Anchoring off a deserted sandy beach, measuring an air temperature of 45°C and a water temperature of 38°C and "game-viewing" a herd of shaggy semi-wild camels take a refreshing bath in the Red Sea, submerged up to their bellies.
Being sandblasted, during the day, by a heavy sand storm aka haboob from the nearby desert and being almost electrocuted, twelve hours later, at night, by a violent electrical storm with 50-knot gusts and heavy downpours.
Applying our tried and tested "active thunderstorm strategy": (i) start the engine, (ii) take up the anchor and/or (iii) put down the sails, (iv) pinpoint the location of the descending lightnings and (v) run away as fast as the engine can - each and every single cable of distance between the lightnings and the ship is important and minimises the probability of an actual strike.
Celebrating the survival of the ship's batteries and electronics with our last bottle of Jordanian red wine and Konni's home-made sardine pâté: (i) mix bread crumbs, finely chopped onion and garlic, salty soya sauce, lemon juice, chillies and mustard, (ii) leave it for one
hour and bake bread during the wait, (iii) add one tin of
sardines, (iv) add some cheese, canned creme or mayonnaise to make it a pâté and (v) put it on the freshly
baked bread.
Baking crisp dark bread every second day, thinking this to be a necessity on a cruising sailing yacht, lived on by genetically unmodified Germans, and testing the easy recipe from of our friends Angelika & Gerd from SY "Ariane II": (i) mix rye flour, hand-warm seawater and instant yeast, dissolved in some of the water, (ii) make into a dough, (iii) leave the dough to rise for one hour, preferably under the bed cover, (iv) bake for about 50 min and (v) turn on the oompah music in order to scare away any hungry pirates.
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, south of the ruins of Old Suakin and east of El Kaff, at 5 m depth, on mud.
Click below for an interactive satellite view of our very protected anchorage: N 19° 06.53' E 037° 20.33'
Logging the sailed distance of about 60 nm between the Sanganeb Reef and Port Suakin in about 36 hours and beating into another strong haboob(Arabic: هَبوب habūb "blasting/drafting") on our approach to Port Suakin.
Clearing into the Sudan for a total of US$ 130.- (US$ 20.- port fees, US$ 10.- customs clearance, US$ 10.- for the sailing permit, 2 x US$ 30.- for the shore passes, US$ 30.- agent fees for agent Mohammed Abu).
Refuelling with 120 litres of diesel fuel (US$ 0.70 per litre) in our own jerry cans and 15 litres of petrol (US$ 1.- per litre), delivered to the dinghy by agent Mohammed Abu.
Laundering: US$ 0.33 per piece through agent Mohammed Abu and his local ladies (rock-washed and dried).
Walking through the streets (which looked like livened-up junkyards) and coral stone ruins of old Suakin (whose erstwhile wealth had come from trading slaves who were transported out of Suakin, and then put on ships which brought them up to the Ottoman empire) and the wooden shacks of new Suakin aka El Kaff.
Visiting Port Sudan by local minibus, checking for emails at a very fast internet café and restocking our supplies in the old souq near the port.
Feasting on excellent grilled fish at the local restaurant “Mistero of the Sea Foods” in Port Suakin (US$ 5.- per portion) and defending our meals on the tables against a clowder of fierce and hungry Sudanese cats.
Matt: Hitting a sandbank at full throttle when leaving Suakin harbour after having exactly (!) followed our own GPS track log and having completely forgotten about the third dimension of sea navigation - the tidal differences.
"Any soldier will tell you that going in and coming out on the same route is asking for trouble."
Climbing up the 258 steep stone steps (plus 10 even steeper wooden rungs of a shaky ladder) to the very top of the old 50-m high, 1906 CE Sanganeb Reef lighthouse aka manara(منارة), marvelling on the great views over the lagoons and chatting with the friendly Sudanese lighthouse keepers who very rarely have any guests.
“The dip of the light meant that the island itself was always left in darkness. A lighthouse is for others; powerless to illuminate the space closest to it.”
Scubadiving (DM Konni) and snorkelling (Matt) at leisure the lagoons in the vicinity of this spectacular reef anchorage, considered one of the best diving sites in the world, and identifying the light characteristics of the lighthouse (Fl.W.5s50m) which is one of a chain of stations established by the British on desert islands of the Red Sea to protect shipping between Europe and the Asian colonies.
Logging the sailed distance of about 110 nm between Khor Shinab and Marsa Fijab in about 36 hours.
Puzzling our way into a very protected anchorage in the last bay of Marsa Fijab where almost upon arriving we were visited by two dehydrated local fishermen who asked for potable water and gave us a few fish from their good catch of the day.
