Sailing and arrival to Egypt

32. 22nd - 25th May 2009

After a night in a friendly and pretty hotel in historic Girrne, Turkish Cyprus, we returned to Deep Blue to prepare her for a 50 hour voyage to Egypt. We got away at midday Friday 22nd May after finally completing the Greek paperwork and provisioning. Water in particular was a problem as all taps in the harbour were private but we did manage to find an abandoned hose that worked on the boat next but one to us and used it under the cover of darkness!

This leg is the one we have been most concerned about as we have no idea what will happen when we get to the other end. We have managed to make telephone contact with an agent - we have been advised we have to have one to help us enter Egypt - but he was not very friendly and gave us no idea of processes or costs involved. Also as advised, we have lots of smiles, three bottles of whiskey, 5 packs Marlborough cigarettes and 100$US in small denominations available for back shish but realise we have no cash available to pay for the pilot or agent. Oh well, something will be worked out!

Egypt has always been a dream visit for me and at long last we are on our way. We have managed to sail over 50% of the way and made better time than expected so arrived in Egyptian waters in the dark. The water is very shallow 50 miles out so we dropped a n anchor and waited for morning. During the crossing we saw practically no other boats - just four in 50 hours. One of these made radio contact to inform us that he was towing and we realised he was towing a fish ranch. We have only just learnt about these and they are truly scary inventions. A spotter plane looks for shoals of (mainly endangered blue fin) tuna fish which are then carolled, put in pens which are towed behind a tug for months until the fish are big enough to eat. Tuna will not bred in captivity and commit suicide in stationary pens so this is the only way that this precious cargo of tuna can be safely kept. Of course this means that these fish will not bred and so are the end of the line. They need feeding and so all the small fish and plankton that previously was left in the sea is now vacuumed up and made into pellets (5 tonnes required for 1 tonne of fish) perhaps explaining why we saw NO wildlife at all on our sail over this huge expanse of sea. No more tuna for me unless I buy it from a small time fisherman!

We are now just three nautical miles from where the pilot comes on board to direct us to the Yacht Club. There is just one other boat waiting to enter the Suez Canal - interestingly carrying arms. A sign of the times as this was one of the busiest routes in the world a year ago., though there are 14 anchored ships on our starboard side. This area is dotted with oil platforms, towers and buoys - not all marked at night or on the chart. We are both feeling jaded after two nights at sea and apprehensive about the next two hours.

LATER
Getting the pilot on board was exciting to say the least. The pilot boat is much bigger than us and he wanted us to motor as fast as we could alongside him so he could jump down onto our deck. He was not a young man, dressed in his shirt and tie - no boat shoes - and I was pretty impressed when he made it. I was helming and my heart was beating hard - I had been very concerned about Deep Blue. No sooner was he on board than he started to negotiate baksheesh for him and his driver with Andy. When I heard Andy had agreed on $50US I questioned our pilot (I had been down below making him tea) what we were paying for and he told us all harbour dues. I was very reluctant about giving him half of our US$ but handed them over anyway. Later we found he had lied to us of course. However, despite this and the two packets of cigarettes and bottle of coke for the driver it was a pleasant experience as our pilot spoke good English and wanted to be our friend and soon we were in the Suez Canal approaching the “Yacht Club”.

Mezene and his side-kick was waiting for us on the quay and we berthed stern-to in the centre. There were only two other yachts in the small harbour - a catamaran and a very beaten up steel 55 foot yacht. The Cat had four young, miss matched non-sailors on board. Three were hitch-hikers with dreadlocks and the owner/skipper was a slightly manic Aussie who had bought the cat in Turkey to sell back home. I hope they make it especially as we later learnt that their engines failed half way up the canal. The steel yacht had an even more interesting story. It had been raided by swarms of police 6 months earlier and was found to be full of Pakistan “terrorists”.

Mezene is a strong man. Pocked skin, short cropped hair and a big smile. We shared a cup of tea and cake (actually he ate all the cake - the last of my home made) while we filled in forms and he told us proudly about his children. His handsome, young side-kick stayed on the shore - sleek hair and crisp shirt.

While waiting to be cleared by our agent we took in our surroundings. Once a yacht club but now just a holding place for yachts waiting to navigate the Suez there is no protection from the wakes of boats plying the Canal. The worst offenders are the small boats - especially the tugs and pilot boats going full throttle between customers. The moored yachts bucked and twisted on their lines in a very scary manor. Also the water itself was basically a sewage - it stinks and is also full of oil. How anything lives in the water I do not know but mussels and crabs abound. Poor Deep Blue - so pretty and polished before arrival is now black already. We decided we needed to stay with her for an extra day just to ensure she was safe and secure from the backwash. Eventually we pulled her well away from the quay with her anchor, secured her with 6 separate lines plus a line to a large mooring bouy and use the dinghy to get ashore.

Our day in Port Said turned out well. Everyone is so friendly and so far we have not had one bad experience (we are even hopeful we may get our $50US back from the pilot). We are very small beer for the agent here but they are treating us like we have a super-yacht. Their offices are incredibly plush - all inlaid marble, troupe-xxxxx and decorated glass. We have negotiated a fixed price which we can live with though the whole experience of bringing the boat to Egypt has been very expensive it has not been unpleasant. I think smiling a lot and being open has helped.
So once DB was tied up to Andys satisfaction we took the free ferry across the Suez into Port Said itself. Of course we stand out as this is not a tourist town. Most women are dressed in long skirts, long sleeved tops and head scarves. Some are in full burka though this is a small minority. I am well covered up - no kness or sholders showing but dressed very differently and of course the ed hair doesn’t help me to blend in. Andy looks like Crocodile Dundee and would only blend in in the Aussie outback. Many people shout out “Welcome to Port Said”, a few come to talk to us. All smile.

A French / Swiss lady stopped us in the street. She was a reporter and did a daily 26 minute travel-log radio spot and would like to interview us about our Egyptian experience so we went to a café for a beer and spoke into her microphone.

We went looking for food and as we could not find any resturants Andy asked a young man who was standing outside a clothes shop. Suddenly we had two new best friends. Ahmed, training to be a Lawyer and Mostafa an employee of a resturant to which they were taking us. They turned out to be genuinely nice young men. The resturant was an Arabic fast food chain but the food was acceptable and the two boys chatted to us as we ate before walking us back to our agents office. They are very keen to stay in touch and we are very happy to do so.

The time was now 9pm and the agency office had opened at 7.30 pm for their “afternoon”. We were introduced to the owner of this obviously highly successful business with lavish offices. He told us that his main business is helping super-yachts up the canal. He was very sympathetic about our experience with the pilot and told us to use his travel agency free of charge to plan our trip into Egypt.