Approaching the Gulf of Suez |
Up to Suez
We left Port Ghalib on Friday afternoon, after an amazing side trip to Luxor. We had 300NM to sail up to Suez Yacht Club, at the northern tip of the Red Sea and southern entrance to the Suez Canal. The winds were light offshore as we headed north again, cruising up the coast past the Port of Hurghada where cruise ships used to call prior to the piracy issues of the Gulf of Aden. The facilities at Hurghada were large and impressive, visible from several miles away. Our friends, Dave and Katrina on Laragh, were there at Hurghada and as we continued on, we sailed past the amazingly beautiful reefs off the northern Red Sea coast of Egypt.
Sunrise over Sinai, Gulf of Suez |
By nightfall on our second night, the northerlies returned with a vengeance. They arrived as a slight bump from the north and as night fell, the bump turned into a steep wind chop. For the last 150 NM up the Gulf of Suez, aware that the Gulf of Suez is only approximately 25 NM wide, we sailed up wind against the current in an uphill battle. The sides of the Gulf are lined with oil rigs that light up the night sky, Sinai Peninsula to our starboard and the coast of Egypt to our port. The last line of the log entry that was written at Port Tewfik, Suez states, “ROUGH PASSAGE Sat 10pm-Sun 8am. I hate gulfs :( 29 degrees 56.8N, 32 degrees 34.3 E”. Whats interesting to note is before that line, the previous log entry was more than 24 hours earlier.
The passage was too rough to make log entries and the many obstacles along the shores kept us busy at the helm. Gulf waters behave in a unique way, different from oceans or the waters of the Red Sea. The current of the Gulf of Suez was opposing the north winds, so the chop was much steeper than expected. Also, the chop is close together, given that the waterway is so narrow. Most of the gulf passages that we experienced on Sea Child were quite noteworthy, with the exception being the Gulf of Aden. On our GOA passage, we were with the winds and the currents, bringing different challenges but a more smoother ride than the Gulf of Suez. We had sailed 1,653 NM up the Red Sea from Bab-el-Mandeb, and a total of 5,035 NM from Langkawi, Malaysia. Once in Suez, we would begin to plan our final stop of this leg in Marmaris, Turkey.
Planning for the canal transit |
Port Suez Yacht Club and side trip to Cairo
Approaching Port Tewfik and Suez City |
Mosque at Suez |
Once we arrived at Suez Yacht Club, we hired an agent to assist with our Suez Canal passage, Captain Heebee. He was a kind, portly man who coordinated the measurement for our transit (which ended up costing us $320 USD) and he also arranged for the two of us to visit Cairo, as well as Giza and the Great Pyramids. This was truly a fantastic experience. We went to Cairo on a holiday of sorts (25 April), where Egypt celebrates the day that Israel left the Sinai Peninsula. The streets in Cairo were empty, and as we parked at the Cairo Museum, we noticed the large Egyptian Army with tanks and soldiers with rifles standing guard just off the entrance to the Museum. We were told that a possible demonstration would happen after the announcement in Egypt that the Tirin Islands of Egypt in the Red Sea had just been handed over to Saudi Arabia. Given that tourism was also down, the Cairo Museum and the great pyramids of Giza were mostly empty. The drive to Cairo from Suez City was long, the desert heat almost unbearable.
King Tut treasure at Cairo Museum |
Giza side trip |
While we were in Cairo, our friends on Taimada and Laragh had arrived at the Suez Yacht Club. The three of us had not been together since back in Uligan, Maldives! Our friends on Cool Running II also arrived and we all waited for our turn to transit the canal. We were all cleared out of Egypt as our transit of the Suez Canal was to take place on the 28th of April. This date was cancelled and according to Captain Heebee, a USA warship was coming through the canal which always stops small vessels from transiting at the same time. The very next day, 29th April, a large super freighter "MSC FABIOLA" ran aground inside the canal, shutting down the whole canal for two days. Our AIS looked like a green zipper, as all the large vessels behind the FABIOLA had to tie up in the canal itself, waiting for the FABIOLA to be moved.
The line of AIS ships stuck in the Suez Canal due to the MSC FABIOLA grounding |
And to make the wait more unbearable, we were following the weather north of Port Said, Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. We were all eager to get ahead of some severe weather that was forecast to hit this sailing area within a few days time. Yet we were trapped in Suez, without the ability to leave the marina for any reason since we were cleared out of Egypt. We eventually had Mr. Karkar, a kind marina worker at Suez Yacht Club, order us pizza delivery so we could have a little gathering of friends aboard Sea Child just prior to our final departure. Our friend, Sandra on Cool Running II, brought her delicious vegan cake to share as well.
Eastern Mediterranean Weather Outlook, 1 May 2016 |
Reunion of friends, from left: Dave & Katrina from Laragh, Eric, Hans & Ute from Taimada, Sandra and Georg from CoolRunning II |
Mr. Said at Suez Yacht Club |
Suez Canal Transit
Laragh and CoolRunning II at Suez Canal |
Early the next morning and without warning, Captain Heebee and four Suez Canal pilots came knocking on our hulls. The sun had not yet risen, and we were told that if we hurried, we could transit the Suez Canal all the way through to Port Said (120 NM north of Suez Yacht Club). We would have to change pilots at Ismailia, on the shores of Lake Al-Timsah (Bitter Lakes) in northeast Egypt. (It's interesting to note that back in the times the pharaohs, Lake Al-Timsah actually connected to the Gulf of Suez long before the construction of the Suez Canal.) We were thrilled to hear this, because this way we would be ahead of the bad weather that was coming into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. It was time to bid a very fond farewell to the Red Sea, to Egypt, to the land of pharaohs and pyramids and antiquities.
MSC FABIOLA damage in the Suez Canal |
Mosque in Suez Canal |
Transiting the Suez Canal was amazing, wait and all. The canal itself was opened back in 1869, and expanded in 2015. With the expansion, 97 vessels can transit the canal in one day with ships sailing in both directions. The "New Suez Canal" as it was called after the expansion, was built to allow vessels to sail between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea without going around the tip of South Africa (the Suez Canal cut approximately 3,700 NM off the journey). The canal was closed for 8 years during the turbulent Middle East conflict between Egypt and Israel, 1967-1975.
Our early pre-dawn departure was calm and flat. The four vessels (Sea Child, Laragh, Taimada and CoolRunning II) were in a line, taking pictures of each other as the sun rose over the Sinai Peninsula to our starboard. The scenery around us was stunning in the early morning light. The sands on either side of the canal were neatly groomed with several mosques, spaced a few kilometers apart, were visible along the entire passage. At the spot of the large container grounding, large mounds of sand gave evidence to the weight of the vessel and the speed with which it hit the embankment. We had a favorable current running with us, and at times, Sea Child was moving along the canal at 11 knots!
Suez Canal Pilot |
We waited and waited for the second pilot, and finally, after a couple of hours, we called Captain Heebee and found out that the commodore of the Ismailia Yacht Club, who had connections with the canal authorities, had called off the pilots until the next day. According to our agent, the commodore did not want to see four boats go by without collecting as much money as possible. He demanded we tie up at the sea wall of the yacht club (for a fee, of course) and spend the night. There was only one restaurant that we were allowed to order from, again at Ismailia Yacht Club, because we had already cleared out of country. We had no other options: It is forbidden to anchor in Lake Al-Timsah and the pilots could only meet us at the Ismailia Yacht Club. The good news is we all got together again for takeout one more night on Sea Child.
Lake Al-Timsah, Suez Canal |
Mubarak Peace Bridge, Suez Canal |
The next morning, after we all paid up, sure enough four new pilots came down to the boats. This time, we were prepared for the “baksheesh” by packing a gift bag for the pilot in advance. We gave him an old t-shirt, some grain bars, a pack of cigarettes, and a white envelope with cash ($20USD) neatly packaged in a proper gift bag. The second half of the Suez Canal Transit was equally impressive, with several large super freighters and tankers passing by our starboard as they headed south into the Red Sea. We even saw one of the largest superyachts we had ever seen pass us by, noting their hailing port as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We passed under the impressive Mubarak Peace Bridge, a 2.4 mile long and 210 feet high bridge that was built in cooperation with Japan and opened in 2001. And the tiny waves off our bow gave us notice of several more freighters and tankers that were entering the canal hundreds of yards away. We were both in awe of such an incredible waterway ~ the Suez Canal ~ and were thankful to have had the opportunity to transit our second great canal of the world. (The first was the Panama Canal in 2009).
Ships entering Suez Canal from Eastern Mediterranean Sea |
Trouble at Port Said
Yet trouble was still ahead of us, for at 1030 in Port Said, the pilot boat that came along side Sea Child also demanded “baksheesh”. We told the pilot boat that we already gave a gift to the pilot, but they were not going away unless we gave something to them as well. They even threatened to ram Sea Child with their pilot boat if we did not pay up! We ran to grab some cigarette packs and threw them at the pilot boat who turned away without harming Sea Child. We did not hear if the other boats were also harassed by their pilot boat drivers. While the canal transit itself was an amazing experience, the pilot boat “baksheesh” and the Ismail Yacht Club hold-up somewhat tarnished what could have been an amazing experience. Had we been better prepared for the “baksheesh” of Egypt, we would have enjoyed the experience more (see notes, below). However, we were finally able to set sail for Marmaris, Turkey, 462 NM North.
Remember that weather we were trying to avoid? Luck would not be on our side and we all got smacked hard by the strong westerly gale on our sail north.
To be continued in our next entry, “The Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Turkey and the Attempted Coup”
My recommendations if you plan to visit Egypt:
1). Bring small white envelopes with you along with several ($100 or more) $1 bill (USD). Place bills in envelopes and hand out as “gifts” for people who deserve it. Do not open your wallet in public, do not use an ATM around your guide/agent, use caution when handling your cash.
2). Make “gifts” ahead of your Suez Canal transit for the pilots. You will have two pilots on board, one from Suez Yacht Club to Ismailia Yacht Club and one from the Ismailia to Port Said. Each pilot will ask for a gift. We put t-shirts or food items and cigarettes in each “gift”, along with a white envelope of cash.
3). Plan to possibly be harassed by the pilot boat drivers in Port Said, who pick up your last pilot. We were asked for a “gift” or “baksheesh” by the pilot boat drivers. I was not prepared for this as we had already given our “gift” to the pilot. They became hostile to me and threatened to ram Sea Child if they did not get their “baksheesh”. I ran downstairs and grabbed some extra packs of cigarettes to throw at them.
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