Gulf of Aden
Sunnyhill
Sun 16 Jul 2006 06:45
Well we are now deep into the Gulf of Aden. 200 miles and 29 hours from
entering the Red Sea. Yesterday the winds eased down to a force 1 and it got
hot over night. It was so nice we even had a swim and a 'two for one' happy
hour. All the sea sickness gone and everybody is fine spirits. But at 0615
this morning it came back with a vengeance. We now have a force 7 and very
choppy seas. Making 7 knots though, but we have water everywhere. Nicks
cabin is the worst. He is either swimming or mopping it up. Coming through
the deck somewhere and raining down on his floor.
We have friends on another yacht named 'Takapuna' We call them the 'grandad'
yacht while we are the 'kindergarten' yacht.
They left Seychelles 5 days before us, but we have overtaking them already.
Not their fault. They carry about 1/3 of the fuel we do. They had to stop in
Sualla in Oman. They may even stop in Djibouti to get a full tank to run up
the Red Sea with. Not sure yet. Takapuna is a 110' modern sloop. We are
probably a bit faster in rough conditions too. They have just completed a
documentary following the spice trade routes.
The pirate situation is very good. It is too rough for them to board a
yacht. Also we can thank the Yanks for saving our bacon again. They and
other coalition Navy ships are scoring the area fighting the war on pirates
and ships carrying suspect supplies. So the old pirates will be lying low.
Talk to you in the Red Sea.