Delivery of Bavaria 46 from Oman to Turkey MUSCAT – RED SEA – SUEZ CANAL – FINIKE
We departed from Muscat on February 17 with Francesco.
Our arrival was delayed by bureaucratic problems with immigration and clearance. There were different interpretations of the rules by the police, immigration and port authorities.
Bavaria 46 left at 11:45 pm with the sun and wind on our normal track.
Claudio tried to sail the boat with the engine at first, but soon he had to change towards the northeast and put up sails.
We tried to earn something on our way to the East.
This first night was rainy – the first and the last rain during the entire trip. We had to alternate between engine and sails, changing progressively our track.
During the following three days, we alternated between sails and engine, inclining towards the engine more frequently than not.
Our speed in both situations was not overly high, except around 18 hours of sailing down 26/28 knots of wind, pulling on our genoa, taking us up to 11 knots sometimes!
In all of the Arabic Sea, we found more or less the same conditions of wind, which was 10 to 25 knots at times, and sea, which had no big waves, arriving at their max of only 2.5 meters.
Upon arriving in Yemeni waters, we maintained an average of 40-45 miles from the coast, trying to avoid eventual pirate attacks. I think that the distance was good enough to avoid Somali and Yemeni pirates.
BAB EL MANDEB STRAIT
Sailing 25 miles offshore the Yemeni coast, we were approached and called by a Yemeni warship, which warned us that we were sailing in a dangerous area.
Therefore, we changed our track towards the Eritrean coast.
MASSAWA
We stopped in Massawa, arriving at 3 pm on March 1st and tried to obtain gas for cooking. Even though we had a large bottle on board, it lasted only 12 days after our departure.
It was clear that it wasn’t well-filled in Muscat.
Afterwards, the port authority gave us permits to go to the shore, and only offered us little tips and no fees for 48 hours. That night, we slept at the tug’s pier; it was a terrible experience because of hundreds of mosquitoes!
TOWARDS EGYPT
We restarted from Massawa with a good 18 knots of wind, tracking NW, and sailed with that wind until the evening.
Then, we had to use the engine as the wind died down. Upon arriving in front of the Sudan coast, we even found waves and wind on our nose, making our navigation more difficult for several hours.
All of our navigation until Port Ghalib in Egypt, was done with a frequent alternation of engine and sails.
PORT GHALIB
We arrived at 9 pm and stayed first at the immigration pier.
At midnight, they called us for registration, and finally, we were free to circulate in Egypt.
Furthermore, we had to buy meals and diesel to continue our journey.
In reality, we stayed there for three nights, partially due to bad weather.
We all spent a few little good moments together!
SAFAGA
Then, we tried to make a stop in Safaga, looking for cheaper diesel (in Port Ghalib it was 1.19 USD/litre). However, we had no luck. The military authority of the Egyptian navy base in this gulf forbade us from doing so because we dropped the anchor before calling by radio.
However, we had bought some jerry cans of diesel in Port Ghalib at the beginning of our trip, just to be sure!
EL TOR BAY
On other occasions, we experienced strong wind and waves on our nose, and we were fortunate to have this bay on the starboard side just when our speed with the engine was reduced to 1.5 knots at 1900 RPM! Therefore, we dropped the anchor there, in this fishermen’s bay.
A few hours later, Daniel on his ‘Pirolo’ arrived, finally finding protection from this difficult weather!
This side of South Sinai also has a hotel/resort a kite-surf base and a school. We went onshore, and the hotel owner gave us help and information about the town and invited us to use the Wi-Fi in the salon at the hotel. He was another very kind guy!
In town, we could buy meals and relax, visiting an authentic corner of ‘real’ Egypt. We met many kind people who were very helpful for anything.
This site was not altered by mass tourism, and also restaurants, cafes, and all types of meals and services were so cheap!
Our stop in this place was lucky because we had to stay there for four nights waiting for better weather.
On the second night, we tried to leave at noon, thinking that the weather was improving, but I had to come back, and at 7 am, we were once again on our anchor in El Tor.
SUEZ
We arrived during a cold enough night, with a strong wind and waves on the bow. We went to drop the anchor first on the east side of Port Ibrahim.
The next day, we went to the Marina of Port Sufik, and we met our shipping agent, ready to manage our entry into the canal, contact pilots and provide us with diesel.
Altogether, we stayed there for two nights, and we took advantage of that opportunity to buy some meals in the town and get access to the internet in cafes since there was no Wi-Fi in the marina.
In total, we spent three nights waiting for clearance and diesel. We prepared ‘mandatory tips’ for pilots, and started the first part (40 miles) of the canal, arriving in Ismailia at 6 pm.
The next day, we started again with another pilot, and at 6 pm, we were finally in the Mediterranean.
CYPRUS
Very early in the night, after the lightening corridor of the exit from the Suez Canal, we realized that it was not possible to keep the bow directly facing Finike.
Daniel and his ‘Pirolo’ were still close to us, and together we decided to reach S. Raphael Marina in Limassol.
FINIKE
Later, during the night, we got good wind that was expecting us after Paphos, on the east side of Cyprus.
So, at that moment, our sailing was easier, even though the temperature during the first night was freezing!
Finally, we reached our destination without issues, and our shipping agent was already waiting for us on the pier.
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