We approached the channel entrance at 0000 (midnight). The prudent thing to do would be to do circles until dawn. Since this is a brand new development, we didn’t have charts. The main channel buoy light was out. But there were additional channel markers that were visible, with an entrance buoy and red and green flashing lights. The whole development is well lit, and the ambient light made it bright enough to see well. The wind was still and the sea completely flat, helping with visibility. We decided to go for it. We called Port Control. They told us to proceed to tie up at the receiving dock, the sea wall immediately to the right when we cleared the fairway.

We slowed down to three knots and proceeded slowly through the short entrance and were to the wall in 15 minutes. There were three men waiting for us at the receiving dock to help us tie up. They were quickly joined by 6 more, one in uniform. They collected our paperwork from us and had us fill out a couple forms. They never actually stepped aboard. They said to wait here until we got our clearance, which should be around 1000, and then we could proceed to the marina.

From what we can see in the ambient light, this place is swank. The buildings are nice and there are some flashy megayachts tied up along a sea wall near us. It is calm and flat, a welcome relief after the last two days of hell aboard.

We were both anxious about all that we need to do before we leave the country in roughly 36 hours. So, rather than going to bed and getting some rest, we went to work. Eric changed the oil on the main engine since it would be sitting for a while, and we did not want to leave dirty oil in the engine. Christi started packing. After crossing a few things off the “to-do list”, we felt better and went to bed around 0200.

In the daylight, we could see the resort complex looks exactly like all the new apartment complexes and commercial buildings that have been going up in the suburbs of Southern California in the last few years. The landscape is also the same as you would see adorning those buildings at home. Beyond the development, the scenery is small rolling hills of barren desert, looking much the same as Oman. There is construction equipment on the undeveloped lots along the bay. If we didn’t know better, we would think we were standing in the outskirts of Temecula, CA in the summertime (except for the bay, of course). The marina looks to be simply the sea wall surrounding the resort complex within the bay. The yachts lining the sea wall look even more expensive in the sunlight. The water is a beautiful shade of aquamarine blue, and is completely clear down to the bottom. Usually marinas are polluted, so we were surprised.

A custom trawler that looks an awful lot like a Nordhavn 46 pulled in behind us at the check in dock. Eric went to talk to them. It was a nice custom built boat that was very similar to our design. We were both surprised to see each other, since our kind of boat is rare. They were just going to get checked into the country, rest for a few hours, and move north.

We noticed that a crew was setting up a stage and sound system on one of the little islands in the bay. We asked one of the staff about it, who told us tomorrow there was going to be a big jet boat race. We go in just in time, because they were going to close off the entrance for the next day.

At 1215 the boat inspector came. He walked into the living room, glanced around and said “Nothing to declare, right? OK. Only you two on board? She is crew? She is your girlfriend?” We clarified Christi is Eric’s wife and he nodded and said it was nice to meet us and left. Talk about easy! At 1245, someone delivered our stamped passports and customs and port clearances. Once again, really easy paperwork here. The guy hopped on board and directed us to our spot, on the other side of the resort complex in front of a hotel. There were two guys waiting to help us tie up.

Once tied up, the marina staff worked on getting us water and electricity. Eric started working on removing the bad alternator belt. Also, he noticed a very small oil leak and a leak in one of the stabilizers, but wasn’t able to track down the location of either. Meanwhile, Christi set about searching for transportation to Cairo. We have plane tickets out of Cairo to LAX, but all the flights from here to Cairo were booked. There are no trains or public busses that run from here, and no car rental agencies. Our only transportation option was to hire a car.

Getting water turned into a minor hassle. The hose was extremely long and the connector broke. The staff didn’t have any tools handy, so Eric dug out the necessary tools. Once he had all the tools out, the staff fixed it quickly. After Kosmos was filled up with water, we used their hose to wash her. Port Salalah is a dusty place, and she was covered with a thick layer of dust when we left. With such heavy waves from all directions, every inch of Kosmos was covered in muddy salt. It was gross. We gave her a good scrubbing, but she definitely needs some TLC when we get back.

Getting the electricity working also wasn’t smooth. We do not normally plug into electricity. And for 220 volt systems, we only have a battery charger. It was one of the last things we added to the boat, and it was during a hectic time. So we did not have the wires labeled. So we needed to trace wires so the electrician could see how it was wired up. But after we checked everything we got it working. Yay! An electricity source is important to us. Without it, we’d have to turn off the freezer and toss all our frozen food when leaving the baot for a long time.

We have to say that we have been very impressed with the staff on the whole. They are efficient, friendly and incredibly helpful. When curve balls get thrown at them, they happily take care of it.

After the boat was scrubbed, we started on the usual chores for short term non-use, such as putting the window covers up, flushing the water maker, setting up the dehumidifier, and so forth. Most of the stuff is last minute that we’ll do tomorrow, but we did get as much done today as we could. We also did some laundry.

Normally, we would have tied up and gone to lunch immediately for our celebratory meal, but today the celebration had to wait until dinner. We ate at the hotel. They were having a buffet, so we got to try some new foods. Most of the food wasn’t labeled, so we can’t tell you what most of the dishes are called. One of the few items labeled was called “Bird Tongue” Soup. Christi opened the lid and peered in. It looked like chicken broth. She carefully stirred the soup and pulled up several ladels full, looking for anything that might be a bird tongue. All she saw was rice. She decided it was safe and filled up a bowl. It was pretty much chicken broth with a little rice, and was quite bland.

There was a lentil salad that looked exactly like the one we showed a picture of at the Oman buffet. We were surprised to find it tasted much different. It was made with a very salty curd or cottage cheese and it wasn’t very good. There was a salad that turned out to be simply shredded carrots and shredded coconut. For being so simple, it was pretty good. There was a salad with kidney beans, peas, bell pepper (capsicum), onion, and chopped fresh herbs in a vinaigrette that was awesome.

There was a dish that looked like hummus, but tasted like it was made with artichokes instead of chickpeas. We both love artichokes, so we liked that one a lot. There was another dish next to the artichokes that looked like pureed vegetables, but this one was a orangish-brown. We are pretty sure it was beans, but the taste, texture and look was very similar to canned dog food. We didn’t like that one at all.

There were some pastries that turned out to be deep fried and filled with a tasty cheese. They were really good.

The highlight of the meal was one of the main course dishes. It was eggplant and bell peppers baked in a cream sauce with sautéed onions and a thick layer of cheese on top. It was really, really good. [104]