07 Jul - 09 Jul 2007 Marsa Umbeila

Central Red Sea

Africa

North Africa

Arab Republic of Egypt aka Most Democratic Touristic Republic of Pyramidistan

Marsa Umbeila

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, south of the beach, at 7 m depth, on sand.

Click below for an interactive satellite view of our anchorage:
N 21° 58.49' E 036° 51.86'

Logging the sailed distance of about 80 nm between our anchorage off Shab Abu Fendera and Marsa Umbeila in about 36 hours and entering the disputed territorial waters of the Sudan at latitude N 22°, a vast subcontinent which links the Arab world with Black Africa, and which belongs to both, having an area the size of Europe (without Russia), home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 3000 BCE.

DM Konni: Doing “navigation by inquiry” in order to hoist the right courtesy flag, thus swimming with mask, snorkel and fins (and bikini) from the ship over a distance of about 300 m to the shore and asking two amazed uniformed soldiers on that desolate beach whether that anchorage was still Egypt or already Sudan.

"Sometimes when I'm bored I drink some water just to shock my liver."

(Anonymous Beer Drinker)

Watching the birdlife in the wetland near our anchorage: crab plovers (Dromas ardeola), Eurasian spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) with their distinctive flat, spatulate bills and both all-white morphs and dark grey morphs of Western reef herons (Egretta gularis).

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2007 Map Konni & Matt

Click below and see more Konni & Matt Pictures

Photos 2007-05 Central Red Sea


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03 Jul - 05 Jul 2007 Abu Fendera

Northern Red Sea

Africa

North Africa

Arab Republic of Egypt aka Most Democratic Touristic Republic of Pyramidistan

Sinai Peninsula

Shab Abu Fendera

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, right behind the reef, at 17 m depth, on sand and coral.

Click below for an interactive satellite view of our safe reef anchorage:
N 22° 53.82' E 036° 17.67'

Logging the sailed distance of about 90 nm in 28 hours between our previous anchorage at Dolphin Reef and Shab Abu Fendera, entering the tropics at the Tropic of Cancer aka the Northern Tropic with a full moon (the most northerly circle of latitude on the earth at which the sun may appear directly overhead at its culmination: N 23° 27’ E 036° 13’) and passing the wet grave of SY “Solution” which had been owned by our close Israeli friends Ralph and Uzy before she went down and provided Uzy with the chance of a lifetime to spend 20 lonely hours afloat in a life raft before he was spotted and rescued by the British skipper of a Saudi-Arabian flagged super tanker.

DM Konni: Donning my scuba gear, checking if our anchor is properly digged in and playing with a couple of smiling common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) which frolic around the bow of our SY "Kamu II".

Spectating at big schools of flying fish aka exocoetidae, which explode from the surface of the sea in a ripple of silver (reminding us of chaff dispersing in the wind) and make powerful self-propelled leaps into air, where their long, wing-like fins enable gliding flight for considerable distances above the water's surface in order to evade predators. 

Being invited over for dinner by a bunch of friendly Slovenian scuba-dive tourists from the Egyptian dive boat MV “Vita” which anchors nearby.

DM Konni: Teaming up with the experienced Slovenian divers for an early morning dive and stumbling off Shab Abu Fendera upon the most beautiful coral reef of the Red Sea, so far.

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2007 Map Konni & Matt

Visit the Konni & Matt Online Albums and order high-res travel photos
Konni & Matt Travel Photos

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29 Jun - 02 Jul 2007 Fury Shoal

Northern Red Sea

Africa

North Africa

Arab Republic of Egypt aka Most Democratic Touristic Republic of Pyramidistan

Fury Shoal

Sataya aka Dolphin Reef

West Lagoon

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, inside the west lagoon, amongst scattered coral heads, at 9 m depth, on sand and coral.

Click below for an interactive satellite view of our anchorage:

N 24° 10.21' E 035° 40.52'

 

Click below for a summary of this year's travels

2007 Map Konni & Matt

Click below and see more Konni & Matt Pictures

Photos 2007-04 N Red Sea

Facing Egypt
© Konni & Matt

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24 Jun - 29 Jun 2007 Fury Shoal

Northern Red Sea

Africa

North Africa

Arab Republic of Egypt aka Most Democratic Touristic Republic of Pyramidistan

Fury Shoal

Abu Galawa

SY "Kamu II" tied up to two unoccupied dive-boat moorings, at 16 m and 21 m depth, on coral and sand.

Click below for an interactive satellite view of our secure "mooring":
N 24° 13.70' E 035° 34.61'

Noticing a very distinctive and constant pattern of periodic wind shifts at our very protected anchorage on the lee side of Abu Galawa: NW F4 from 08:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., NE F5 from 11:00 a.m. to 03:00 p.m., NW F4 from 03:00 p.m. to 06:00 p.m., calm from 06:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., W F4 from 10:00 p.m. to midnight, S F4 from midnight to 03:00 a.m. and calm from 03:00 a.m. to 08:00 a.m.

DM Konni: Running into several liveaboard dive-vessels aka safari boats with very friendly and welcoming Egyptian skippers and dive masters (MV “Ocean Bird II”, MV “Cassiopeia”, MV “Nevein Arafa”) in these remote outbacks and diving together with them and their paying clients the unspoilt reef and the wreck of the Chinese steam-powered tugboat MV “Tienstin” which lies in a depth of 18 m at the base of the reef's southern face, on the western end of Abu Galawa Kibeer.

Accommodating repeatedly a dozen of very naughty overnight guests, bridled terns (Onychoprion anaethetus) that perch on the mizzen spreaders of our SY "Kamu II" and produce an enormous pile of guano, which coats the deck and defies repeatedly Konni’s determined efforts to immediately remove the mess with brush and seawater.

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2007 Map Konni & Matt 

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23 Jun - 24 Jun 2007 Mahabis

Northern Red Sea

Africa

North Africa

Arab Republic of Egypt aka Most Democratic Touristic Republic of Pyramidistan

North of Ras Qulan

South of Greater Mahabis Island

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach, at 5 m depth, on soft sand.

Click below for an interactive satellite view of our anchorage:
N 24° 18.87' E 035° 23.09'

 



Chatting and bartering with curious local fishermen who approached us with their DIY-built skiff - a rugged wooden hull with a primitive lateen sail.

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2007 Map Konni & Matt

Click below and see more Konni & Matt Pictures
Photos 2007-04 Northern Red Sea


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21 Jun - 23 Jun 2007 Wadi Gimal

Northern Red Sea

Africa

North Africa

Arab Republic of Egypt aka Most Democratic Touristic Republic of Pyramidistan

East of Ras Baghdadi

West of Gezirat Wadi Gimal

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, in the lee of the island, at 5 m depth, on sand with isolated coral heads (very good holding in between the "bommies").

Click below for an interactive satellite view of our very safe anchorage:
N 24° 39.44' E 035° 09.60'

Matt: Trailing a few relatively short, c. 50 feet long, 200-pound test monofilament fishing lines with multiple lures behind our SY "Kamu II" (our favorites: cheap rubber squids or wobblers, often without a steel leader in front of the one-inch hooks), landing delicious dorados aka mahi-mahi, tunas and trevallies and varying our pescetarian diet at sea, but without unnecessarily "playing" a fish or killing a fish just for the fun of it.

DM Konni: Visiting every now and then the big-big, very mean-looking but rather friendly 2.50-m long residential giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) at its wall-cave home and avoiding coming too close to the most aggressive (but fortunately not the most dangerous) titan triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens) who guards its nest right under our SY "Kamu II's" keel and fearlessly confronts me, with its dorsal spine erected.

Click below for more blog posts about subsistence fishing
07 Jun - 15 Jul 2008 Chagos
15 Apr - 07 Jun 2008 Chagos
02 Feb - 12 Feb 2008 Bombay
16 Jul - 19 Jul 2007 Marsa Fijab
31 Aug - 02 Sep 2006 Marsa Thelemet

Click below for a summary of this year's travels

2007 Map Konni & Matt

Visit the Konni & Matt Online Albums and order high-res travel photos

Konni & Matt Travel Photos

Recommended dive knives - click below for your Amazon order from the United States:

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