Captain Scott ~ September 20th, 2007

I’m so far behind that it's hard to catch up. We had 10 days on the Nile. Our most up river or southern point was the 1st caterack which is Aswan. Now the old British dam and the new Russian one stops all water traffic. The huge granite boulders that define the old rapids jut up everywhere. Lake Nasser behind the Dam is the largest man made lake in the world. It now floods all of ancient Nubia and extends into the Sudan.

Of the 20 temples flooded, 19 were saved by moving them to higher ground.
We flew to Abu Simbel to the most spectacular. This temple had 4 figures of
Ramses the 2nd each 75 ft tall (the same guy that let Moses go) and 4 more
of his Nubian bride Nefertiti. Moving this temple was a greater feat than building it.

Our last night was in the Old Winter Palace in Luxor. Hallways wider than the streets, huge chandlers, coat and tie required for diner, a hundred acres of grounds----we will never see the likes of this again. And then back by convoy to Pipe Dream. The summer heat is beginning to break and the sail out is delightful to the lee of an island on the 18th. The next day carries us across the Red Sea and around the southern tip of the Sinai and then NE up the Gulf of Aqaba. Saudi Arabia is on our right and the Egyptian Sinai on our left.

We are amazed to find this narrow waterway up to 5,000 ft deep with high mountains on either side. Wind and sea are fitfull. Sometimes we sail pleasantly and other times we power into steep waves and 30 kt headwinds. This morning we made only 16 miles of progress in 4 hours underfull power slamming into steep seas. In the afternoon we had a glorious sail at 9 kts and now in Taba. Israel is JUST ahead on the left and our destination, The Royal Yacht Club of Jordan, is JUST ahead on the right. As I write this, we have Muslim prayers being sung from the dock behind us--its Ramadan