Into the Red Sea

As dawn's first light illuminated the horizon, DK gracefully carried us into the gateway of another world. The wind was light for these parts at only 20 knots, and the seas only 1 meter, as we speedily approached the busy shipping channel under a port tack broad reach. We turned to starboard and slipped along the restricted zone of Yemen's Perim Island before committing to crossing the shipping channel to the northwest. We were now officially sailing through the infamous, "Straits of Bab el Mandeb", often referred to as the "Gate of Sorrows" or "Gate of Tears", the very narrow section of water that joins the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Winds often funnel through this area at 30-50 knots and if the current is against the wind, huge standing waves can be common. We have heard that sunrise is the best time to transit the Strait, and so we find ourselves luckily crossing the shipping channel with only 20-25 knots of wind at our back, a favorable 1 knot current, and a dreamy African sunrise.

We are now officially out of the Indian Ocean and into the Red Sea!

We left Aden, Yemen, yesterday at about 1 p.m (March 15). Aden turned out to be mixed blessing for us. The people and the culture we experienced there were amazing. Yemen now ranks up there with having the most genuine welcoming and friendly people we have met anywhere. That says a lot considering all the places we have been on this journey. The history of the land and the culture there are a huge piece of the history of mankind and this is one place we really felt like we were truly "in another world". Yemen is definitely high on the list as a place I would return to for an adventurous 'off the boat' travel experience someday.

The reason, however, Yemen was a mixed blessing is because we were both mentally exhausted from our convoy experience and our boat projects were long and grueling. I had my worst filling diesel experience ever there, my worst engine sea water impeller change, and after almost 12 hours of energy attempting to fix our KISS wind generator, it still doesn't work. Then there was the VHF issues and the autopilot issues, a loud nightclub directly in front of our boat that blasted Yemeni music until 5 in the morning when the hundreds of "call to prayers" from the mosques start up to bring in the new day. We still did our best to have a balance of seeing Aden, taking care of business, as well as mentally recovering for our next leg

The first day coming through the Straits of Bab El Mandeb we rode the winds and waves throughout the day and night further north along the coast of Eritrea, a small country directly to the east of Ethiopia. As the morning turned into mid-day the winds and seas had built pushing from behind at 30-35+ knots and 2+ meter seas. We were making some of our fastest speeds on DK yet, surfing the waves with just a double-reefed main at 8-10 knots and feeling totally comfortable. Dolphins greeted us in the afternoon and once again exhibited their love for surfing as we watched 5-8 at a time elegantly riding the 6-8 foot backlit breaking waves right behind our stern.

We sailed on into the night enjoying the strong breeze and appreciating the fact that even though there were some other sailboats not far away, we were on our own and not accountable to anyone else again. Delta One was liberated.

The next day (March 17) the winds mellowed and we ended up having to motor-sail to make it to our intended anchorage in Howakil Bay before dark. As we neared the group of islands around Umm Es Sahrig in Howakil Bay, our intended desert island anchorage, the sea became alive. Flocks of thousands of boobies and terns spun circles around us and our fishing lures, huge schools of fish leapt and splashed on the waters edge, and large chalky-colored jellyfish pulsed underneath the surface. We haven't seen so many seabirds since the west coast of Mexico and big smiles came over our faces. We were loving it and all the stress and frustration of the last few weeks slipped away.

We dropped our hook in sand in the lee of the small limestone desert island in 20+ knots of wind, but with almost no swell, cracked open a cold beer and melted into our new world.

The next day (March 18) we were off at sunrise with the destination of a place called Shumma Island, about 45 miles north, which we had read is a beautiful spot. The lures were put out, earl gray tea in hand, and the day had begun. It wasn't 30 minutes later that I looked back to see us dragging a fish. It must not be too big, I thought, poor little guy. We slowed the boat down and brought our hand-line in until I had the fish next to the boat, gaff in hand. What first I thought was a mahi mahi, turned out to be something altogether new and different. It had the general shape and head of a mahi, but with a cool strange spotty pattern, and fins like a tuna. It was also pretty big; a few feet long and maybe 20 lbs. or so. We weren't sure what it was and decided not to keep it as we didn't want to kill it if we didn't even like the taste of the meat. I reached down and wiggled our flashy spoon lure out of it's lip and it slipped away into the depths to live another day.

The wind died and changed directions to 5 knots to the NE and we motor-sailed along all day once again enchanted by the thousands of seabirds and huge schools of bait fish. It was early afternoon and Nicole was busily doing sink-full after sink-full of handwash, since our engine and watermaker were constantly on, when I noticed a large shape on the water's surface just 30 feet away. I yelled to Nicole and she hustled up to the cockpit just in time to see a huge neck and shell break the sea's surface. We could see it perfectly, our first ever endangered Leatherback Sea Turtle! All of you who know Nicole can imagine her excited response when she becomes ecstatic with joy over something she cares so much about. She made me smile for hours.

As we approached the narrow pass through the coral reef to enter the protected lagoon of Shumma Island, another fish hit. Nic and I were both winding our hand-lines back in when all of a sudden Nic yelled and I looked at her face intense with concentration and arm muscles flexed fighting to hang onto the hand-line plastic spool. Only 25 feet out or so while she was reeling in the lure a tuna hit. Carefully she passed me the spool and I tied it off as a back-up before starting to hand over hand the line in along our starboard beam. I gaffed the tuna and pulled it onboard as Nic took some photos. It was a perfectly-sized 15 pound skipjack tuna, a fish which we hadn't caught in ages.

We slipped in thru the pass easily in good afternoon light, with Nicole high in the spreaders looking for shallow coral, and dropped our hook in the lagoon of Shumma Island. Two other boats were anchored not far way, at first we thought they were fishing boats, but later we saw they were actually tourist boats from nearby Massawa, Eritrea, doing an overnight trip camping along the shore. Tourist boats from Eritrea?? We were kind of shocked on that one.

We were stoked. Dolphins swam by at dusk as the golden globe sank into the mainland of Africa only 20 miles away. We enjoyed a peaceful evening under the stars eating some freshly caught tuna.

It's now March 19th and we are still anchored at Shumma Island. Last night the NW winds picked up (we knew they were coming) and a swell entered the lagoon (but we didn't expect that). DK rolled from side to side most of the night and we barely slept. Groggily we woke and had a light brekkie and tea before taking super dingy to shore for our first walk on African soil.

The land is limestone, filled with embedded fossils and huge shells lie scattered all over the scrubby surface. Big umbrella-like desert trees dot the land and thorny bushes and shrubs grow through barren substrate. The air is hot and the sky is desert-hazy. There are animal droppings everywhere: donkey? camel? goat? We're not sure, but it looks like there are definitely four-footed creatures tromping around somewhere on this 2 mile diameter low-lying island.

We walk the sandy beaches and find a hermit crab convention and heaps of seaweed at the water's edge. The big discovery of the day are the beautiful "venus comb" shells, brittle, barbed, and gorgeous, only to be found in Africa. We find many of them, but most of them with a resident. One is vacant and Nicole is ecstatic.

After our walk we put DK's stern anchor out to keep our bow pointing into the swell so we can actually sleep tonight. The tourist boats leave and we find ourselves all alone. Nic made a big egg and potato brunch and now we are catching up on our writing, enjoying the tranquility of this new place and extremely excited for the next Red Sea adventures to come.

On Pirates

Said to be one of the oldest professions outside of prostitution and practicing medicine, piracy has been and still is a reality on the high seas. Famous buccaneers such as Blackbeard, Sir Henry Morgan, and Jack Sparrow, have now been replaced by modern stealthy automatic weapon-toting outlaws that prey upon the massive numbers of marine vessels laden with oil, cargo, and passengers destined for ports around the world. There is, of course, big money involved if you can rob and, most often, hold ransom a commercial boat that will possibly bring the brigands millions of dollars. For in certain parts of the world, there is little security and armed enforcement of the law on the high sea, coupled with poverty and lawlessness in certain countries, there you have the makings for a pirate-culture, outlaws driven to risk their lives to make their fortunes.

Nowadays there are some "hot spots" for pirate activity, just like there were during the "Golden Age" of piracy 300 years ago in Northern Europe, the Red Sea, and the bulk of famous stories coming from the West Indies of the Caribbean. Today, the majority of pirate attacks take place in the South China Sea, Venezuela, the Malacca Strait, and by far the majority, the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden leading to the Red Sea. Most of you have probably at least read one recent news article about the Somalia pirates hijacking a commercial ship or 2 or 3 recently...it's big sensational news and, as we all know, especially in the U.S., anything that can be mentioned with the word "pirate" sells.

What do you do about pirates? This is the question we are most often asked. As much as we try not to think about the possibility and make light of the situation, we are also trying to be knowledgeable about the reality and will do the best that we can not to be a target. We are now beginning to sail into an area of the world where there are pirate attacks and hence this blog to inform our people about the facts as well as our personal situation. I realize this is pretty factual, but it felt like it was easier for me to write out this way to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Pirate Facts in the Indian Ocean/Gulf of Aden:

1. Somalia pirates are a problem and are to be taken seriously.

2. Somalia pirates most often target commercial vessels (over 99% of the time), but, yes, have at times hijacked small sailing yachts.

3. Somalia pirates most often attack ships in the "pirate alley", a stretch of water between northern Somalia and the coast of Yemen, where boats who transit the Red Sea must travel through. However, as the Somalia pirates become more successful and more bold they are venturing further out and some attacks do occur as far south as the Seychelle Islands, Madagascar, and the northern Indian Ocean south of the coast of Oman.

4. Somalia pirates usually hijack vessels and crew, and then pilot the ship to one of the Somalia ports where the pirates live and work. Then they hold the ship and crew for ransom. Many commercial vessel companies pay millions of dollars to the pirates resulting in the ship and crew's safe release.

5. Sometimes the international navy force intervenes on the ocean resulting in modern-day shoot-outs with mixed results. Just recently we heard on the BBC that a Danish navy vessel freed a hijacked commercial ship with over 20 crew on board. Yeah! However, sometimes the pirates get away and sometimes, although very rarely, the commercial crew and captains are killed.

6. Many of the Somalia pirates travel first on traditional Dhow fishing boats, their fast "pirate" zodiac boats hidden on deck under tarps or nets and then only launched when the target is in sight. They have fast engines, maybe traveling at 20-25 knots, and all carry automatic weapons like AK-47's. Most of them are professionals and some of them have made big money in this profession. They know what they are doing.

7. In 2009 a transit corridor for merchant ships was set up approximately 70 miles offshore of Yemen through the Gulf of Aden. This is patrolled by a multi-international group of battleships. Protected ship convoys move together based upon boat speed from 12-20 knots. Some cruisers (especially those not in a yacht convoy) choose to travel alongside the corridor even though their speed is much slower. Some of the time they are alongside a convoy and other times the convoys pass them by and they are alone until the next convoy catches and passes them again. The convoys have in the past never gone at a slow enough speed (5-6 knots) to protect a group of small sailing yachts like us. This corridor is meant for the thousands of commercial cargo/oil ships heading to and from the Red Sea.

8. And lastly, there are hundreds of small sailing yachts that transit these waters to and from the Red Sea safely, each year, with no problems at all. Listening to the radio net every morning, we already know of at least 30 boats ahead of us from the Maldives to Salalah, Oman, who have had an enjoyable and safe passage in the last few weeks. We also know of a few who have already formed small convoys and made it safely through pirate alley to Aden, Yemen.

So with all that being said, here's what we'll do:

1. Starting with our passage from the Maldives to Salalah, Oman, (in a few more days), we will be checking into a radio "net" with around 30-50 sailing yachts taking part at any one time. Every morning we take each other's position (in code so as not to give GPS coordinates over the radio), be available as a community in case there are problems (outside of a pirate attack), and to give/receive any pertinent information to each other. This radio-net doesn't offer us safety from a pirate attack, but does keep us all informed of each other's location and so we all know if there was/is an issue.

2. We will do everything we can to be stealth. We will travel at night with no running lights or mast-head lights on. We will turn off our "sending" AIS signal (If you don't know what this is, you can read the 'Boat Electronics' page on our website). We will keep the VHF on, but not use it unless an emergency. Also, we have pertinent phone numbers in case of a problem loaded into our satellite phone.

3. We will not be posting our usual "position reports" on the Pangolin Yotreps site that you can link thru our 'Where 'O Where' page of our website. This is a precaution just in case the pirates are checking that information for yachts locations. None of the other boats we know of are doing the same, not posting until safe in the harbor of Oman or Yemen. We will send out daily position reports via email only to our families (just so they can sleep at night).

4. Team DK does not carry weapons. In our perspective, do you really think a small sailing yacht can fight off a boat of 4-10 people that goes 5 times our speed and are all carrying automatic weapons? Plus, we have a fiberglass boat, not steel, meaning it wouldn't take much to shoot up the hull of our boat and put us underwater. We believe pulling out a weapon on a group of pirates will probably just escalate the potential for violence.

5. But, the most important thing we will do when we arrive safely in Salalah, Oman, is to be part of a "convoy" of other boats. There have already been small convoys of 3-4 boats that have safely made the passage. Currently there are a couple of large "super-convoys" already being formed with 20 or more boats involved. We are planning on being part of one of these super-convoys in the beginning of March organized by a boat who has led the "Vasco de Gama" rally from the Med to the Red Sea for many years, knows the countries and officials well, and knows how to organize a large group of boats to safely travel together.

6. The convoy will likely be from Salalah, Oman, to Aden, Yemen, through "pirate alley", a distance of around 550 nautical miles. We will be split up into groups of 4-5 boats all staying close together (this will, I'm sure, lend itself to some good stories based on the challenges and frustrations of this reality), traveling along the Yemen coast 10-15 miles offshore. Despite the fact that most of us feel better in convoys, the simple fact is that if one yacht is attacked other yachts nearby cannot really do anything to help. Therefore the hope is that there is safety in numbers and a group of yachts close together will not appeal to the pirates - especially since this has been not been within their normal method of operation. So far, almost every small sailing yacht that has been attacked has been on their own and not part of a group ("convoy") of other yachts. We will hope that the statistics stay true and that we do not have any problems.

7. Lastly, there is recent talk of an Italian battleship escort for small yachts this year. This is in the works and may possibly be a reality. If it happens then we will most likely be part of whatever "convoy" of boats is choosing to be led by this battleship, most likely in the same time frame at the beginning of March heading through pirate alley.

Well, there you have it, hopefully most of your questions are answered regarding pirates and how we will deal with that possibility. For those of you wanting more information regarding pirates around the world, sailing yachts and convoys, recent pirate attacks, and current news regarding the Somalia situation, a very informative website is: www.noonsite.com, with many links you can follow from there.

For those of you that know us, you know we strongly believe in being optimistic and putting out good energy. We know there is a slim chance we could have problems, but we feel there is always a much stronger chance to have problems when you turn that key in your car's ignition and drive to work each morning, then what we have to deal with out here. Regardless, please keep sending us positive vibes and keep us in your thoughts and we will hopefully have only good experiences getting to the Red Sea!