Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

Transiting From the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea – Days 3 & 4

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Yesterday morning we rolled up 3,000 hours on the engine. That is 125 days of sea time. 89% of those hours have been put on the engine since leaving for this around the world journey. We calculated the fuel burn so far on this passage. We are getting the worst fuel burn we have ever gotten at 1.7 miles to the gallon. That is what happens when you run consistently at 1900 RPM. We feel moving fast through the dangerous area is worth the cost of the fuel.

We heard on the BBC that the French Navy has been following the captured yacht for 600 kilometers, and that the crew and yacht all seem to be safe. Eric did the unthinkable and talked on the VHF to another yacht. The other guy was a part of the radio net, but we were never able to contact him on the SSB. Eric heard him talking on the VHF, so Eric hailed him, inquiring about what to expect ahead of us, since he was already in the Red Sea. We were already out Continue reading →

Leaving Oman

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The first priority of the day was to get checked out. Muhommed had to go out of town on an overnight trip, so we would be doing check out on our own. We went to the office. No immigration or customs officers were there. We waited, along with a group of other people. We talked to ex-pats who have been living there a while, as well as an Omani guy who is also an agent, waiting to do a check in on an American freighter ship.

After an hour, an officer arrived, the same one who had checked us in. The group mobbed him. Eric tried to get his attention, but he basically ignored us. He helped everyone around us, and then Continue reading →

Exploring Salalah Town

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We slept well last night. The anchorage is calm. It was cool. Christi actually pulled out a blanket for the first time since getting to the tropics. Since it was cool, we could shut the windows and window covers, so it was dark and quiet. Ahhhh. If only every anchorage could be so nice.

The first chore of the day was to wash Kosmos. We know we said we were going to do it in Male. But, it rained hard every day, so we justified procrastination with the fact that at least Kosmos wasn’t getting any dirtier, and who knows, maybe the rain would make the job easier down the road. On passage, Kosmos got very salty from the head winds and seas. It isn’t supposed to rain in Oman for Continue reading →

Welcome to Port Salalah, Dhofar Region, Sultanate of Oman

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This morning the seas smoothed out again and the ride became fabulous. At 0830 local time, Eric hailed Salalah Port Control on the radio. The protocol is to call an hour prior to arrival in port. He gave them all the pertinent details and was told to call back when he got to the breakwaters.

It was a hazy morning, and we couldn’t see land until 0845, and in the distance looked like just a small blob of white contrasted against the blue sea. By 0900, the new breakwater was clearly visible. It so new it is not on our charts. By 1030, land became much clearer. Directly in front of us was a cluster of densely packed white buildings that probably make up the main part of the city. To the left of the city, it looked more industrial, with an odd assortment of buildings grouped in small clusters, ranging from low buildings to high rises, scattered across a dry looking desert back ground. To the right, the shoreline is covered with green trees, with a few buildings cut into the trees along the shore and a few buildings popping out from behind them. It looks like there are large mountains behind the flat shore, but we could barely see the mountains in the haze.

We turned behind the breakwater wall. The water was extraordinarily calm. This is a container port, and the right side is lined with rows of huge cranes for lifting the containers on and off the ships.

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As we continued along, on the left, the breakwater Continue reading →

Celebrating a Milestone – Male to Port Salalah – Days 5 & 6

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Yesterday the wind dropped a little more, down to 12 16 knots, still on the nose. Every day the ride gets a little bit better. Hopefully, this trend will last! For days we have seen no one, but now we are starting to see quite a few freighters, presumably on their way to/from the Red Sea. When we left Singapore, there was an obnoxious guy abusing channel 16. He was singing, whistling, making clicking noises and saying random things. Not only was he annoying, he was tying up the communication line so no one else could use it. When people would tell him to stop, he would attack the commenter, calling them monkeys with small bananas, as well as using obscene racial slanders. Well, guess what? He is back today. Same guy, same shenanigans. At one point someone told him to stop, and he responded by singing that Peter Gabriel “Monkey” song and improvising some of the words, then went off on a foul mouthed racial tirade. He was on the air for pretty much the whole day, so they are probably paralleling us. They would have been out of range sooner if they were going the opposite way.

Today we achieved a milestone. We are very excited to report that at 0310, we made it to the halfway point around the world! We are really proud of ourselves. Our marina in San Diego that we left from is Continue reading →