Marmaris to Kusadasi, Turkey

July 5th, 2008

Marmaris to Kusadasi, Turkey
coordinates 37 52.113N,027 15.748E

We can certainly see why many cruisers get stuck here in Turkey and spend a season or two. The cruising grounds are beautiful and they make it amazingly comfortable and convenient for one on land. There are quite a few marina's, though a little expensive for our pockets. There is just so much to see and do.

Marmaris coordinates 36 49.539N,028 28.596E
We made landfall here and found a beautiful basin. For those familiar with Lake Tahoe in California, it is very reminiscent of it. Pine forest right down to the waters edge and just like Reno, scores of resorts and small music thumping, blaring night clubs, lining the North Shore. Our two weeks here were spent doing a few boat projects. There are so many chandleries here that if you can't find the part you need, you must not need it. We were introduced to more tasty versions of kebob and kofte,
a spicy meat ball of sorts, and marveled at their traditional style sail boats called "gulets". They have a marvelous design and size that we have not seen in any other boats to date. Nearly every major point or port has a citadel or castle to mark the spot so we enjoyed the views to be had from the top of the one built here. A few days of wake boarding for the boys and practicing the art of dodging carpet sellers. Turkey is famous for their woven "double knot" style of weaving and the works are
beautiful. Best thing of all, the older they are the more valuable. You don't get that equation often.

One of the greatest experiences in Turkey for us has to be the opportunity to watch their football (soccer) team through their eyes as they competed in the European Championships. They made it as far as semi finals, a huge feat for any one. Each game they won you would have thought they had taken the final trophy home. So much pride and joy is infectious. After each win a parade of cars, scooters, all the towns buses, and any one on foot who could walk carrying larger than life flags, flares,
fireworks. You name it, they filled the streets until all hours of the night in celebration. Without fail, to make each game more suspenseful, all the action happened within the last two minutes of the game or the overtime.

From there our pals on s/v Moorea reunited with us and we slowly made our way up the western coast to Kusadasi where we planned to see the ruins of Ephesus. Amazingly each point or town has it's own little set of ruins and ancient citadels overlooking each bay. There is always something fun here to go explore. So much history and culture we are getting dizzy.
There are a multitude of anchorages to stay in and luckily they are all within a days hop so no overnight sails for a while. Alexander the Great, Homer, Socrates, famed sculptors and thinkers all walked here. The only down side would be the wind direction. Which ever direction you want to head there will be your wind. We have perfected our tacking skills and our plotted course is a perfect zig zag.

Ephesus proved to be as wonderful as the guide books exclaimed. We rented a car and made our way inland. To visualize the 3rd century BC. men, women and children draped in their robes and walking from the city councils agora or meeting place to the public bathroom or pool and the library, each step lined in white marble is fascinating. Though much of it is simply the foundations of buildings left standing, there are enough columns and symmetrically carves cornices and capitals, bits of colorful
glass mosaics and beheaded statues to make it feel real. A full amphitheater complete with back stage tunnels to walk through and get out your first night jitters before performing on stage was a lot of fun. You can certainly imagine the splendor of the library and see the men sitting on the steps debating the latest theory. In it's time, it was a leading port city and sea trade center. Today it stands miles inland after silting filled in the shores leaving it land locked. As it's various attackers
each took their turns of ruling, it passed from worshiping the greatest Greek gods, Christianity and then to Islam. Each member adding a new worship center or minaret as it saw fit. Neighboring sites and towns hold the believed chapels and homes of St. John and Mary, the mother of Jesus.

A final stop at a rug making center completed our stay in Turkey. We had the chance to watch how they removed the silk from the cocoons, and then to see the women practice the art of "double knot" techniques. The value of the carpet is gauged by how many knots per square in one can tie. The thinner the thread the more knots. They roll them out covering the floor and insist that you walk around on $80,000 rugs. We nearly had heart attacks. Despite the fact that the salesman knew that we could
never afford to buy nor store such a treasure he took his time to personally teach and talk with us about these breath taking and intricate designs.
until next time,
the Ohana Kai crew

Not our finest hours

May 27, 2008
Mediterranean Sea
Coordinates
It isn’t often that you will hear me complain because it is extremely rare that I cannot find the silver lining to any situation. This was as close as it gets out of the nearly 3 years out thus far.
We were exhausted after all our travels through Egypt after not taking much time to rest. We thought the next 3 day passage to Karpathos, Greece would be the time to catch our breath. Not so. As we exited the Suez Canal, I Lisa, began to feel achy which I though was simply due to the late night, 3 crew soccer game that had ensued until the late hours the previous evening. But by the end of my first night watch I hurt from my eyelashes to my bone marrow. By the next morning I couldn’t get two feet from the bathroom. Conveniently for me, there is one always two feet away on a boat. By that next afternoon poor Bruce had joined me in my misery with the extra component of nausea. Egypt’s parting gift to us was some terribly nasty intestinal thing which we will just call evil.
That following evening we were hit by 25-35 knots of wind that we were try desperately hard to sail nearly directly into. Close hauled and trying to put a second reef in and pull in some head sail between our night shifts at 1am, we came to find that the bashing had loosened the cover for our storm sail and sent it long lost over board, the sail itself was now dragging half in the water and one sheet to the head sail was wrapped around the surf boards and out of it’s blocks, and the dinghy was coming loose. It was about this time that Bruce began vomiting. We got things in order and got him to bed, when we took a large wave over the bow, which found its way again under the dinghy and through the two hatches that were not shut tightly enough. We took in enough water to soak the bed, all of Bruce’s clothes and leave another ½ inch floating around our feet. Under any other circumstances this night would have been uncomfortable and certainly inconvenient but tolerable. This night it was all we could do to remain conscious. If we had the strength at this point we would have taken all the sails down and just floated for a while but we couldn’t move anymore. We lay there taking turns blinking at the radar and faithfully, God blessed us with not one single piece of shipping traffic to deal with for the next 24 hours. For awhile, I tried to keep us close hauled but the wind would shift, we would round up, loose steering and tack on our own. Finally I set our course off far enough that I didn’t care if we ended up in Cyprus or Turkey. With the morning came the sun, calm seas and little wind so we were able to motor directly at our destination and sleep the day away. The boys thankfully never contracted this evil bug and took to foraging for nuts and fruits on their own. Matthew even rallied to cook spaghetti for them with little direction. He did voice his concern when he realized just how serious things can be when both mom and dad are out of commission. It is easy to say that was our worst night ever but thankfully, silver lining here, it was only 36 hours, we are both back on track now and we have great faith in our crew.

The Suez Canal

May 24, 2008
It is rather fun to run with the big boys here. You are surrounded by the largest container ships you can find of every possible shape and size. They say that two times a year someone runs aground there and we had the fortune of front row seats for one of them. The first cruise ship to be exiting the canal at the south basin suddenly called something out over its speakers, dropped anchor in a last effort to save itself and ground to a halt. We watched as the other ships began to stack up behind it trying to slow their progress toward it. In about an hour, a tug managed to pull it off and the flow was going again, but impressive none the less. These big boys can’t really stop on a dime.

First we anchored in the South Basin and our blessings continued. We managed to arrive on a Sunday at 1pm and were out the next morning at 10am with our fuel having been delivered at 11:30 pm under the cover of darkness for just the right price. In the morning, we were boarded by out pilot to help us navigate. It is really just a technicality since it is a very deep and wide straight shot to motor through. We heard stories of it taking people 10 days before they were allowed to transit. Apparently the canal closes frequently due to “our” military ships going through it. In short, it looks a lot like any other canal you have ever seen, irrigation or otherwise, flowing water with a sandy bank on each side. It does flow north though which surprised us. Only this one is 50 to 90 feet deep, wide enough for a container ship and a sail boat to pass each other, 121 miles long and, dotted with young, bored, military men every half mile. Good thing they gave them binoculars for something to do and us to wave at as we go by. There are the occasional tent towns and tanks as well and a tunnel somewhere that goes under it. Surprisingly there is a lovely suspension bridge that goes over it, and a second one that can twist to connect the two sides of Cairo to the Sinai Peninsula each day. At the north end, the Port of Said is just like any other hustling busy shipping port complete with cranes, cruise ships and ferries.

Half way up is the town of Ismailia, a small harbor where we med moored for a few days before finishing our transit of the canal. It must be the first upper middle class town we have seen in about a year. From here we again with our pals on Luna, we made a quick one day trip inland to Cairo to wrap up our Egyptian experience, complete with camel rides right up to the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Very fun and very worth it but Bruce says it is his last camel ride. It is inspiring to view these monumental hand built creations 3 to 5,000 years old still standing. Just as in the temples of Karnack and Kings it looks as though Disney has opened a new wing in their world to explore, just standing there for you to touch, original rocks, colors and paintings. The Sphinx was a bit smaller than we expected and the sprawling metropolis of Cairo literally across the street is a bit odd but the splendor of the pyramids standing amongst the camels can hardly be dampened.

Most distressing though is to see the state of every other building standing. They are either left half way completed or half way broken down to complete disrepair. There is no effort or engineering going into the housing by the looks of it and we know they have the knowledge. We’ve seen the pyramids that are still standing and the shining examples of gorgeous minaret’s all around. The capabilities are there, why not follow through?

We are so glad we had a chance to experience Egypt and we are glad it’s done. The omnipresent and omni-greedy military gets to be a bit too much. In their shining white uniforms and black beanies demanding their baksheesh, they has become as much of an icon as the rest of the historical landmarks. Baksheesh may be like a tip to them but a bribe to us. A demanding one at that and everyone wants and will have no problem telling you if it is not enough. If they ask for a shirt or shoes, and you offer them one, they will undoubtedly ask if have anything newer. They’ll ask for cigarettes and turn their nose up if it’s not Marlboro’s. The scrutinizing of passports, the waving of hands is exhausting. Though we had no troubles with them, smile and pay accordingly, things go smoothly, reap what you sow and all, we know some who did have troubles. Simply, don’t make noise or draw any attention. The citizens we met, by contrast, were beyond kind beyond reason and somehow, as always, they love America and those that reside in it!

Experiencing Egypt

Egypt
May 20, 2008

We have been busily taking in the sights and sounds of Egypt and as we finished our transit through the Suez Canal we were hoping to catch our breath during a few overnights to Karpathos, Greece. It did not quite work out that way, but that story will come later. I will give you an idea of what we’ve done hope to fill in the finer details someday soon on the web page.

After the dolphins we made a stop in a lovely marina in Hurghada, as our port of entry. They have a tower to rival any airport so they know your coming. A beautiful hotel/resort resides with showers, restaurants and a pool there as well and though the right hand and the left hand aren’t quite working together yet, we have no doubt that someday it will be a very convenient and lovely place to stop. From there we took an inland trip to Luxor and viewed the Temple of Karnac and the Valley of the Kings. This requires an early morning militarized motor convoy escort with nearly 100 other tour busses, cars and trucks. You pay a little money, you wave your passports around, you’re on your way. We are still not sure what we needed protecting from but after hours and hours of driving, crazy driving, with a few rest stops in between, our destination was worth the wait.


Valley of the Kings was spectacular and I will sum it up with King Tut’s mummy is actually sitting there in his tomb!!! We were flabbergasted. We did have to pay a little extra to see him, though we didn’t even realize he was down there. We saw Hatshepsut’s temple, Karnac temples complete with hieroglyphics, that the boys are sure they can translate now, how alabaster creations and papyrus are made. Spent a lovely night in a hotel and did the tackiest tourist thing we knew how to do. Eat at McDonalds over looking the Luxor temples itself. You should try a McArabian some day, they are very tasty. The Nile River was interesting. Honestly, it could have been the Mississippi or any other river for all we knew. I don’t know what we were expecting. It certainly does provide some luscious fertile lands for growing all that Egyptian cotton, food for the herds and a major source of tourist income as it is filled to the brim with mini cruise ships that look mildly like giant paddle boats and traditional felucca sailing vessels. In between everything else is hot, dry and sandy. The occasional Bedouin and camel can be seen wandering but fairly empty out there sans military posts.

Next was the dash up the Gulf of Suez before reaching the canal. We were able to motor sail against the winds and made fairly good time without much discomfort. We hid out in Mersa Thelemet for a night until the military there caught on to us and asked us to leave at sunset, as the winds picked up to 25 knots. They stated, “You don’t want to take your babies out into that weather, it can be dangerous, but… you can stay here tonight for $100”. We took our chances and left, finding a perfectly comfortable anchorage just around the corner on the other side of their sand bar. A couple more nights navigating through dozens and dozens of oil tankers and more impressive oil derricks, flaming away and lighting the night sky. At times though, the smell and the flies are nearly unbearable. Next the Suez Canal.

Dolphin Reef

Dolphin Reef
May 3, 2008
coordinates 24 10.157N, 035 40.521E

We departed from Ras Banas early in the morning when we awoke to the feeling of no wind. After so many days of consistent 25 to 35 knots it was a bit eerie. Traveling up the Red Sea is a bit like that game Red Light/Green Light that you played as a kid. Mother Nature is "it" and when she turns her back and fails to blow winds against you, you run like the dickens, when she turns back around and begins to throw her glances at you, you freeze right where you are and hope your not out. When she wasn't
looking we made our next dash up to Port Ghalib or Marsa Alam, but not before a quick stop in Dolphin Reef for one of supreme experiences of our entire lives. Mother Nature took a quick look at us and sent a bit more wind than we wanted to beat against so we took a quick stop in here and thank goodness for her.

As the name suggested, dolphins frequent this small bay created entirely out of submerged reef. No ground to stand on but very protected. We were fortunate that there was a large pod to numerous to count swimming within the boundaries when we dropped anchor, so we quickly donned out snorkel gear and took a swim with them. I do mean "with them". Scores of them were everywhere, calmly swirling around in only 20 - 30 feet of water. They didn't run away from us but they kept their distance initially.
As a smaller pods of them would pass by you a sentinel of sorts would break off to swim around you and check you out. They certainly were curious about us, but I don't think we are anything new to them as many, many boats stop in here and take a dive. I have heard though that some people have waited 4 days and never seen them so still we were feeling eternally blessed. It was nothing short of miraculous to watch them in their home, their own environment, no trainers, no tricks. Big ones, little
ones, mommies and babies, entire pods over us, under us, and we even had the great fortune to watch them mating. As two would begin their enticing dance together, two more would swirl around them, maybe to keep others away, we don't know. They would swim so close that we would swim with outstretched arms in hopes of just once, feeling that smooth rubbery skin but just as you were sure you were about to connect they would wiggle just out of reach. I swear they would look back at you with a twinkle
in their eye. But then it happened, as we each broke off from each other a bit in our snorkeling, nearly each person had the same experience of being encircled by 1 to 3 dolphins. As you held perfectly still, floating there they would swim tighter and tighter around you and then you realized they wanted to be touched. Our hearts began racing, as you held your hand out they continually ran their bodies under your touch, to be rubbed over and over like a cat rubbing against your leg. We could only
marvel at how comfortable they were with us and thank them over and over for the experience. It seemed to go on forever in that moment and we never wanted it to end. And then they moved on. When the adrenaline slowed it's flow did we only realize how long we had been in the water and just how cold we were.

We gathered ourselves up and back to the boats, pulled up anchor and as the sun set picked our way out of the coral to head on to our next destination, pinching ourselves all the way in hopes that what had just happened was not a dream.
until next time,
your Ohana Kai crew

First stop in Egypt

May 1, 2008
Ras Banas, Egypt
Coordinates 23 53.557N, 035 46.883E
Before heading into any new area we always do our reading and research on the best paths to follow, the best weather windows and such. Any such research regarding the Red Sea always contains some horrible stories regarding the terrible head winds of 25 to 40 knots and steep seas that sailors have ended up beating against. Hoping to avoid such a trip ourselves, when our grib files said there would be 4 days of little to no wind against us we took our opportunity and made a run for it. The up side
obviously means we make great time heading north; the down side would be that we are passing up a lot of opportunities to visit some amazing locations on land and blazing right over some beautiful waters for diving in.

We quickly left Suakin and marveled at our good luck with the weather. With light winds out of various directions over the next few days we were even able to sail a majority of this leg. We did take one quick lunch break to anchor on Jazirat Bayer coordinates 20 52.187N, 037 23.598E for a nice snorkel to view some coral, large schools of trigger fish, trevali and the occasional reef shark. Back underway to our next destination, all the boats in our fleet were quietly beginning to question the
decision to push ahead and pass these treasures up when the answer quickly arrived. The grib files were telling of the winds picking back up on the 28th but they arrived a day early. Luckily we only had a taste of 25 knots on the nose not 40. We bashed only a few hours that morning with the escort of dozens and dozens of dolphins and came to find refuge with a few other boats in a bay sheltered by the Ras Banas sand spit peninsula. Though we were hoping to make it a bit further north to Dolphin
Bay we ended up here, maybe for the better. We have heard that there is no land to stand on up there so we've been hunkered down here ever since. In fact, we have become pod people. Due to lengthy passages, weather or shore conditions, in the last 40 days we have only touched land approximately 14 times. Amazing when you realize just how small the living space is. It is a good thing we love our boats and love to spend so much time together. Our little vessel keeps us safe, sound and cozy.

Welcome to Egypt! The flat low lying sand magically makes it way to us over the water with such ease it's amazing. You can see the giant sand clouds form over the land and we are covered in fine brown silt. Everyone is trying to adjust with stuffed sinuses and a slight hacking cough. The water, though a bit cooler than farther south, is very clear and provides some nice snorkeling. And of course, since we are captive until the winds die again and we can make our way further north, make the best
of what you've got. Out came the wind surf board and kite surf gear! Vincent, Bart and Bruce have had a great time skimming the waters around the boats on their boards. Bart brought out little Soleil's wind surf board and each kid had a quick lesson. They popped up like daisies on the boards and took off. They are hooked. Looks like we will be purchasing more toys soon.
The kids, with the help of some local young military men posted out here, have also created some great sand castles. They had the opportunity, as budding archeologist, to dig up a partially exposed camel skeleton and try to recreate him. Our young military friends, though they speak nearly no English, got quite a lesson in anatomy as well.

So that's it. Our weather info claims that it will blow even worse tomorrow but then we may see a break come Saturday where we will try to make a push up to Port Galib. We have seen some beautiful lightning storms which make propagation not so hot for sending emails but slowly we get through. There are certainly worse places to be stuck.

Sudan

April 22, 2008
Suakin, Sudan
Coordinates 19 06.502N, 037 20.323E

It always amazes us when we turn a corner into a new country, town or anchorage and come to find a hugely developed civilization where we thought we would see primitive surroundings or run down ruins. Equally surprised, this time the opposite was true. We had heard and read from others that Suakin, Sudan was the place of choice to stop and check into the country. Ports of entry are usually fairly well built up with quite a few resources. Where we thought we might find a larger city we drifted
into a small, rather desolate town of Suakin. As you drift past flat dry desert plains dotted with occasional adobe or brick structures, we were excited to see the random camel walking or sitting by the waters edge. Mysterious ruins that originally were built out of coral blocks brought up from the sea floor by hand hundreds of years ago, have been left to decay. We were anxious to find the story behind these buildings in a town that is known to have been the last slave trading destination up
until WWI. We were sorely disappointed when their reply was simply, "They got old and fell down."

After a simple but slightly expensive check in, $360 USD including fuel, though the kids were free, we took a quick tour, dinner on shore and quickly came to love the feel of this simple and fairly impoverished town. The blazing heat both night and day and the wind storms have worked their magic over the town during the last few hundreds of years. Many buildings are simply left in piles of ruble and ruins until the next one is to be built. There were no trees or shrubs to speak of and only one
main road in this small corner of Sudan. Never fear though, technology has made its way here as evident by the cell phones that everyone is carrying. Even the oldest, most wrinkly little man we found could whip out his Motorola and show you his latest text message that was written in English!

Our first meal in Africa consisted of a bean dish (kidney or pinto) with cheese on top, slightly bitter and tasteless, salt helps. A whole chicken was $12 US, which was a bit rich for our budget. Instead we opted to simple bread similar to naan and a mystery meat on a stick cooked on an open flame. Enough of this tasty fare to feed 11 people for the low price. Including drinks which again as in every country has been coke or pepsi. The only thing that is found unanimously throughout the world
believe it or not followed only by plastic bags! The meat we ate that night was most likely to have been goat since they are the most prevalent animal to be seen around town besides the hundreds of feral cats, donkeys and occasional camel. Donkeys are the main source of transportation, carrying either men on their backs, or drawing carts behind them with a variety of goods including the water tanks for delivery from the Nile River we were told.
Matthew was our guide for the evening. With a name like Matthew we had to ask and yes, northern Sudan is 50% Muslim, 50 % Christian. We saw many many mosques in the less than 1 sq, mile that we walked but we never did see the other churches. We saw only one woman the first night and only a handful the next two days. Always dressed in full headdress but their faces were showing and their clothes were beautiful colors of purples, reds, and oranges, as well as black.
We visited the open market the next day where you can find just about any item of produce you might desire. Onions to oranges, beans to bananas, it was nearly all here depending on what you are willing to pay. The currency is a Sudanese pound with an exchange of 50 cents US to one of their pounds. 1 pound for 3 eggs vs. for 3 for an orange. We got eggs. 5 pounds for a watermelon and the goat meat, tasty looking though it was hanging out there in the dust, flies and sunshine was out of our price
range.

A new acquaintance Awad was our self appointed guide for the day. Amazingly intelligent with a grasp of world geography and politics that would put most American's to shame; he enlightened us on many of their ways and helped with a lot of translating and trading. He is the town's local doctor and though we never could quite understand where he went to school, he certainly knew a lot about everyone and everything there. We spent a lot of time with the local shop smith of sorts. The shop smith
was diligently working on short daggers with handles made out of ebony wood. His shop had an array of whips, bridles and saddles made out of goat hair but built for camels. We were particularly interested in some very old long swords. A quick visit to a local tea house, we each tasted a new version of cappuccino. Tiny little porcelain cups that look like they should hold sake are filled ¾'s full with sugar. Next, the coffee or tea beverage made of cardamom, ginger and cloves that has been heated
in miniature aluminum watering cans is poured right over the sugar. Adding to the charm is the open flame charcoal fire inside the brick structured stove and tea house, in already 90+ degree heat, that has no way to vent to anywhere and the dish washing system run entirely by flies. It's a whole new flavor!

We always bring our cameras but have learned over the last couple of months to carefully hold it up first and ask if we may take some photos. It is often surprising who does and doesn't want a photo taken. And it never fails that if we forget to ask first, we get in trouble or at least certainly get the finger wag and a good talking to. Kelly girl will let you know first hand that photos of military buildings are off limits.

We topped off our stay there with an Arabian nights dinner and dance party on De Pelikaan. Each boat came in costume and together we celebrated the marvelous connections we have made and the memories we share. Once we get through the canal many of our paths will be separated as we each have different time schedules to keep on the other side and none of us wants to wait until it's too late to let the other know just how special they are to us.