I had no clue. How many times will I realize that in my lifetime? There are two seas between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. The first one isn't even called a sea, its called the Gulf of Aden, where most pirate activities are conducted, but not all, not this year. The second is the Red Sea and the gateway to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. The two seas are separated by a squeeze spot called Bab-el-Mandeb, which translates literally to 'Gate of Lamentation'. Webster translation: "the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping". It is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa and Djibouti, where we are. It is our next leg of the journey. El Bab was honking. We are talking 30kts plus winds and 15 to 20' waves. So while we were having Mai Tai's in the cockpit (a little joke, no booze in muslim world), some brave solo sailor had gone out and faced roaring winds and high waves at the Lamentation and things got so bad he abandoned his boat. He was elderly and had to climb a rope ladder up the side of a bouncing freighter off his galloping sailboat. He survived with nothing but his passport and souvenir boat docs. So what did we do? We sat in Ashika's cockpit shaking and drinking Mai Tai's (a little joke, no booze in muslim world) while we waited for no weather, as in no wind if at all possible because any wind is from the pointy end. That meant we were the last to leave, as per our motto: Dont leave Paradise to Find Paradise or We're Always the First Boat of Next Season's Boaters or our favorite; Chickens of the Sea Finally Go For It. And so we powered through the Bab on beautifully calm seas and light desert breezes. The next morning I woke to a pungent fish smell and went to make sure Dois was okay. He was. He pointed to a Blue Whale Momma with her young one close by. They were obviously feasting well and there breath was strong evidence. The smaller one spent most of the day exploring our sailboat. He would swim over on to his back, and sweep under our keel belly up, checking all our thru-hulls while Mom kept an eye on the playful pup, surfacing and spouting making her presence distinctly clear. They spent the entire day with us, only leaving as the sun started to set. We arrived in the desert oasis of Fawn Cove just in time to tuck in and wait for the north winds to wear themselves out. Leaving the bay a few days later, we were once again graced by nature. The largest pod of Dolphin we had ever seen swarmed around our little boat. And the best part? They stayed with us all day; cavorting, hunting, making babies and generally frolicking to our great delight. Young ones would group up and synchronize their jumping while fat little babies stayed closer to the mommas. There were hundreds of dolphin surrounding Ashika. Some were spread out ahead of the boat, hunting, cavorting and some were bow riders or bringing up the rear. They were with us for so long, we started recognizing familiar ones. I wore out two camera batteries and filled up a couple of 64gbit cards. I will have to get around to making a few movies of this adventure. Arriving in Suakin was amazing. It used to be the busiest and richest port in th Red Sea. Ramses III had a palace here. Now the once majestic city is only crumbling coral buildings inhabited by goats. It is here that we met Mohamed. He would be our agent and friend. He is a brilliant agent, can accomplish almost any request with speed, he is honest and he has only one leg. He has diabetes, like me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 in Indonesia. The doctor said “Take this prescription and don't worry”. So I took the medicine and mostly ignored the problem. I visited a pharmacy while in the Komodo Islands to get more medicine and a nurse there offered a blood glucose test. I prefer my friend Blissful Ignorance, but took the test anyway. The result was unacceptable. I think the nurse wanted to call an ambulance. I have a family history of diabetes and should not have checked my immortality at the Ice Cream Parlor door. So I took a deep dive into the world of diabetes and in between the horrifying facts and the amazing basics of how our body works, I found something important; hope. There was only one solution for me; I had to kick Blissful Ig. to the curb. (She pointed out every friggin donut shop on the way back to the boat). I would discover a whole new way of eating and was prepared to drag Dois along. No need, he was enthusiastic and happy to embrace the change. Mohamed lost his leg to diabetes, which is tragically common all over the world. He has plans to get a prosthetic leg in the near future. Somehow, in this donkey and camel driving place, he has acquired a very capable car. The small community of Suakin has little in the way of medical support and he travels long distances for assistance of any kind. Mohamed managed to give all three of his children a higher education and two are working in the capitol city while helping the third one to graduate. He will join them there during the summer when it is too hot to remain in Suakin. I am hopeful for him and his family and grateful to him for all his help while we were here. The Red Sea is home to both good folks and bad, as is every place, but here there are experts on terrorizing boats and their crews. There were 2 incidents on sailing boats just behind us. Add uncharted reefy bits (no modern cartography), isolated shoals, high winds on the nose and you have good reason to question your sanity taking on this challenging route. One great reason to celebrate the journey are the isolated anchorages that can be found along the way and the safe harbor they provide from the north winds. Birds proliferate the islets with great flocks of sea birds. Osprey scream and scare the cat. And there's lots of life in the water as well. A huge cuttlefish came to visit us in one of our anchorages making eye contact like he had many questions. I think he wanted to know why the cat was so bored and so followed him around a bit. When the winds die down and we have worked up enough courage to stick our nose out into it again, we will likely be blessed with the abundance of sea life in this area. While hundreds of boats, tankers and cargo ships push their way north and south just a few miles to the east, we are greeted by huge pods of friendly dolphin and their fat little babies. Whales make a show while their off spring examine the little boat on their ocean. After traveling halfway around the world, we caught our first Wahoo. The reefs attract divers from all over the world, no doubt they heard Jacque Cousteau lived underwater here. Its because the reefs are packed with enough life to make fat baby dolphins. Peace.
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