15.57N 41.06E
JENNY
Alan Franklin/ Lynne Gane
Thu 5 Mar 2009 09:41
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Hello Everybody
I thought it was time for a Blog.
Well Djibouti turned out pretty much as expected in
the town and at the dockside it was Africa at it's worse.The face of poverty was
much the same as I had experienced 40yrs ago in West Africa the smell of
humanity and of the earth was pretty much the same to and this is their winter
with temperatures of around 35C/40C in the summer its 50C.
While we were In Djibouti we had to prepare the
boat for the punishing journey up the Red Sea and make sure that all the
equipment rigging ,engine watermaker fuel,water is all ok.its punishing
because the wind gets up to 40knts on the nose and the seas are short and
high,its means that you cannot sail straight into it( which is the direction we
need to go) and with the engine going at the revs that we would normally use for
a 6knt speed we will only be doing 2.5 t0 3knts.It is very uncomfortable and the
boat takes a hammering from both wind and waves plus its covered in salt and
sand.
We did one trip out to the desert and found it
beautiful in some respects and quite barren in others.This was one of Jenny's"
Eco" type trips and I was warned several days before that the facilities were
basic and the terrain was rough so brace my back.
Well she understated my understanding of basic and
rough,the driver,who was a very good driver,spoke no English the vehicle had
seen far better days,the air con just about worked most of the time,the
windscreen moved with the bumps and one of the side windscreens fell down never
to rise again.We spent most of the time going cross country over very rough
terrain.
Our eating arrangements en-route were the local
village cafe,all that was missing was the cockroach walking across the table and
the sleeping arrangements at the "Eco Lodge" were on par with our tree house in
Tanna.
It consisted of a metal hoop covered by straw mats
(ours had ventilation with a large hole in the side ) with two camp beds both
with string springs covered by a mossie net no lights torch only.Toilets only no
running water.
We were however in a stone walled corral to keep
away the wolves and other animals un specified.
Having said all that it did give us a wider view of
the country and we did visit the volcanic beds and the salt lake which wading in
did my toe (the one without the nail) the world of good.Several people on the
rally have since had a very serious food poisoning bout lasting several days and
in some cases requiring anti biotic.
The night before we left out boat was boarded while
we all slept and a number of items were stolen,they can be replaced but the
pictures in our cameras cannot.It took 4 hours the following day and a visit to
3 police stations before we could get a police statement.At one station in the
port I saw a policeman wearing Ipod headphones all clean and new looking but by
the time I got to where I saw him he had disappeared.
When you compare it with Indonesia where the people
are equally poor its such a shame and I am sure that it is not the same all over
so don't let it put you of Africa just Djibouti.
Well so far we are 3 days into our passage to Suez
and a return to the western world.The first 24hrs was exactly as we expected
25knts on the nose and rough seas.We were getting knocked about so much that we
put into an anchorage for the night to get some shelter in fact the waves were
just stopping us dead at times.For the past 48hrs we have been able to sail in
flat seas and SE winds (we are going North) according to the weather maps that
is due to last for the next 3/4 days before they go round to the NW and increase
so we will be banging into rough seas again but at least closer to our
destination of Port Ghalib which is currently 660nm (5 days sailing if the
weather holds) and then on to Suez for the 8th April transit.
We thought that we were out of danger from pirate
attacks but this morning we received a distress call from a merchant ship some
20 nm behind us saying that they were surrounded by 6or 7 vessels containing
heavily armed men.One of our group phoned the pirate protection force in the UK
and they responded by contacting the ship.However the pirates monitor the
distress hailing channel and must have heard the coalition forces on the radio
because they disperced.
Its a little worry that they were only 20 nm from
us and it would not have taken them an hour to reach our position,we still have
some 3 days sailing before we are free of these dangers needless to say we are
keeping a good look out.
Well that,s it for now.Will send another in about 7
days.
All aboard Jenny
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