02-12-08 Hurghada, Egypt

We returned to Taba Heights and checked back in to Egypt. We got the proper cruising permit for Sybaris for the winter and should now be legal in Egyptian waters.

We stayed the night in Nuweiba before sailing down to Dahab.

While  Jan and Larry together with Colin from Lady Coppelia, explored St Catherine’s monastery and climbed up Mount Sinai, Per and I got some groceries and walked around town. We became friendly with a local girl who made us a bracelet out of string.

    

We took the dinghy and snorkelled on some bommies at the other end of the bay and enjoyed the many fish and corals.

We stayed in Dahab an extra day waiting for the wind to calm down and left for a bay in Sharm El Sheik. The wind was still strong and we ended up motor-sailing part of the way to keep Sybaris more stable. We tied to a buoy behind Lady Coppelia close to Nama Bay. Next morning we continued to a reef 30 miles above Sharm El Sheik and stayed there 2 nights. We snorkelled and explored the reefs.

We crossed the Red Sea and anchored at Quisum Island. A chilly wind has picked up and for some reason the water felt colder there too although it was still at 25c. We snorkelled but were too cold to really enjoy it!

We chatted to Rien and Gerda from Marvin on the phone. They are in the south of Egypt and are making their way to Hurghada. We have decided to meet them in Safaga in the next few days.

We said bye to Colin and Erika , who will both be leaving Lady Coppelia soon, and to Tony and Regina who will see again when we return from our expedition!

The sunsets since Aqaba have been spectacular! Every night we watched the ‘show’ from our cockpit!

We had a good sail down to Hurghada marina where we are re-provisioning before continuing south.

There are many boats in the marina and we have chatted with a few. They look like a nice bunch and we hope to get to know them better soon!