Log and Journal

April 17/18, 2007
27º24.5 N, 33º40.5E
Abu Tig Marina, El Gouna, Egypt

Arrival in Yachtie Paradise
by Lois Joy

Tuesday, April 17
Outside the Marina Entrance

0745: On Drift Watch
           Pacific Bliss is drifting at the entrance to Abu Tig Marina.  The engines are OFF.  Ray reports Force 0.  The sea is like a dusty blue pond, the sky a pale blue haze.  Li, Legend II and Aldeberan are with us this beautiful morning, also just drifting.  We could see the reef islands in the haze as we arrived this morning at dawn, looking quite benign.  Even so, we are told not to enter this marina in the dark.
 
            Chris jumps into the water to take his shower.   I am ready to climb down the swim ladder as well when he points out the jelly fish.  Instead, I grab my camera and attach the telephoto lens and polarizer.   The purple-mauve translucent fish are pulsating and leisurely moving along.  What beauty surrounds us!

            The marina development looks promising, with interesting pastel buildings surrounded by palms.   “Look at those buildings; they must have a hairdresser there!” calls Kathy from Legend II.  We are both ready for some pampering.  It will be my first hairdresser appointment since Thailand, over four months and 10,000 kilometers ago.

            Our passage to Abu Tig was blessed, true to the “blessed is boring” theme.  All night, we motored on calm seas.  Those seas were a little lumpy only for a few hours yesterday afternoon, with a Force 4 wind on the nose, as usual.  For Chris, it was the perfect way to end his last overnight on Pacific Bliss.  I’d saved the very last package of Tim Tams (Australian chocolate/cracker cookies) for our final night watch, a perfect treat along with Cadbury Drinking Chocolate.  The Big Dipper was pointing proudly toward the North Star.  It was socks, vest and sweater weather now that we are to 27º 25’ North—close to the same latitude as our home town of San Diego.  Off watch, I loved to snuggle under our warm winter spread with the Great Barrier Reef pattern.  Leaving the tropics hasn’t bothered me one bit.

 

 

 






 




Wednesday, April 18
In a berth at Abu Tig Marina

0630: On Marina Watch

           Hello, is salaam 'alaykum (lit. peace be upon you.)  The wind is blowing at Force 5, gusting to 20 knots, Force 6, coming from the northwest, the usual on-the-nose direction.  I am so relieved that we are not still “out there.”  

          Pacific Bliss is med-moored, safe and snug in her berth at the marina, her gang-plank extended to the quay.  Up a few stone steps there is an honest-to-goodness, modern sidewalk.  It is lined with restaurants, cafes, and shops.  I can see the storefront signs Pharmacy and Hairdresser from the cockpit!  We have finally arrived in "Yachtie Paradise!" 

         Abu Tig, http://www.abutig-marina.com/  is the base we’ve chosen as our Egyptian headquarters for one month of R&R.  A Mediterranean style marina, it is fashioned as a lagoon surrounded on three sides by cafes; numerous restaurants; clothing and souvenir shops; a bank; a small supermarket; two hairdressers; a small chandlery; three hotels, a bookshop, and even a home furnishings store.   Within five minutes via tuk-tuk or 10 minutes by bus, we can be in the nearby resort complex of El Gouna   http://www.elgouna.com/   with more hotels and tourist shops.  The next large town, Hurghada, http://www.hurghadatour.com/, a European party town, is 14 kilometers along the sea to the south.  We are very happy here.

          The management of this marina understands what a "real" marina is; it even has showers!  (Not like Port Ghalib, our port of entry, where we experienced a bureaucratic nightmare clearing in and out, were charged a hefty Daily Rate, and were not provided with showers or any yacht services as part of the package--just a quay to tie onto and the facilities of the Coral Beach Hotel, a diving hotel/resort.)  The Port Captain here at Abu Tig is knowledgeable about sailing and weather, and although he has to follow the Egyptian rule of yachts having to leave the marina within 24 hours of checking out, he will advise on a good "weather window" before sending yachts off to face the most narrow and fierce part of the Red Sea, the 162 miles north through the Gulf of Suez and on to the Suez Canal.

            We deserve a rest.  We have sailed 5264 nautical miles (9475 kilometers) since leaving Phuket, Thailand in mid-January.  Our ports of call:

 

         My next Journal stories will be about Cairo, Giza and the Pyramids and the Nile Cruise that we have booked as a reward.