Hello everybody.
Some of you may be receiving multiple copies of this, and some of you are, no doubt, new recipients. I neglected to mention in my last cliffhanger, that my computer blew up in Hurghada. As a result, I got a new one with Windows 7 which does not come with a mail program. After interminable fiddling, I got something working, but it was a real travail to upload stuff from Yahoo including my address book, contacts, whatever, that had the distribution list for my witty repartee. I really didn't keep the Yahoo contacts well up to date and the old list was lost, forever. So---if I need to eliminate or change your address, please let me know.
So, for you newcomers, we last left you on our way to the Suez canal. We arrived fairly early at Port Suez Yacht Club, the staging area for yachts transiting the canal, and got some help tying up to the bow and stern moorings they use. We had contacted our agent, Felix, by phone, on the way in, and everything, unlike in Panama, proceeded at warp speed with the measurer coming out with the agent almost immediately. The agent handles paperwork, while the measurer uses some arcane system to come up with the tonnage of your boat which is the basis on which they charge you. The tonnage is not the weight but rather a measure of the tonnage cargo capacity of the vessel. This system was devised 150 years ago when yachts didn't do the canal. They can really screw you (and this was Egypt), so one of our cruising guides had a method of estimating the number. Complicated, obscure and difficult, I came up with something like $700. Suez is a lot cheaper than Panama, maybe because there are no locks. Anyway, I'm not sure if they came back that afternoon or the next morning, but the number was under $400--a major win in my view. That evening we went out to a local hotel that actually had alcohol in their bar, with a few of the others waiting to transit. Drinks expensive, beer barely affordable, but we celebrated our departure from the Red Sea.
Scheduled to leave the next morning for Ismailia, a mandatory stop for yachts about halfway through the canal, things pretty much went off without a hitch. Three or four of us were going, and the pilots showed up pretty much on time--around 9 AM after the northbound freighter convoy. The canal runs sort of one way, northbound in the morning, south in the afternoon. The canal itself is about 100 miles so we hit Ismailia mid afternoon. The fun starts when the pilot goes to leave the boat. You are expected to tip them--pay baksheesh. In fact, Ismailia had to be the capitol of Baksheesh, as even the guards at the gate wanted tipping. Anyway, we had a very pleasant and respectful pilot so I gave him 100 Egyptian pounds (LE), about $18. The going rate is LE50, but I had used all my smaller bills that morning, and the guy was good, helping moor the boat, handling lines, etc. However, it seems no matter how much you tip, they always want more. Our guy was pretty harmless asking for bus fare back to Port Suez, but one boat was asked to give their $500 binoculars (they didn't). I did not have any more pounds, and the guy finally accepted it. You tie up there with the bow tied to one of their buoys and the stern tied to the wharf which is well fendered. $21/night, but water and power are free. Ismailia is a fairly large town with a strong colonial flavor. Even in ancient times, there were canals from the Nile to there as it is on a large lake. We planned on an extended stop to travel.
On a bummer note, one of our friend's boat was still there, and they had left Hurghada almost a month before us, so I was immediately concerned. Turned out the guy had what was thought to be a mild heart attack, but on review in Austria is more serious. In any event, they had arranged for some guys we know to take the boat up to Ashkelon where we are now, but the idiot Egyptians, for some reason--looking for major baksheesh or whatever--forced the guy to finish the canal transit himself. The latest word is the heart attack was more severe than they thought but the extra hassle including an obnoxious pilot did not help the situation.
Anyway, as you veterans know, there is always a "go to" guy in these ports, and Mohamed, the cab driver, was the guy here. Since this is a port in transit, it is closed off for customs purposes, and they have immigration as well--hence the baksheesh every time you came and went. While the boat was cleared out in Port Suez, we needed to keep our immigration status open to see the pyramids. We had no intention of personally checking out in Port Said and paying more fees as Israel doesn't care. Turned out we were actually staying beyond our sell by date, but immigration, surprisingly, was cool about it. In spite of paying for 90 day visas, we had only been stamped in for 30 days and were exceeding that. But--apparently there is a 14 day grace period. Who knows?? Unbelievable bureaucracy there, but the guy didn't ask for money!!!!!!!!!!!! Back to Mohamed. He can get you cheap diesel at the local price, drive you around and act as a tour guide for the pyramids. We hired him to take us to Cairo and the next day to do the pyramids with us and drive us back. He seems unique among Egyptians, pricing his services reasonably and not having his hand out all the time. As a result he got an extra big tip from me. The other idiots should take lessons. However, he did try to convert Rose to Islam while I was napping on the way back.
As for my ongoing saga with the boat parts, FedEx was undistinguished once again. We finally got them released from Cairo customs who, you will recall, I believe was looking for baksheesh. Unbelievably, after all the delays, the duty was still LE1260--about $250 on a $600 shipment. I has specifically asked if there would be problems about delivering to Ismailia, as Felix had indicated there might be, but was assured no problem. Okay, eat shit and die--I needed the damn parts. I'll pay and have it done with. So they deliver the parts down to the guard station at the waterfront, and the guards won't let me take it in. Something about another clearance from customs. I threw a Donald duck temper tantrum--in retrospect probably not the wisest thing to do with a guy with an AK47--refusing to even consider more baksheesh. Back and forth in Arabic between FedEx guys and the guards. Yada, yada, yada. After about an hour of this, I told FedEx to get it released or give me my money back and send the packages back. Finally, the head cop trying to get by to go home, called someone and some lowly customs guy came down to look at the package for 2 minutes, and they allowed me to take it in. Then, the customs guy had the nerve to follow me to the boat and ask me to sign some other stuff. If there was any alternative, I would never use FedEx again. Of course, they summarily dismissed my request for a refund!!! A-holes!!!!!!!!!
The good news is that now that I've installed the new VHF antenna, which went off without a hitch, I am getting my usual 30-40 mile range, and, from Egypt, there is some weird radio propagation and range increased on the AIS to 200 miles--I'd been lucky to get six. Fun watching the icons for 100's of ships approaching the canal. Yes, I am easily amused these days. Also easily replaced a few other parts that were chafing ropes, etc.
Having done my work, it was time for playing and going to Cairo for the museum and the pyramids. We checked Lonely Planet which was fairly unenthusiastic about the 3 star hotels except for one, The Victoria. 5 star amenities at 3 star prices (about $40/night). A little bit out of the way but excellent value; Tripadvisor confirmed this assessment. Nope. True it was only a short cab ride away from the museum, but the neighborhood was all commercial--all hardware and mechanical for that matter. I could have bought any type of tool and gear up to 100 kilowatt generators, but there was nothing but this for blocks--we're not sure how many, but at least four--around. No restaurants, no bars. That was okay as the hotel has a decent menu. Nope. They messed up Rose's dinner and just shrugged when she complained. The room was okay but small, but none of that would have garnered a complaint except the price had gone up from the expected $40 to $70 and there was no hot water in the morning. Then the guy refused a break on the price and accused me of lying about the water. Took a trip back to the room to prove him wrong. Another tantrum generated no results. I think Egyptians are so used to screwing people they are immune to being yelled at.
Now for the good stuff. The Egyptian museum was awesome. I'd seen the King Tut stuff in Chicago when it toured years ago, but this was the entire stash--almost an entire floor. The info we garnered on the cruise was very helpful as we walked through the various stages of Egyptian civilization from about 3000 BC on.
The next day, bright and early, after a crappy hotel breakfast, Mohamed picked us up. Now we've all seen the movies with the pyramids out in the middle of nowhere, and, I think in the Spy Who Loved Me, they even commented on being stranded out there. Nope. On the west side, it's true there is desert for miles, but they abut the west side of Cairo like a suburb. A 15 minute ride from our hotel. They are magnificent, and I am more than ever convinced that aliens had to build them. There is some recent evidence that the Sphinx is 10,000 years old which would also change the dating of the pyramids to a time when there was a more tropical climate on the Nile, and no known civilization to build them. Whatever. Very, very cool as was the sphinx. We even took a camel ride around--one of the pics is attached as we have pretty good internet right now--and have some awesome pictures. This is suitable for enlargement and framing, but there will be a license fee.
So we were back at the harbor by about 3 and decided to hang out one more day before leaving. We still needed to do some shopping, and the captain needed a haircut. All we needed to do was notify Felix that we wanted to go. The only fly in the ointment is if a warship is going through, they delay any private yachts. Sure enough, we had a French warship come through, and our departure was delayed until about 11:30. Actually that worked out okay as we were planning on departing the canal and sailing straight to Ashkelon Israel about 120 miles away, so that timing got us into Israel at the right time. We had a jerk off demanding pilot, but I just got rid of my remaining pounds--about 90--figuring it would keep him off my back. No luck. I could tell he wasn't happy with the baksheesh, and then he asked me for cigarettes. Still having 4 cartons of Bingos left from Malaysia, I tossed, not threw, him a pack but he took offence and threw them back. Probably wanted Marlboros. It would have helped if Rose hadn't loudly asked me if I was going to give him cigarettes; the guy was probably expecting a carton. I need to keep Rose away from these guys!! I was able to end the crap by demanding my money back in response to which he beat a hasty exit!!! You can not believe the feeling of relief and exhilaration Rose and I experienced on departing Egypt and finally making it into the Med.
In typical fashion, we had little or wrong direction wind for the trip to Israel. you need to steer a somewhat indirect course to stay well off the Gaza Strip and you need to check in with the Israeli navy about 40 miles out. Well, the navy was having some comms problems and conducting some training as well. In addition, I guess they check your info several times to root out undesirables, but it was ridiculous. Really no harm, but they must have checked us 10 times with the same name, rank, serial number stuff, and then, a few miles out, a gunboat buzzed us at about 30 knots and actually made such a large wake some stuff rocked off the shelves and broke. Then they called for the same old info. However, this was the real deal, and the boat bristled with armament so, once again, we grinned and bore it!! Arrival at Ashkelon resulted in several more searches and paperwork, but, all-in-all not too bad with everyone very friendly and us happy to be back in the first world--although it will take some getting used to first world prices!!!
So, we've been hanging out here for a week just chilling and exploring. Right now I'm waiting for the mechanic to check out my oil leak and tomorrow we'll start touring around with a trip to Jerusalem, on which we'll report next time. That's if we're still alive. Apparently, last year some rockets got lobbed over this way from Gaza, and we've heard what sounds like some bombing going on this PM. Offsetting that was the hot topless chick in the little power boat behind us. I say what's a few rockets? I think we'll stay--no sense letting those terrorists scare us off!
Cheers for now
Tim & Rose
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