Zugar Island-Sudan

Red Sea

The morning of our departure from Zugar Island, we towed Pee-wee out of the harbour as her engine stopped shortly after Arthur had weighed anchor. It was a long, slow day; there was not much wind, and the advantage of nice, flat seas was that it allowed me to get schoolwork done and bake. Kap and I loved to bake cakes and desserts even though we were limited by our imagination, recipe books and ingredients. We only had a couple of cookbooks, one being the New Zealand Edmonds cookbook and the other being Mum's, which she had put together over the years. Hence, Kathryn and I began collecting recipes for meals we enjoyed on other yachts. The second day out dawned with no promise of wind. The skies were clear, the sea calm with an underlying swell, but it was a good day to sit in the saloon and catch up on more schoolwork! It feels like I am always in catch-up mode. Kathryn fried fish for breakfast, and then she and I made a loaf of saltwater bread, which Stu cooked on the primus.

Late in the afternoon, just before pulling in the trolling line for the night, we hooked and landed a 2'6" male Dorado, some of which became dinner: cooked in an onion sauce with mashed potato and cabbbage.

On the third day, after a breakfast of fried fish(again), I took the helm or rather the "watch". The autopilot was doing its job, so I managed another day of maths by sitting in the helmsman's swivel chair, balancing my math books on my knees and looking up every 10 minutes to scan the horizon for any vessels. Kathryn made yet another coleslaw for lunch! No scurvy here; way too many fresh vegetables.

A change from fish. Kathryn and I roasted one of the deer(Tar) legs, and while the oven was on, you guessed it, we also took the opportunity to bake some sweets. An apple crumble made with home-preserved apples and two peach pies made from canned fruit. The Apple crumble was devoured after dinner with half a can of cream.

We were speeding along at five knots during breakfast on our fourth day. I could hear the water gurgling along the hull, a sound that had been missing for the last few days. However, the wind did not last long past lunchtime; it finally left us completely, so we dropped all our sails and wallowed in the swell. By dinner time, our sails were hoisted but barely holding the zephyr; they were in danger of losing the wind each time Franda II rolled, but we were moving at last. Once more fish for dinner, in a white sauce accompanied by mashed potato and pumpkin, followed by the larger peach pie and the other half of the tinned cream.

With the wind rising on the fifth morning, our long, slow sail of 382 nautical miles(708 km) took us four days, an average speed of just under 4 knots, causing us to arrive a day later than expected. We anchored around 0900 on the fringing reef of Finde Seil 150 feet(50m) from shore. Just after we had lowered the dinghy into the water, Mike answered a radio call from Pee-wee. Arthur was still a good six hours away and wanted to make the most of the favourable breeze. Also, heading further west, the wind was more favourable for him. So, disappointedly without going ashore to explore the island, we lifted the dinghy onboard and re-fastened her on the poop deck, up anchored and headed another 18 NM to the Sudanese island of Tamarshiya. With the wind just forward of the beam (we were heading just north of West), it was a gloriously fast and smooth sail, making 18 nautical miles in 2 hours. Anchoring around 17:30, we had time to lower the dinghy and all go ashore to explore the small island before dark. Pee-wee arrived 9 hours later at 03:30.

Authors Note: Looking at Google Maps, it's incredible that yachts navigated around all these islands and reefs during the day, let alone at night, without hitting any of them. Neither of the yachts had radar or satellite navigation. Franda II would get both in one year in the Gulf of Aqaba. The Sat Nav is similar to GPS, but it does not display a position on a map. It would provide a latitude and longitude, which still needed to be plotted on the chart to determine our location and identify potential dangers. It would not have helped here, as many reefs and islands were not charted. I.e. they were not even drawn on the chart.

After trying every day since the Hanish Islands, Mike finally made contact with Dreamtime on the Radio Sked. They were still at the Hanish Islands and would sail directly to Port Sudan. So, in all likelihood, they would arrive there before us.

We spent the day at Tamashiya. Later in the morning, all went ashore but me; I had bread to make, and I also made a couple of peach pies, which I hid till after dinner. We had Mum's famous fish chowder for lunch, accompanied by fresh bread. The boys had a dive but failed to get any food.

Together, we continued west the following day, towards the Sudanese mainland. We anchored near two small, unnamed islets and went for a dive, catching a small crayfish and spearing some fish. Again, Pee-wee's crew dined on Franda II.

On again North West to Port Suakin on mainland Africa. After lunch, we caught a small barracuda, the main fish we are currently targeting. We may need to change our lure to attract another type of fish. Late in the afternoon, after travelling inland for 2.3 nautical miles (4.3 kilometres), we anchored near the island connected to the mainland by a causeway. The island appeared to be covered in the ruins of an old city and looked quite desolate. Exploring would have been amazing, but we did not adventure on shore as we had yet to clear into Sudan. The only port we could do that is Port Sudan, which is still 30 nautical miles (55 km) north of us. Pee-wee's crew again shared Franda II's fare. Realising how often Arthur and Steve ate their evening meals on Franda II makes me think that they did not have a freezer or, at most, a very small one. Alternatively, we may have felt sorry for the two bachelors' cooking. This anchorage marks our first stop on the African mainland since Djibouti six weeks ago.

Franda II's crew often enjoy fish twice a day, which took some inspirational ideas from us two young cooks. We frequently found it challenging to develop new ways of cooking fish with limited resources. Sometimes, a different fish would be enough of a change. Tuna is a dry-fleshed fish, so it was suitable for baking with onions and tomatoes in a white sauce. Dorado was fantastic, pan-fried and served with rice and a ginger sauce. Shark was great fried or cooked in batter. However, there were limits to our imagination and the ingredients available. So, menus were often repeated. My brothers were in charge of cooking the crayfish. They used the large pot filled with salt water, heated on the Primus stove in the cockpit. Dad was in charge of fileting the fish.

Kathryn and I sailed on Pee-wee from Suakin but didn't enjoy the highly different motion of the trimaran. Steve taught us to play Squatter, a board game simulating farming. We caught a 2-foot barracuda and anchored just after Franda II in the lee of some small islands, just offshore from the Sudanese coastline. Kathryn and I were relieved to return home to Franda II and her known motion. While coming into anchor, we noticed a lifeboat on the reef. Kathryn and I rowed over to explore it. It was full of water and had been there for a good while; there was growth on the paint. We wondered why it was there. Had a ship sunk, or had it been lost overboard? While rummaging around in it, we found a single packet of emergency rations. The packet was amazingly still sealed, although discoloured from being in the ocean for so long. Taking it back to Franda II, we shared it at dinner time. I found it surprisingly edible, but I wondered how it would taste on day 10. However, it was really quite palatable.

Finally, after 19 days of mostly day sailing and 630NM, we arrived in Port Sudan. The doctor responded to our "Q" flag flying from the starboard spreader and came out for our "Free Pratique"(Free of disease), but the customs official did not show. Pee-wee arrived just a few hours behind us.

I was excited to see that Dreamtime had already arrived after taking only 8 days from Djibouti, including 3 days anchored at the Hanish Islands. They had beaten us by 5 hours. Tina and I were pleased to be reunited and spent time doing our school work together. It always seemed easier to do schoolwork with someone else. Tina and Freya were doing full-on Australian Correspondence school and returned their work for marking. Dreamtime was occasionally stuck in a port, waiting for schoolwork to arrive. On the other hand, Kathryn and I had brought several years of Math and English materials on Franda II, including the answer books. We did not need to wait for mail or post schoolwork back.

On the third day, the customs had still not come to clear us, but we all went ashore anyway. I found Sudan a cleaner town than Djibouti. Here, all the men wear long white "nightgowns". Women are seldom seen. The black market exchange rate is 50 Piastres for 1 American Dollar, compared to the bank's rate of 33 Piastres. Food was cheap. A 24lb watermelon was 75 Piastra's US$1.5
Port Sudan was a small, busy port with many high-sided Egyptian Dhows. Camels strutted along the port's bank, and the donkey cart delivered mail. The Dhow crew of "Alkaptainsaid" befriended the foreign yacht crews. We, the younger members, were invited aboard the Dhow for a visit. My brothers and Steve were encouraged to share the hubbly bubbly - Hookah with the crew; being female, I and the others were not required to join in Men's business. Neither my brothers nor Steve would let on what they had smoked. The crew shared some wonderful dried dates with us and kindly gave us a few from a hefty 50kg sack to share with our families. In Sudan, all three yachts applied for and received visas for Egypt, costing 2 pounds 30 piastres each (approximately US$4.60-$7, depending on the exchange rate used). Egypt would be our next destination, but first, we still had to travel 147 nautical miles north to cross the border out of Sudan. Dreamtime left Sudan on 23 April 1978, and we followed the next morning.