghy taking gear apart, Eric was followed on board by 3 very rough Egyptians, one talking on the phone for a translator. Eric listened to the phone, and as I continued to unload, I could tell that we were indeed in big trouble. Turns out that grabbing the orange buoys were illegal, they were not for yachts they were markers for tourist swimming areas. Eric was grilled about when we cleared into Egypt (we hadn’t yet) and when was our ETA to Port Ghalib. Eric showed these burly men the entry in the pilot about Dolphin House buoys, diving, etc. but these details were brushed aside. Samadai is now available only to boats purchased in Egypt and with special permits. We were asked to leave immediately. The log notes for that day, 15 April 2016 read, “Kicked out of Egyptian National Park. Oops.”
Port Ghalib, Egypt
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| Approaching Port Ghalib |
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| Port Ghalib |
We finally arrived at Port Ghalib Sunday, 17 April 2016. An oasis on the shore, Port Ghalib is a new port, on the charts as Marsa Alam. Back in 2001, Port Ghalib was non-existent and Marsa Alam had just a few small hotels. Today, a thriving tourist community, market, shopping center and bank are all at Port Ghalib, the southernmost port of entry in Egypt. Palm trees lined the pristine port entrance, thatched umbrella shaded lounging sun bathers, and the oasis of Port Ghalib looked fresh and new with restaurants lining the Mediterranean-type tie ups in the marina. Hotels were everywhere, in a neat development similar to Wailea in Maui, Hawaii.
Our entry into Egypt was easy. The authorities met Sea Child at the arrival dock, and asked for our passports while we waited for entry. They took our passports, and while we were filling out forms, a man ran to the nearby airport to obtain visas to enter the country. Within an hour or so he returned and we were welcomed into the oasis of Port Ghalib. We now had one month to explore Egypt (though in reality we had 13 days since we needed to be in Marmaris, Turkey by the first week of May). After we exchanged currency and greeted fellow cruisers on TekaNova, who last we saw in Fiji back in 2011, we settled into a dinner at a nearby restaurant. The stars were bright in the Egyptian sky, and the food delicious! During dinner, my cell phone rang, and the number was unknown, except that it said “Egypt”. As I answered it, the authorities from HEPCA walked up to our table and proceeded to ask Eric to join them. I thought, ‘wait, where are they taking him?”, and while they were pleasant enough, they made sure that we understood the rules we broke at Samadai Reef/Dolphin House. They took Eric off to a secluded area of the marina, and proceeded to scold him for over an hour. While we had a good argument about our interpretation of the guidebook, we had no excuse for not having the most up-to-date info on Egyptian rules and regulations around the reefs. They gave us a detailed packet of information about HEPCA and Samadai Reef/Dolphin House. Lesson learned: If you sail up the Red Sea and plan to stop on the Egyptian Coast, be sure to have the most up-to-date info as possible. If ever there was an argument to have satellite internet installed on Sea Child, this would be it.
Luxor Side Trip
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| Proper female attire |
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| Luxor Giant Pillars |
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| Tourism Police |
Aside from this first hiccup, Egypt turned out to be everything we had hoped for. From Port Ghalib we hired a driver to take us across the Eastern Desert to the Nile River and Valley of the Kings at Luxor, staying in a luxury riverfront hotel for only $41 per night. The drive alone was worth a whole chapter to explain, but suffice it to say there are roads for the local Egyptians and roads for foreigners. The foreigner road was twice as long, and there were two check points that had been set up at various spots across the Eastern Desert. At each checkpoint, uniformed officers spoke to the driver in Arabic and asked questions about their passengers. At the first checkpoint our driver told the officers that we were Canadian, and at the second stop the driver told the officers we were Austrian. At the monument entry checkpoint we were another nationality. We were never American. We asked our drivers why they didn’t say we were American? Because, they said, if they say our true nationality, there are more questions and we were on a schedule. The drive took almost 5 hours, and while eventful, we were thrilled to have arrived in Luxor safe and sound.
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| Felucca feast |
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| Traditional Felucca |
Our timing was perfect, there were no lines at any of the historical attractions and antiquities. The ruins were set up for large crowds of visitors but they were in fact next to empty. I actually thought it a bit sad for Egypt, as world headlines must be scaring the visitors away, and to be honest, the “baksheesh” or asking for a tip (read bribe) got overwhelming. Everywhere we turned ashore, we were asked for money. But still, Luxor was practically empty of foreign visitors. It was a surreal experience.
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| Ali, the horse cart driver at Luxor |
Still, Luxor is spectacular. The views at night are as lit up and colorful as the incredible sites are by day. The Valley of the Kings must be seen to understand the level of knowledge and sophistication held by the early Egyptians. Karnak, near Valley of the Kings and as giant in scale as the huge statues in Luxor, held a bright and colorful evening laser show in English which we were thrilled to have seen. We met up with our friends, Dave and Katrina on Laragh, and celebrated Dave’s birthday drinking wine until the wee hours of the morning at our Iberhotel Nile River. It was fantastic to see them again! We met local Egyptian horse drivers and felucca captains and visited the parchment stores for local art. Our drive back across the desert to Port Ghalib was as exciting as our drive out, with camels and sand “green doors” and more baksheesh. Enough tales to fill a whole novel!
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| Beautiful Nile River and Valley of the Kings from Iberotel |
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| Captive camel on drive back to Port Ghalib |
After returning to Sea Child, we provisioned up as best we could, preparing for the final push up the Red Sea to Suez. Walking around the shops at Port Ghalib, we met an Egyptian man from Aswan who sold natural oils and aloe, Mohammed, who spoke great Enghlish. He was as persistent as a Turkish carpet salesman, but truly kind and helpful. And on our last night in Port Ghalib, We had dinner with our friends on Taimada, Hans and Ute, who tied up next to Sea Child while we were in Luxor. It was great to meet up with friends, laugh and share shisha (hooka) together. We again laughed until early in the morning hours, and though a bit exhausted, we would set sail for Suez the next day.
To be continued on the next post, "Sailing Egypt and the Gulf of Suez"
*Note: HEPCA/USAID is only mentioned in the 2002 Imray Red Sea Pilot. The literature given to Sea Child in Port Ghalib is detailed about Samadai Reef and HEPCA’s mission to promote understanding about the dolphins that visit there. The HEPCA information does not mention USAID in any of its literature as of 2016.
Authors Note:
As I sit here in Mallorca, Spain (Country Number 47) and reflect back on our visit to Egypt over two years ago, I find myself beguiled by the scenery that surrounds me. Eric and I notice our overcrowded anchorage at Playa de Palma Nova Mallorca, where hotels with names like "HONOLULU" and "ALUAHAWAII" tower over the multitudinous posadas nearby. Boat watching is akin to people watching, anchors dropping all around while swells from lively super yachts roll by. The beaches shimmer with a rainbow of umbrellas sheltering thousands of tanning bodies. Banner planes fly low and slow overhead, advertising power drinks or nightlife activity. All distractions of a western world.
We anchored up here to do boat projects and write another entry to our blog. Egypt was 10 countries ago, and I can't help but compare our current locale to the one exceptional Red Sea Country that we both had eagerly awaited to visit. The contrast of the culture here in Mallorca to the absolute serenity of the shores of Red Sea Egypt could not be more striking.
I hope you enjoyed this new post, EGYPT: Country Number 37. Please come back again.
Written aboard S/Y Sea Child, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
39 degrees 30.861 North, 002 degrees 32.494 East
