Captain Scott ~ October 5th, 2007

At anchor off an island in the Suakin group called Talla Talla Kabir--lat 1848 N lon 38 10 E.. We have stopped for several reasons. Mainly we can not get to Massawa before dark tomorrow. So now we will slow and smell the Roses and plan to arrive in Eritrea at 7am on the 7th. We all have just snorkeled a very virgin reef. Large grouper will let you close. We are watching the sun set with a drink in hand. There is so much dust/sand in the air that sunset/sunrise have a wonderful red glow. A chicken is roasting in the oven. We will not get under way till after diner. With lack of wind we have failed to make up any of the days DHL cost us. As a result I am considering by passing Aden to make up for the lost days. November is a typhoon month in the Indian Ocean and a significant concern. We hope to contract with Commanders weather service for a private weather consult daily via satellite phone. My Skymate is getting iffy as it works on either European Satellites or Malaysia and we will be in between.

Jeff and we all say happy birthday to Clara.

Jeff spent the day getting the 2nd water maker membrane installed--successfully. Yesterday 2 swallows landed on board and huddled together. The female was all done in and I could touch her. The male kept leaving and then returning to her. She spent the night in the cockpit not minding us stepping all around her. In the morning her mate returned and she tried making short weak flights. I tried giving her cookie crumbs and water but she died before noon. The male returned with 3 others (we are now 50 miles off shore) and they camped out all over the boat. I steered for an island and got close to shore. 3 of them made land but the 4th was too weak and died later. An hour later and 7 miles from the island all 3 returned to the boat. A yellow breasted bird has just landed but we are anchored a halfmile off the beach. And so, it’s their problem.

On the last night into Eritera we picked up a flight of 9 more swallows and they camped and pooped everywhere. By morning 2 more had kicked the bucket. And with the dawn we were off the entrance to Massawa. Another cruising sailboat entered with us. Unusual only in that we have not seen another cruiser since we left Abu Tig nearly 3 weeks ago. Eritera became a nation in 1999 when it broke away from Eitheopa in a civil war. Bombed out buildings are everywhere and others show advanced decay. In the 6 day passage from Jordan I used the engine 107 hrs because of calm wind. Also the generator was heavily used to power the ACs---its brutially hot. I had planned to refuel in Massawa. But Eritera has no diesel left. In fact the shops are bare as the country is broke. The port was empty. My port fuel tank reads empty and the other reads 1/8. We have a major problem. Of course we can sail but some fuel is needed to charge the batteries and make water. So we left ASAP headed across the Red Sea to Yemen. I have no guarentees there either and so we are not happy campers. Last night we beat in light air never being able to steer to course as the wind is ahead. We left 16 hours ago and sailed 75 miles. Lots of tacking but otherwise pleasant.