September 5th, 2007 ~ Captain Scott

Port Suez is at the southern end of the canal and we arrived at sunset.There was no practical way to go ashore and so we spent the night on amooring buoy adjacent to an Arab disco. The music was all Arab done in awestern style and beat. Men danced in groups and it was loud. We sailed 3days down the Gulf of Suez stopping each night.

The Sinai on our left was visible as we sailed close to the coast on the right to stay out of the freighter traffic lanes.It was windy but it was an easy lazy sail under mainonly and auto pilot. We sailed through oil fields in poor viability. Boatssailing north would have had a miserable beat. By the afternoons the heatwas oppressive and our ACs saw a lot of use.

The most memorable event was when we were engulfed in a crane migration. Each bird was 3 feet long, black and white, long legs necks and beaks. They flew low over the water coming from the Sinai going westward. The flock was many miles long and divided around us passing very close. Millions of birds as far as the eye could see. Our last night out was in the lee of an island. We had planned to explore ashore. But 30 kt winds, hot desert winds, kept us aboard. On the 4th we arrived at Abu Tig a luxuryresort. Its quite upscale. About half the guests are Arab. Seeing a man driving a small rental powerboat with a woman in a berka was a sight. On the 7th we travel inland to Luxor.