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.We are now anchored off of the old town in
Sawakin (Suakin) Sudan. We awoke to the braying of donkeys, and the sight
of camel trains being led along the shore towards town. Suakin
used to be the main port and trading capitol before that was moved to Port
Sudan (by the Brits, I think). This town has been a trading center for
over 3,000 years. We imagine the dhows that used to anchor where we are
now, in this fantastic natural harbor. The ruined city we are anchored in
front of used to be a major slave trading hub. We haven't got into
town yet, the immigration office closes at 2 PM so we were stuck on the
boat yesterday afternoon. This morning we get our shore passes and have a
poke around and buy some fresh produce. It is quite a scene here, lots of
knocked down buildings, apparently due to age and poor building
materials. In the morning, and yesterday afternoon, there are two
public bathing locations on shore. One for men and one for women. It is
odd, there must have been thousands of people going through the same
bi-daily ritual at the same location, yet you can watch as they walk
gingerly over the sharp coral. Why not build a little path and clear a
ramp to the water?We are happy that we stopped here, looking forward to
seeing how the locals accept us. Over 70 yachts come here each year,
rather than Port Sudan. The 'Toads are still with us but they will slow
and we will accelerate now (our mantra.) The climate has changed, much
cooler than Eritrea. The winds are now constantly from the North, making
progress a little more difficult. Still nothing dangerous, just a bit
uncomfortable.
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Neill's group letter gives most of our latest news.
Just to say we are a little further up the coast, about 150 miles north of
Port Sudan. We sailed for two days out of Suakin, first day ok, second
very tiring, bashing into 20-25 knots nonstop. We retreated into a Marsa
(anchorage along the coast in coral channel) and a snuggled down. It is
still blowing the same, and we have a very hot dry wind streaming over the
boat - laundry dries in half an hour. there were two camel trains walking
along shore when we arrived. We will stay here until the wind eases a
bit. Still a long way to go to Safaga - our next goal.
All well anyway - kids doing very well with school.
Touch wood - all important systems on Margarita working OK. Suakin was
really a cultural experience. Surely there can't be that many places on
this earth so utterly unaffected by the 20th century. Really, walking
around I had to keep reminding myself this was real. Lamu is a very
modern town comparatively. Not even a coca cola sign. Bronwen and I
dress very conservatory to go into town, dresses below our knees, yet we
still get looked on by the average man with contempt and scorn, as if we
were a low grade prostitute, flaunting our bodies. Not very
comfortable. All the women are completely covered and veiled.
The roads are all dirt, and the buildings are small
and cheaply constructed. There are camels everywhere, and men
walking about in traditional Arab dress, with swords at their belts.
There are no cars in sight at all. One man approached me as I was
taking photographs of camels, and asked , or gestured, would I take a
picture of him on his donkey. I complied, and he was delighted.
No question of mailing him a copy, he just wanted to have his photo taken.
For the most part we are very discrete with our cameras.
Photographing the women is a definite no-no, and even most of the men do
not like it Instead we just wander around, looking at the crammed
full little shops, the baskets of spices and grains laid out on the
street, little stalls are set up to sell used clothing, broken tape player
and radio parts, and even plastic bottles and tops. Not much gets
thrown away.
This was one place that we did not feel inclined to
eat the street food, although we did wander the restaurants and inspect
the barbequed sheep's heads for sale. We did buy a little meat from
the market, lots of flies all over to we had to cook it well. And we
did buy some bread, we found that we had to be careful where we bought it,
one place seemed to sell it with bits of gravel inside. The
vegetable market was entertaining, and we stocked up well over several
days, getting familiar with some of the stall owners.
This red sea is proving, as everywhere to be much
more interesting that we had bargained for, and could easily see spending
several months to get through it. Wonderfully unspoiled waters and
anchorages too. However, now our travel is governed by the wind as we can
expect northerlies all the way up to the canal. Hoptoad is still along
with us, it is nice to buddy boat. Not much sign of any other vessels
here, though plenty on the radio. And Very Few fisherman if any. Not
legal is Sudan travel by boat. Actually there have been remarkably few
ever since we made landfall in Yemen.
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Plan now is to clean up and organize a bit tomorrow,
next day take an overnight to do the tourist thing in Cairo, then come
back and do the transit Saturday or Sunday. Should be in the Med within a
week. YAHOO. Looking forward to the canal transit, except we have to do
two 40 mile days with a pilot aboard in charge.
Lots of love from us all
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