>Bill Kimley of Seahorse Marine has provided photos of Nomad, a >Diesel Duck 44 steaming home to Florida from China--in a leisurely >fashion via the Med. > >The photos are up at <http://homepage.mac.com/gxk/PhotoAlbum1.html>. > >The initial post was ><http://lists.samurai.com/pipermail/passagemaking-under-power/2005-April/001033.html>. >I hope we'll be able to provide further updates as the voyage >unfolds. The Red Sea and Suez Canal passage is just a faint blur in my memory. The reason for this is either the arteriosclerotic brain or the fact that the " pot is full" after three months of cruising along the Turkish coast. Our plan was to do The Red Sea as fast as possible and get to the Mediterranean in time to enjoy a full cruising season. Most sailboats spend one to two months on this trip, ducking in and out of protected anchorages along the western shore. We left Djibouti on April 21, and headed right for the middle; at times close to the shipping lanes. The first four days were great: wind over the stern, averaging 7 kts and 170 miles / day. Then we had to pay our dues: unrelenting strong winds from the NNW, right on the nose, blowing at Beaufort 7 to 9. This lasted for five days and the seas were building to impressive size. Once you are in the middle of the Red Sea, there is no hiding. I had to throttle way down and at times we moved only at a speed of one to two knots. At this speed and these seas I had no choice, but to face the seas head on. The boat would have been rolled badly at any other angle. Pounding into the sea, our strong Nomad sounded like a thin tin can! Once, the captain of a large tanker that was passing close to our boat, called, asking if he could be of any help. He kept asking whether he could do anything for us -- this got us really worried! On the 9th day things calmed down and we tied up to a mooring buoy in front of the "Suez Yacht Club" in the evening of April 29. The Suez Canal passage is a two day affair and one needs to engage an "agent", who will make the necessary arrangement. The boat needs to be admeasured and inspected and the hands of everybody involved need to be lubricated with US Dollars. There is somebody constantly rowing about in the anchorage asking for Cigarettes ( Marlboro) and money -- usually making a "hard landing" with the old wooden skiff if one does not oblige. Nomad suffered a few scars here. I have seen some of these guys jumping up and down, repeatedly banging into a nice yacht, and screaming " Allah will punish you!", if the owner did not oblige to their requests. By the way, these people all work for the "agent". The first stop is in Ismailia. After Suez this is a pleasant surprise. There is a nice marina with clean facilities and friendly staff. One can stay for just one night or longer, arrangements for the pilot are made when one is ready to leave. We left Ismailia on May 8, heading for Port Said. Our pilot was a quiet, friendly chap. Shortly before the pilot boat took him off in Port Said he requested his "gift". I gave him cigarettes and more Dollars than the "usual" rate, but he was suddenly not very happy -- he also wanted a T-shirt. Since I did not have one for his size -- he was a big fellow -- He left rather brusquely. We did not stop in Port Said -- a derelict place, I was told -- and sailed straight to Cyprus, which we reached on May 10. The Canal itself is interesting, but also monotonous. Desert on the left side and desert on the right side. Being passed -- almost within reach -- by a VERY large container ship is exciting, however. We are now back in Finike, Turkey. Since our departure from Phuket, Thailand we have covered about 7,000 miles. Considering our fuel consumption, the boat traveled 4.2 miles / Gal. (1.1 miles / Liter) or used 0.24 Gal. / mile ( 0.9 Liters / mile ). Average speed: 6.3 kts @ RPM 1300 to (mostly) 1400+. Jurgen S Nomad, Diesel Duck 4403