21.21.031 N 37.00.575 E
Check this place out on Google Earth! We feel like we
are on the moon!
We are over half way now up the Red Sea.
In Suakin we were very well looked after by Mohammed,
the agent. He did all the paperwork, got us diesel, water, local
currency and laundry and took us on a trip to the local museum, the market,
the "Shopping Mall" and a walk around old Suakin. This was a thriving community
on a small island about a hundred years ago and is now totally in ruins, it has
an interesting history.
There was a weather window on the 26th, so we left. The
other two boats decided to go straight for Port Galib in Egypt, but we decided
that we wanted to see more of Sudan and stopped at various anchorages. The first
one was Marsa Ata; we explored the mangroves in the dinghy and saw many
flamingoes. We had a great sail in the afternoon and this took us to the
second anchorage: Marsa Fijab, this was further inland and more
protected. Several species of birds on the small islands, including Osprey,
Herons, Egrets, etc. There also was a big truck stuck on the reef. Onshore we
saw several spider conch middens. Obviously popular with the locals. The next
anchorage was off a reef with sandy islands, again with many birds. We are now
in Marsa Khor Shinab. We arrived with 30 kts of wind accross the decks, but the
water is quiet deep and there is plenty of space. We went a long way in to more
shallow water. Fortunately the anchor held well in mud. We had a pretty restless
night with the wind dropping to zero and then within minutes picking up again to
25 kts, but from the opposite direction. We reset the anchor and again it held
well. The next day we went in the dinghy ashore to rescue our anchor buoy with
parted company during the night. It was wet ride in the strong winds. The
entertainment for the day was an Indo-Pacific Hump-Backed dolphin swimming
around in the bay and a lone camel on the shore. During last night the winds
dropped and we managed to sleep well. This morning the wind was a bit less so we
went ashore in the dinghy to walk up Quoin Hill, which gave us
fabulous views. The wind has picked up again as forecast, so we'll stay put and
will look at leaving tomorrow or the next day depending on the
wind.
