Yesterday, we had breakfast with our French friends at the hotel, then quickly got Kosmos ready to go to sea. We headed over to the other side of the complex, where we pulled into the fuel dock near the harbor master’s office. Like everything in Port Ghalib, the fuel dock is new and modern. Fuel cost $1.15 a liter, which is pretty high, compared to other ports in Egypt, but overall a pretty good deal considering rising fuel costs. We don’t like leaving without polishing the fuel first, but we think it will be pretty good considering the amount of fuel the dive boats must go through. We’ll see how clean the filters are after we start running.
The attendant started fueling us up, and Eric went over to the harbor master and got us all checked out while the fueling was going on. Eric tried to tip the marina staff, and to our shock, they wouldn’t take the money. They said they weren’t allowed. This was very odd for Egypt, where tipping is always expected for everything.
We pulled out of Port Ghalib around noon. The weather forecast said conditions were going to be pretty good. The conditions were slightly worse than forecast, but overall not too bad. The wind was around 15 knots apparent, with small, but rapid interval head seas that had us bouncing. That night, the moon was full and bright, offering a lot of light, and the night visibility was excellent.
After 12 hours at sea, conditions drastically worsened. The wind picked up to 25 31 knots apparent, and the waves became much bigger. We were back to feeling like we were riding a bucking bronco. We were taking quite a bit of water over the bow, and we had to close the pilot house hatch because the occasional wave would make it all the way up there. It was definitely in the “miserable” category and poor Eric got sick. Our speed was also pretty bad, ranging between 4 and 7 knots at 1800 RPM. Grib weather files had much less wind predicted, we hate when that happens.
Around noon today, we made it to the end of the Red Sea, and turned into the Gulf of Suez. The wind was a little better at only 20 25 knots right on the nose, but the seas were still big, sharp, and rapid. We were getting even more water over the bow, and the waves were smacking the pilot house with more velocity than ever. Eric got sicker.
In the Gulf of Suez, we could clearly see mainland Egypt on our left, the mountains clearly visible and appearing black. On our right, we could see the mountains of Sinai, light brown and barely visible behind a layer of haze. The Sinai Peninsula is one of the places the Hebrews (later nicknamed Jews) camped on their 40 year journey from Thebes to Jerusalem. While there, Moses went up to the top of the mountain to commune with God, and God gave Moses the 10 commandments. The foundation of three religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, formed right where we were passing by. And the Sinai region probably looks much the same today as it did 4,000 years ago when Moses was there.
As the day wore on, the wind and seas just got progressively worse. In retrospect, we should have pulled over in Hurghada and waited on better weather, but we naively thought conditions would be better in the Gulf of Suez. That’s what we get for thinking!