Central Mediterranean
Republic of Tunisia
Gulf of Hammamet
Monastir
Marina Cape Monastir +21673462305
SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the jetty and two permanent bow moorings.
TD 243.000 (€ 162.-) per month.
Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:
Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2002 Map
2002 Map
Crossing the Strait of Sicilia and logging the sailed distance of about 160 nm between Sicily and Tunisia in over 2 days (an average daily run of about 75 nm) and learning that our ketch SY “Kamu II” could keep herself on a straight course without helmsman or autopilot for hours if the sails were properly trimmed.
Clearing polite and cooperative Tunisian customs and immigration, both based inside the marina, which worked like a charm: the immigration officer did not ask for any clearance paper from the last port and gave both of us, carrying German books, a tourist visa on arrival, free of charge, valid for three months, and the customs officer stepped onto our ship in his black dress regimentals wearing boots (thus without him loosing face) plus a pair of transparent shower caps over them to protect our new teak deck (thus without causing us to loose face) and helped us to fill in some nonsensical inventory lists.
Wintering in sunny Tunisia and having a regular Sunday afternoon BBQ with a group of wintering yotties from many different countries, especially with Karin and Robert (SY “Huibuh”) from Germany, Angelika and Gerd (SY “Ariane”) from Germany, Joseph and Elfi (SY “Papillion”) from Germany, June (SY “Bella Breeze”) from the UK, Therese and Toni (SY “Nelea”) from Switzerland, Pasquale and Jean-Luc (SY “Ali Baba”) from France, the young Germans Britta and Thorsten (SY “Little Albatross”) from London, Baerbel and Michael (SY “Beluga”) from Germany, Glenda and Derek (SY “Scotty”) from Australia, Regina and Jaap (SY “Gandalf) from the Netherlands, Roberta and Fabio (SY “Han Mat”) from Italy, Birgit and Karl-Heinz (SY “Isis”) from Germany/Switzerland, Joy and Chris (SY “Liahona”) from England, Anna and Richard with his Contest 46 from Australia/UK, Hanna and Jochen (SY “Lycka”) from Germany, Doris and Wilfried (SY “Panta Rhei”) from Germany, Maggie and Tony (SY “Ganymede”) from the UK, Sara and Doug (SY “Mindemoya”) from the USA, Stella and Andy (SY “Pebbles”) from the UK and Patricia and Jean-Claude (SY “Tololea”) from France.
Konni: Reimbursing Matt’s accrued bonus air miles from the Qualiflyer Travelclub and flying with Swiss International Air Lines from Tunis (Tunis Carthage International Airport) via Zurich to Berlin (Berlin-Tegel Airport) and back, visiting her family in Germany, buying a new 16 nm FURUNO 1620 yacht radar (with a bulky radome) for our ship SY “Kamu II” in transit and convincing the Tunisian customs officers at Tunis airport in tough and hours-long negotiations that the radar’s intended use was not to overthrough the government of Tunisia.
Taking a Tunisian louage (long-distance minibus taxi) from Monastir to Douz (a major palm oasis and a large producer of diglat noor dates) and visiting the International Festival of the Sahara, a four-day celebration of traditional desert culture which features traditional music and dancing, poetry readings, camel wrestling, and racing of horses and salugis (a type of dog, native to the North African desert) and watching the international dromedary marathon in which even camels from Germany (“deutsche Kamele”), amongst others, participated.
Exploring the Tunisian Sahara (the Grand Erg Oriental) S of Zaafrane (the gateway to the Sahara) in central Tunisia on the back of two dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius) for two days at a lurching 7 km/h thus trekking at “camel speed” over the endless dunes of the Sahara through the scorching sun by day, having dinner around an open fire (made from camel dung) at night and spending the freezing night in basic Bedouin tents under goat-hair blankets.
Matt: Hiring a chauffeur-driven Toyota 4x4 Land Cruiser 80 series for US$ 50.- per day, crossing the Chott el-Djerid (a large endorheic salt lake and the largest salt pan of the Sahara with a surface area of over 7,000 sqkm, as well as being a popular filming location, e.g. for “Star Wars”) and visiting the remote mountain oases of Chebika (the Castle of the Sun), Tamerza (with two waterfalls) and Mides (the Village of the Canon) near the border between Tunisia and Algeria.
Reflecting on the many learning opportunities that were subtly hidden in this year's total of about 1,000 nm and preparing the ship and ourselves for the goals of the oncoming cruising year 2003 CE: the Adriatic and Venice
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