Mar2000 Pt 2

Gone Troppo #4 14/3/00

Coo-eee Cobbers,

Well it is time for another update of our travels. We had an enjoyable trip toAswan and Luxor in Egypt. We had a taxi drive from Hurghada to Aswan, had to travel in an armed convoy, due to terrorists. The taxi would not have been allowed on the road in Darwin. I am afraid the convoy was probably more dangerous than any terrorists. Every driver thought he should be the one behind the leading police car, so they continually overtook one another. It was normal to have 3 vehicles side-by-side traveling in our direction and another traveling in the other. That is 4 cars side by side on a two-lane road, quite scary. And the speeds we traveled at were more than 40kph above the maximum on the signs, and there would not have been 2 or 3 metres between bumpers, all at 120-130kph. We were nervous wrecks by the time we arrived at Aswan. We then had an argument about the accommodation standard, and were shown two hotels before they got the picture and took us to one that was reasonable. We were given a better driver and taxi for our drives around Aswan, and by the time we boarded our Felucca for the sail on the Nile we had nearly recovered. We had good strong winds for the sail, and the Felucca Captain kept saying, "Winds no good". He took us to the southern end of Kitchener Island so we could see the gardens, and picked us up at the northern end. This island was given to Lord Kitchener, who decided to turn it into a botanic garden. The signs on the island omit this fact and state that the Egyptian government planted it as a research program.

Anyway back on the Felucca, we got to see first hand how their unusual sails work. The scenery glided past as we headed north to Luxor with the current helping us. Very pleasant indeed, although a little on the freezing side.

We would recommend a Felucca sail to everyone, but ask a few different skippers about prices and times, before choosing your boat. It was like going back in time, as camels and donkeys were the main types of transport on the banks, and I am sure that the scenes have not changes since the Pharaohs. We even had the good fortune of visiting our Felucca captains' house, perched on the bank, literally spitting distance from the water. A different type of dwelling that would not catch on in Darwin, as only parts of the dwelling was roofed, and then only with palm fronds. It was made of mud, straw and manure and had date palms growing thru out, it even had a room with a few sheep. The toilet was a hole in the floor that appeared to be piped straight into the Nile, the stars made a wonderful ceiling. The lighting was electric and the wires were not insulated, just wrapped around nails driven into the walls, looked just like railway tracks running around the walls.

At Idfu and Luxor we saw more temples and tombs and by the end of the fifth day we had seen enough for a while. On our first night in Luxor at our hotel, Gail asked the local souvenir shop lad about a birthday present for me. Well the next day my bed was made up in some Egyptian celebration way, and that night at dinner the lights went out and a great big birthday cake was rolled out complete with sparklers and candles. Accompanied by singers and dancers, much Baksheesh required, but it amused us and the rest of the diners. Baksheesh is Egyptian for gift and entails non-Egyptians giving presents (money) to Egyptians. We had a ride in a horse drawn carriage at sunset along the banks of the Nile, all very romantic, and the scenery was beautiful.

We were not looking forward to the convoy back to Hurghada. We had a crash before we had gone very far, only a minor rear end, thankfully. The drivers did not even stop, just yelled and waved at one another. We made it back in one piece, and got our own back at Baksheesh time for the driver.

We later learnt that friends of ours, Jack and Ilse, had an even worse accident that involved the death of two young Egyptian children. They were lucky to escape unhurt, but needless to say it shook them up a great deal. In a local paper I was not surprised to read that the Govt was passing tougher road laws, ie the need to actually have a drivers license etc.

We had hoped that the engine parts would be nearly with us after our little holiday, but that was not to be. The address we had been given was not good enough so we had to get more detail. And of course an Islamic holiday was about to start, right at the expected time of arrival in Cairo, Oh well another 4 days added to shipping time. The parts finally arrived, thanks to Ross in Darwin, and we departed Hurghada for Suez. Had a difficult sail up the Gulf of Suez along with several other boats. Met and befriended a couple on an ex Aussie trimaran who were delivering it to Israel. Also met a friendly helicopter pilot who flew to the oilrigs near his base, Ras Garib. It was great to chat with him as he delivered or picked up blokes from the rigs, he was also able to give us weather and sea conditions. On the morning we arrived at Suez our port motor broke down again, so we had to transit the canal with just one motor. We were given an outboard to carry as a spare by the organizing boat for the Millennium Rally, which was extremely kind of them. Thankfully it was not needed and we left it in Port Said for them to pick up a few days later. Tracked down some mail for us in Suez, our first since I don't know when.

On the night of April the First we escaped Egypt into the Med, we now knew how Moses felt. We had an easy sail to Israel, and stayed at a marina in Ashkelon. We ordered more parts for the engine and enjoyed a stay in a modern, friendly country. The only down side was the problem getting Internet access.

On arrival we were soon joined by our Darwin friends, Jack and Ilse, with a bottle of champagne.

This was before breakfast, so we had pancakes and champagne for breakfast, followed by a bottle of home brew red wine. Needless to say we slept well that day. Over the next few days we were visited by many yachties offering their help and requesting to hear our stories, and suggesting we get them in print soon.

While in Egypt we had email contact from an old work mate and friend, Lyndon Naslund, and were hoping to meet up in Israel. Luckily it all worked out and Lyndon managed to spend a couple of days on board with us. He was traveling around the Middle East after working in the UK for a while. He very kindly took us out to the local Holiday Inn for dinner on his last night with us. His stay was too short for us but he had lots of places to see before heading to Spain to find his next job. We hope to lob on his doorstep in the near future and take him out to dinner (MacDonalds).

Gail celebrated her birthday by drinking the boat dry; she had help from Jack who was also born on 20 April. Gail's presents were a pair of binoculars, a box of chocolates and some sand paper for the wrinkles (from Jack & Ilse). We slowly got GT ship shape, but it took longer than expected. All those visits from and to other yachts with associated drinks etc. Every Friday night there was a BBQ where all the yachties got together and swapped info and yarns. One Aussie lady on hearing that Gail lost her flute, lent Gail one as she had two on board, and then they had practice sessions with Mike (guitar) from the yacht Mica, every now and then.

We went to Tel Aviv and Jaffa for an outing. The old port of Jaffa is an amazing place, lots of history and wonderful architecture. Enough subjects for Gail to draw and paint to keep her busy for months.

Also visited Jerusalem, Masada, Dead Sea and a few other religious places, come to think of it every place in Israel is a religious site. We will probably return to Israel and try and see more of the country. Israel has a very good bus service and it was easy to get around.

The motor parts arrived, thanks to Tony in Sydney, and we managed to put it all back together and it worked. Gail could now strip this motor and put it back together in the dark. We had a visit from an Israeli news crew and spent a couple of hours playing silly buggers in front of the TV cameras. Jack didn't help when he turned up and pulled faces from behind the cameraman.

We were going to haul out and anti foul the boat in Ashkelon but it was going to cost about AUD$1200, so we put the word out and were informed, by Jack and Ilse, that there was a catamaran in Cyprus, on the hard about to go back in the water. The catamaran was Magic Carpet from Sydney, and we arranged to be there so we could crane into the space they vacated before it was used. We also managed to obtain a second hand HF radio to replace the one lost in January. It did not come with an antenna, so we are using a length of battery cable hauled up on a halyard.

We then had a delightful sail to Cyprus, Larnaca to be exact. Where we once again caught up with Jack and Ilse. This time I managed to pull faces from behind a cameraman as Jack and Ilse were interviewed by a TV news crew. On the way (the morning we arrived and tried to motor into the marina) our starboard engine stopped developing full power and our port engines gearbox started misbehaving. We had hoped to last out the year with them, but we decided to stop wasting money on them. We craned out and anti fouled and tried to track down replacement engines. Finally ordered them from Australia, and had Greg and Lynn running around trying to pay for them. Once again they came thru for us, we cannot thank them enough for all that they have done for us.

Larnaca is a nice place to work on the boat, as the town is only a few steps away. Gail hired a pushbike to make it easier to get around and carry shopping/parts. There are many English tourists here for the summer holidays, all getting badly sun burnt. The beach would not quite make it in Oz, not much sand and the bit that is there is brown, but all the tourists love it and spend hours sun baking topless. Fronting the beach are many restaurants and pubs, and it is a pleasant place to dine/drink and watch the passing parade. The only trouble is Gail won't let me.

We are at present still on the hard, hoping to crane back into the water tomorrow morning. The engines should arrive in about 7 days, and then we will head off to Turkey to meet up with Gazza and Marika. We shall attempt to install the motors once we have found a nice anchorage in Turkey. So that’s all for now, please take care.

Regards,

Gail & Stephen

Gone Troppo

PS. We notice the Aussie dollar has dropped, What are you guys doing? Stop slacking off and work harder and drag the dollar back up. It is obvious that the country has slid down hill since we, the hard workers, left.

Gone Troppo