Position 28:09.788N 33:39.60E

Saturday 27^th October 2012 – Sheik Riyah

A lovely slow sail with the rest of the fleet to the next anchorage, arriving mid afternoon.

It is very pretty here although ashore it is deserted with the exception of a few military in camouflage gear who have already made it clear that we are not allowed to step foot on land – aghh !

Walter from ‘Diamond Days’ went to chat with a couple of people on the shore and, whilst they made sure he stayed in his dinghy, they were very friendly and helpful and offered to bring shopping from the nearby village.

So Diamond Days became our shopping agent, taking lists and delivering our orders for fresh bread, fruit and vegetables – what stars !

There are reefs all around us here so we have kept ourselves occupied snorkelling the reefs and diving to clean the barnacles off our hull.

We have also enjoyed a few beers and sundowners with other ralliers, yesterday I even baked a cake to share !

The military became a bit unsettled today when the rally met up close to the beach for snorkelling ‘Club’ – maybe they thought we were going to make a group break out for shore !

They launched their motor boat and proceeded to visit all the yachts to tell us to stay on board.

We are not allowed to take photos of the shore, including the camel which fetches water supplies from the well next to the only two palm trees.

I suppose the camel is a military vehicle and obviously classified information, I sneaked a photo anyway.

Some of the coral on the reefs,

My favourite are the anemones, waving in the current, with the clown fish feeding off them.

I want this beautiful giant clam shell for my coffee table – but I could never bring myself to destroy any of this natural beauty.

Tomorrow we leave early for our final anchorage before Hurghada, we have been informed that we are only permitted to stop at the designated anchorages that we have been given, until we obtain our cruising permits in Hurghada.

It seems that the paperwork and requirements for checking in and cruising Egyptian waters is a continually changing process – it is not clear to us if this is military led due to the volatile situation in the Middle East or if it is the Egyptian Authorities and their agents.

Hey – enjoy the journey I guess !