20th April - 1st May 2006

Sudan

We cruised the Eritrean and south Sudan coast along with our friends on 'Skerryvore'. The sea and wind conditions were more difficult outside the reef systems, so we opted for the inshore route towards Suakin, called the Shubruk Channel. We spent some wonderful days at anchor at Long Island alongside Skerryvore.

I took my first look at the underwater life on the Red Sea reefs there. Although the water clarity was not perfect, the variety and abundance of marine life was outstanding, rivalling the Great Barrier Reef and superior to the Maldives. I saw turtles; soft corals teeming with tiny, colourful fish; clams; eels; nudibrancs; coral trout and schools of pinocchio fish.

Pink flamingoes and stilt-legged sandpipers graced the shallow lagoon ashore, and we sat and chatted in bath-warm water at the edge of the beach. It was a deeply relaxing place.

We had some good sailing days along the Sudan coast, and were evenly paced with our friends on Skerryvore so were able to take a few good pics of each other's yachts romping along in the fresh breezes.

At the end of the Shubruk channel there were some tricky and narrow passages which required me to stand up on the boom looking down through the water with polaroid glasses on, yelling back directions to Jo on the helm, to guide the boat safely past coral bomboras at low speed.

At length, we caught up to Skerryvore in the first marsa on the Red Sea (at Sheik Ibrahim) and attempted to play Aussie Monopoly under the influence of some very dodgey Australian Boronia wine (which Kit pronounced to be cooking wine). I even attempted to leave the unfinished bottle on his boat, but was recalled the next morning to collect the dregs.

I was curious to meet the local inhabitants and motored over in the dinghy to visit some very poor Sudanese living under plastic tarps held up by bits of driftwood. One old man intercepted me with a troubled leg, so I towed him back to Weatherly to administer some first aid.

Not knowing what was wrong with his leg, or able to understand each other, I put some bruise ointment (paw-paw extract) on it and gave him the rest of the tub to keep. I motioned to apply the cream when the sun was 'here' and again 'here' at low angles of the sun (morning and evening) bandaging it up afterwards. I have no idea if it would fix his ailment, but perhaps it might have a positive psychological effect.

'Dr Steve' decided not to check in to the country at Suakin or Port Sudan, due to our lack of U.S. dollars which were needed by the authorities, and the relatively high cost of fuel there. So kept sailing on, sometimes outside the reefs for overnight passages, and occasionally along an inshore route out of the choppy seas, tacking back and forth against the wind.

We entered a very deep and wide marsa called Khor Shinab, which stretched inland for about 3 miles. It was almost intersected in two by a ridge of low, rocky mountains, and then abruptly ended at the foot of a steep rubbly peak called Quoin Hill, which I was keen to scale.

It had reddish rock and a great view over barren, flat nothingness. Salt crusted earth marked where the tide had risen a long while ago, and 2 or 3 stunted mangrove bushes sat alone in the shallow water. Soft morning sunrays on Quoin Hill bade us a warm farewell from this stunning anchorage.

I had a great feeling in my heart that I was finally getting to experience the cruising life I had envisioned doing throughout many years of setbacks, maintenance and I.T. work saving up for this !

So, in a buoyant mood, I waved back at a family who were camped (on holidays) in tents at the mouth of the Khor, set the mainsail and adjusted the windvane for the next country, Egypt.