Sheikh el Abu Island

Anchored
Sheikh el Abu Island
Eritrea
Africa.
16'02.1N/39'27.2E

An Eritrea wrap up: The last few days have been full of interesting sites, including friendly locals, native plants and animals, coffee and tea houses, savoring the last of the local beer, and sharing special occasions with our friends.

The town of Massawa is poor, and according to another boat that passed through here five years ago, it has gotten poorer. There are many buildings around town full of bullet holes. With it being so hot during the day, everything is shut down from noon to 4. And at night everyone is outside enjoying the cooler air.

Our friend Alim from S/V My Chance found a few of the last remaining beers. The beer factory is shut down due to no product. The owner of the bar was willing to part with them. But we had to drink them in a secret room behind the bar so nobody else could see. The lengths we go to for a cold beer.

Mike is a local here in Massawa who helps arrange things like this for the 'Yachties', along with the other basic 'Yachtie' essentials such as laundry services and black market money exchange. Through Mike we arranged for a car and driver to take us up to Asmara, the capitol, a three hour drive on surprisingly well maintained roads. Our driver Osman picked us (Sandpiper/Shiraz) up outside the port gate at 9am Friday. During the drive up we passed through a few small villages. They are very nomadic like, with the local men primarily working as goat shepherds, complete with a long robe, a cane, and a beard.

Along with goats we also spotted many camels, donkeys, red-assed baboons, and pink flamingos. Most of the land is desert, dry and barren with few areas of vegetation. I've read several places where it is described as a 'Moonscape'.

The road leading to Asmara climbs a few thousand feet ending high in the clouds to a nice cool temperature of around 50F. At night we all had on socks, long sleeve shirts, and jackets. Quite a contrast to the hot, intense African sun down in Massawa.

Historically there is not much to see in the capitol city. It is good to walk around, get lost down side streets, and experience the many tea and coffee houses. There are a few pastries too, an Italian influence has stuck around for many years. Another great Italian influence that has stuck around is the art of leather work. Tom and I both got a pair of leather shoes hand made in Eritrea for less that USD$40 total. And of course the pizza isn't that bad either. Overall it was a lovely way to spend an evening up in the cool mountains of Eritrea.

While we were gone, our friends from S/V My Chance watched over our (Shiraz/Sandpiper) boats. So we brought back some coffee and pastries to share with them on Sunday morning once back at the anchorage. It was a nice afternoon with Scrabble games and wine on board Sandpiper to celebrate Rene's birthday.

The boys went in this morning (Monday) to check out. We are headed 30 miles to a nearby island for the night.

More later.

Love,
Amy and Tom

Oh ya. Our sailmail connection is really hard to come by, and slow. So please excuse us for not writing a bunch of emails.

Tom Note: We checked out of Massawa this morning. After pulling into the shipping terminal so the immigration officials could some aboard to search the boat for stowaways, we were clear to go. We were able to sail 25 miles north to where we are presently anchored, along with S/V My Chance and S/V Shiraz.

Our next anchorage is 150 miles from here. If we had kept going, then we would have arrived at night. So we decided to anchor here for the night and leave tomorrow at first light.

We did get to dingy ashore before sunset so Amy could add to her shell collection. There are thousands of hermit crabs all over the beach here making it hard to even walk without stepping on them. Of course they have claimed all the best shells. But Amy was able to get a few that were not occupied.

Note From Ron: I found a pretty good photo album from a trip to Eritrea in 2007. It will give you a good idea of what Tom and Amy are seeing.

Port of Massawa, Eritrea

Anchored
Port of Massawa
Eritrea
Africa
15'36.5N/39'27.7E

Hey all! Hope this finds everyone well, where ever you may be. We enjoyed Shumma Island so much we ended up staying an extra few days to explore the reef and land. We had a nice afternoon of shell collecting followed by a wonderful Thai inspired dinner of fresh fish on the S/V My Chance. Early the next morning, when the wind is supposed to be as strong, we all went to the reef to snorkel. Steve (from s/v Shiraz) and Alim (from s/v My Chance) speared us a bunch of Grouper for a delicious dinner. Now we are hooked. It is so delectable, almost like lobster. It just melts in your mouth.

We awoke this morning to light rain and the wind already up to 15 knots blowing from the direction we wanted to go. While dancing around the boat in our underwear singing 'I felt the rain down in Africa', we were back and forth deciding to leave today or not. Around 9am the winds died. A meeting was held between the boats to whether to leave or not. So leave we did.

It was a 30 mile sail to our current location of Massawa, Eritrea. With the hook down, the boys are off checking us in.

I have really been looking forward to this stop. It is just so remote and exotic. Not a place you will find many people have been to. We plan to take an trip inland to Asmara, maybe pick up our Egyptian visas, and just soak it all in, this being our first official landfall in Africa.

Brief History Lesson 1:
Eritrea has been dominated throughout the years by Ethiopia, Egyptians, Turks, Italians and the British. The Italians named it Eritrea in the 19th century. The Italians were defeated during WWII in 1941. The British took over, until 1952 when without the citizens being asked, they handed the country over to the Ethiopians.

When the Eritreans voted themselves out of existence and become just a province the Eritrean, the Eritean Liberation Front was formed. This was the beginning of three decades of war, drought, and famine for both Ethiopia and Eritrea.

In 1974 the Soviet Union took military control over Ethiopia. They continued the war against the Eritrean rebels. Peace talks began in 1989, and in 1993 a UN referendum led to an independent Eritrea. This however did not stop the fighting with Ethiopia. They fought for two more years over a stinking piece of land.

This is probably more than you wanted to know, and I'll probably have part two of the history lesson after we go to shore and explore. So stay tuned.

One Love,
Amy and Tom

Shumma Island, Eritrea

Anchored
Shumma Island, Eritrea
Red Sea
Africa
15'32.0N/39'59.8E

All 3 boats in our tiny fleet got a great nights sleep while anchored at Mersa Dudo, even though is was blowing 30 knots all night. We all had our anchors up at 8am the next morning for the 150nm overnight trip to where we are currently anchored.

The winds here in the southern end of the Red Sea can be extreme, and sailing is quite fast. We had winds sometimes 30+ knots right off the stern for most of the trip, giving us speeds of over 7 knots with only a double reefed main up. This was the slowest we could go. Between the 30+ knot gusts, the wind would just go to zeo, leaving us bobbing around in all the breaking waves with no wind to steady the boat. It makes for a sloppy ride until the waves drop back down. Then it was motoring until the winds return, straight back up to 30 knots, nothing in between.

Not much traffic along the coast of Eritrea. The shipping lanes are to the east, and we saw only a few fishing boats off in the distance.

It is now 2:30 pm and we just arrived here. Sandpiper is currently anchored at Shumma Island in 30 knots of wind. We stopped here because we were not going to be able to make the Port of Massawa, 30 miles away, before sunset. If you check out on the Goggle Earth program you should be able to see exactly where we are anchored. We are on the west end of the island inside a small reef with white sand beaches. Shumma Island is quite remote, about a mile across, low with shrubs and beach surrounding the island. There is an old lighthouse in the center.

Our current plan to go ashore this afternoon to do some exploring and shell collecting. Then we will have sundowners on the S/V Shiraz along with the Turkish crew from S/V My Chance. We will leave tomorrow morning to arrive in Massawa to check in with Eritrean Customs and Immigration. From there we hope to do some inland travels.

One another note. We heard on the BBC today that a 3 masted charter sailing ship that was sailing from the Seychelles to the Red Sea was taken over by Somalian pirates. The ship had a crew of 30 with no passengers as the ship was in transit to the Med. There was a French Collation warship following them and a helicopter overhead. They had hoped to land French commandos on board before the ship arrived in Somolian waters. We have not heard an update since. If you have, then drop us an email and send us the details.

Brother Ron posted, in the past, the 3 part series from the BBC about modern day piracy. If you have the time, then listen to part 2 where there in an interview with one of the ship captains that had been pirated and held for ransom in Somalia for almost a year until the ship's owners payed over a million dollars.

There is a lot of hype about modern day piracy around the world. But the one place you do not want to be near is the coast of Somalia. That is why most boats and ships all hug the Yemen coastline.

Yemen used to have its own piracy problems. But things have changed. Yemen now has a modern coast guard that actively patrols their ports . They were trained by the U.S Coast Guard. I have not heard of any piracy along the Yemen coast in a very long time. The incidents that do happen are boats that are too far offshore and encounter Somalian pirates.

Most modern day cases of piracy do not involve yachts. Instead, they mostly hijack ships and hold them till the owners pay a fee for the release of the ship and/or crew. There are seldom random incidents involving yachts around the world. You are far more likely to get robbed in your own town back home then to have something happen out here.

When we lived in Oakland, crack-heads were always breaking into our cars and stealing whatever happened to be in the car. It happened so many times that the window repair people knew us by name as since had to keep replacing the window in our car. One crack head even sliced a knife into our convertible's top to get into our car. In the 2.5 years we have been out, we have had zero incidents of any type. Nor have we heard of any incidents on other boats.

However... a dog stole my flip-flop in Sri Lanka. I had left on the pier next to the boat, and I found it later, on the dock, a bit chewed up. In most of the poor countries that we have sailed through, the locals will chase us down in their boats just to give us a big smile and wave hello. Or they just want to show off a fish they just caught.

Just don't sail near the Somolaian Coastline!!

More when it happens,
Tom and Amy

Notes From Ron:
Regarding the French cruise ship captured. As of Monday AM, the French are in negotiations with the pirates. They have not landed commandos on board. It looks like they plan to pay a random to get the crew released. BBC update here.

This wouldn't be the first time they pay ransoms for the release of their citizens. The French, Germans, and Italians have paid Iraqi insurgents in the last two years every time they take hostages. Last year there was a big blow up in Italy when the government tried to hide the fact that they paid a few million to release a couple of Italians held hostage in Iraq.

And as Tom mentioned, it would not be the first time that Somalian pirates have been paid handsomely. They have a nice little criminal enterprise going on there under the protection of what passes for a government there now.

Paul, a friend of mine in Santa Barbara just captained a private yacht from the Carribean to Santa Barbara. He had to outrun pirates off the north coast of Columbia. They were posing as "Columbian Coast Guard" over the radio in order to approach vessels. In this case, the pirates didn't know how to operate the electronics on the boat they had stolen. They failed to turn off the AID transmitter, and that told Paul exactly what the pirate boat really was. When Paul refused to "pull over" they gave chase, but could not keep up in the bad weather that fortunately had come up.

Mersa Dudo, Eritrea

Anchored
Mersa Dudo
Eritrea
Africa
13'52.2N/41'54.6E

Stand up everyone and join us in a little dance I call the 'Red Sea Boogie'. I've been dancing ever since we rounded the coast of Yemen and entered the Red Sea. I've also even shed a few tears. I mean this is pretty epic where we are. And to think we sailed the 'Piper all the way here. I've sailed here... and I'm still on board. Which is even stranger considering my experience level, or lack there of, before leaving the Bay. But of course as Tom always says, "We won't be pulling into anywhere with an airport."

After clearing the straights of Bab el Mandeb we were cruising with 30+ knots of wind, making over 6.5 knots. It was quite spectacular. On one side we could see the coast of Yemen (Asia), and on the other side the coast of Africa. It felt like we were shooting through a gap in a small narrow straight. Even with a double reefed main we were still making over 6 knots. The wind didn't let up much all night, with us continuing to make excellent speed.

We were just left (west) of the shipping lanes. We were still able to make out the traffic, but trying to stay clear of all the big guys. Occasionally a spot light would be drawn on us, most likely making sure we were not pirates.

We decided to split up our trip to Massawa, Eritrea and find an anchorage for the evening. We are currently anchored and enjoying some delicious home made Margaritas while watching our first African sunset. Our friends from S/V Shiraz and S/V My Chance anchored right next to us.

Tomorrow we will head out for a 180 nautical mile trip to Massawa, Eritrea where we will spend a few days. An inland trip is planned and we should have many stories to share with you.

One Love,
Amy and Tom