Our stay in Ambon

During the week more than 70 boats anchor off the fisherman's wharf in Ambon. When the diesel trucks arrive, more and more yerrycans appear on the quay, so it's waiting for your turn. Also drinking water has to be brought by yerrycan to the boats (luckily we have our own watermaker/desalinator and there is enough diesel in the tanks).

The welcome ceremony is quite a spectacle with officials of the Moluccan province, dance, music and a big BBQ annex buffet. We all got a 'Sail Bunaken' T-shirt and cap.

Public transport is done mostly by 'bemos' (small buses for 10-12 persons) and 'ojeks' (betjaks or bike taxis). There is a lot of traffic in Kota Ambon and we are stuck in a traffic jam! You can't miss the Pattimura Memorial devoted to the famous rebellion against the Dutch. The Siwa Lima museum is very informative with local and colonial history.

Friday morgning at 10 o'clock is the start of the sailrace Ambon - Bitung (on the NE tip of Sulawesi). There ia favourable wind and it must have been an impressive sight to see the whole fleet leave the Ambon harbour. The first night we have big waves from behind, but after midnight the sea settles down, there is still a following wind and with 2 knots of current with us, we fly ahead. A very pleasant sail!

Slideshow Ambon2

Departure from Marmaris

Ending the stay of 2 years in Yat Marina, Marmaris Alexandra has set sail from Turkey to the Netherlands.
Follow our progress on www.winlink.org; recent position of vessel with call-sign: PE1SAJ.

Marmaris in Turkey

Along the Turkish south coast with high mountains are plenty of bays to have a refreshing swim or find a good anchorage for the night. In many of the places you'll find al least one small restaurant as in Ciftlik on the Marmaris peninsula. The Turkish staff are very friendly and helpful to grab your lines and offer fresh water and electricity. And at the end of the day is it a real pleasure to enjoy one of the dishes in the al fresco family restaurant. It is here that we meet the first Dutch sailors that have their base in Turkey and sail the Turkish and Greek waters. We hear that Marmaris Yacht Marina is an ideal marina annex shipyard with all facilities for both the yacht as the crew. See www.yachtmarin.com

On June 9th we moor Mediterranean style between other boats with flags from mostly Germany, UK, France and the Netherlands and after an orientation of the marina area and the town of Marmaris, we start preparations for our departure home on June 29. The boat will stay (for the moment) in Turkey and we can close a period of 12 years of living, working and sailing on board 'Alexandra'.

Slideshow Marmaris

Kaş in Turkey

For the leg from Cyprus to Turkey we need 36 hours (2 days and 1 night) and from far at sea we can see the high mountains that form the south coast of Turkey. In Kaş we find again a very busy fishing harbour where they really need the new marina under construction to be opened next year. Every day is a coming an going of 'gülets', beautiful wooden sail/motorboats that charter along the coast with groups of 8-10 passengers for a few days. There is hardly any space for 'normal' yachts to anchor, but we are lucky and the harbourmaster helps us to moor 'Alexandra' on the quay 'mediterranean style' (drop your anchor in the middle of the harbour and come slowly backwards to have two mooring lines from the back of the boat to the quay). We can use our aluminium gangway again after so many years and that is an easy way to come from the boat to the shore.

Kaş is an charming little town with squares, crowded streets and a lot of shops and restaurants. In the evening you hear live music and it is easy to come into the Turkish atmosphere. Very close to town is an old amphitheatre in very good condition and it happens that on one of the nights there is a musical performance. Unfortunately in Turkish, so we can't completely follow the story, but the songs and costumes are good and interesting. Looking over the stage we can see the sea and the stars that are getting more bright into the night. A beautiful experience.

Slideshow Kaş

Cyprus

The first stop in de Mediterranean is the small town of Paphos on the westside of the island of Cyprus. We just fit in the small fishing harbour and we are surprised by the amount of tourists that daily come to have a look at the boats. After all it's not too bad to sit down on one of the terraces and enjoy the fresh seafood and the colourful views. And whatever souvenir you want to take back home, you definitively can make a choice in one of the many shops along the quay. We also discover a lot of history in Paphos: the fortress in the harbour itself and the archeological site where they've found the ruins of the houses of some rich Cypriot's from about 2000 years ago. Specially the floors are reasonably well preserved and show colourful mosaics of both fantasy patterns as of pictures from the Greek mythology.

Slideshow Cyprus

Suez Canal

The last miles before the Suez Canal we sail along the impressive hills of the Sinai peninsula. Near the coast there are many oil platforms and oil-rigs with activity of tugs and tankers. In Suez we enter the anchorage for yachts to do paperwork (and payment) for the passage through the Canal. We get a 'pilot' on board and the first part of the passage is a bit disappointing for us: we sail along erected sand dunes where we see every few km's pontoon bridges on the shore ready to launch in case of war to transport men and material to the Sinai side. At the end of the first day we reach the 'marina' of Ismailia, an obligatory stop-over for the yachts. Ismailia turns out to be a nice place and we stay a few days to visit Cairo and the pyramids of Giza.

The second part of the passage offers more variation on the shore. Our 'pilot' tells us there are seven checkpoints of the Canal authorities where they have to report to during the trip. And again we see lots of military observation posts. But also some small towns and several ferryboats to carry people and cars to the other side of the Canal. Most impressive are the big container ships and tankers that either come towards us or overtake us. The Suez Canal is too small for the big ships to pass each other, so there is a strict scheme for the ocean-going trade to leave in convoys. The north- and southbound convoys daily pass each other on the Great Bitter Lake or via a side channel.

Port Said at the end of the Canal is a big and busy city where many boats are moored and tugs and ferryboats speed through the harbour. Once away from the bustle and the shipping lanes the Red Sea and Egypt are behind us and under sail again we see the sun set into the Mediterranean.

Slideshow Suez

Cairo and the pyramids of Giza

We leave the boat in the marina of Ismailia, halfway the Suez Canal, and it is a bright sunny morning when we see the three pyramids of Giza (being in a suburb of Cairo). They are huge triangular buildings that stand already there for over 4000 years. They serve both as a tomb and a memorial for the pharaohs that had them build. Over the years still thousands of tourists show up daily to get impressed and admire the pyramids. Most make a ride on a camel around them. Great and intriguing is also the sphinx, a more than life size statue of a man's head (or is it a female head?) on a lion's body. They suspect it is the head of the then ruling pharaoh and the lion symbolises the extra-human powers. Still very mysterious.

The Egyptian museum in Cairo was founded in 1835 to prevent the robbery and export of the finds of the archeological sites, to bring an order into the valuables and to exhibit them to he public. There is so much to be seen now as you walk among mummy's, jewelry, sarcophaguses, eating bowls and all other trinkets that have been found in the pyramids and graves. All is reasonably well ordered by time period in different rooms. Highlights are still the richness's found in the tomb of Toetanchamom, esp. his pure golden death mask. Inside the museum we are not allowed to make pictures but the outside is interesting enough to give you an impression.

Slideshow Cairo