18 May 2017
We have been travelling on the dhow since Monday, 15 May,
nearly 3 days now, and still have nearly
450km to go. We have stopped for about
an hour while the engineer does a repair to the main diesel pipeline, the
captain came to ask if we had any tubes that could be cut up to effect the
repairs. Larry went down into the engine
room with some duc tape and between them they have got it running. Good old duc tape. We
will use the tube if we really have to but we won’t be able to find another
tube until at least Nairobi and then we may have to courier it up so that is
our last resort. While stationery a call comes over the radio, the first one
that I have heard in English : Security Security – Code Red – pirate activity
in the area of XXXXXX and co-ordinates.
Please report any suspicious activity on channel 16. Larry told the captain and the Indian flag
was un-ceremoniously raised at the back of the dhow. We have seen lots of ships on the horizon and
one military looking boat with a huge helicopter on the back, hopefully the
pirates stay down south of us! We only
started seeing ships today, before that we saw the occasional Yemeni fishing
boat.
The food is very basic and fiery hot, my lips and belly burn
for about 2 hours after eating it. It is prepared in the most basic of
conditions by a young Indian guy. Always
has a pleasant smile. The crew have all
gone out of their way to be kind and treat us like royalty. I have found the lack of ablutions to be difficult
but once again the crew have been great.
It is hot and sticky on the dhow so a good bucket bath after dark is
great. Fresh water is limited, two large
containers strapped to the deck and a cup to get it out, the level is dropping
quickly and you really have to lean in to reach the water. There is more fresh water below deck that can
be pumped into these two containers. The
captain speaks very little English and the owner slightly more, so lots of hand
signals to try and get ourselves understood. Dominoes and cards are played by the crew most
of the day and we taught them how to play spoons, Larry played while I showed
them how, lots of laughter all around.
All the crew chew beetle nut, this comes in a tin and looks like a large
nutmeg and they chop it up and mix it
with some other tinned stuff and then I think they use it like snuff, lots of
spitting overboard and badly stained rotten teeth.
There is nothing for us to do on board, so lots of reading
and playing silly games on our cellphones, Larry has done some birdwatching,
seen a few new birds. A couple of pods
of dolphins have been seen off in the distance, the first pod the dolphins
looked very small while the second pod they were huge. There has been little to no wind which has
made the sea extremely flat and it looks inky.
It is a brilliant blue and looks crystal clean. Humidity is very high but we have been lucky
with slightly overcast skys.
The crew run fishing lines behind the boat, where they
supplement daily fresh meat, with fish. In
total, 5 fish were caught, 4 large dorado, and 1 tuna. There was also a live goat on board, which
was slaughtered on day 2 of the voyage.
20 May 2017
We arrived in the port at about 4.30am, just as the sky was
turning pink. We were told that we would be tying up next to some other dhows,
when we arrived at the designated place we would have been dhow number 4, but
the captain who we were to be next to was having none of that, lots of shouting
and eventually he pulled a knife out and threatened the crew on our dhow. He started up and moved to next to a large
container ship. Good riddance to bad rubbish and lucky for us as well, the dhow
right at the wharf was a Dubai registered dhow and the one in between was a Pakistani
one. Much fascination to see two expats
on board. Now the waiting game started,
nothing could be done until our clearing agent arrived, we phoned Satish at
about 6.30am and he was at the port before 8am.
This was more of a wonderful favour that Gavin (a South African living
in Djibouti) had arranged for us. We now
had the problem of getting the bikes off dhow number three (thank goodness
rubbish had moved) to the wharf. There were cranes on both of the other dhows,
and the bikes were lifted from dhow number three to dhow number one by dhow
number two and then dhow number one lifted them onto the wharf. Lots of help from all three dhows and we had
to scramble across all these dhows.
Grannies are not made to do this and I was a lot slower than everyone
else, but had lots of encouragement and help – hold on here, pull that, put
your foot here!
Once both bikes were safely on the ground we had a group
picture with the crew that helped, port security arrived and I was shouted at
and told to get back on board, lady must be fully covered. Larry and I were called by the immigration
people and I descended the ladder with bottles of waters and my camera and was
once again told to get back on board.
Nafeer, once again thanks to Gavin, took us to immigration where a fully
covered lady helped us, we were given a 30 day visa for Somialand. Nafeer then drove us to the Maansoor Hotel on
the outskirts of Berbera, very simple accommodation but clean with an en-suite
bathroom and an air-conditioner. We have
been planning on riding to Djibouti but believe that the 420km journey will
take more than 16 hours in a Land Cruiser, not sure if we want to do this on
bikes so looks like we will head to Hargeisa once we have cleared the bikes
through customs tomorrow, apparently there was a three day holiday here. (Without the amazing help from Gavin I think
that we would still be stuck on the dhow
until tomorrow). So we may skip
Djibouti and head straight for Ethiopia, about 160km to Hargeisa on a good road
and then 90km to the Ethiopian boarder.
Good internet has allowed us to catch up with family and
friends and I know that there was particular concern about out crossing of the
Gulf of Aden, so thanks for all the well wishes.
S
