March 25, 2007 - Salalah to Aden, Day 1
by George & Merima

Hi Everyone:

We've yet to see any dodgy characters out here, nor any of the 15 to 20 knots of wind forecast for the Gulf of Aden. So far it's been 5-8 knots of breeze from well behind the beam, and we've been motor sailing since we departed Salalah. The good news is that we've had a half- to one-knot push from the current as we've been cruising off the coast of Yemen. Our first 24-hour run was 216 nautical miles.

Other than the usual shipping traffic running along parallel courses, we spotted two pods of humpback whales yesterday morning, and a large pod of dolphins played and sang around the boat this morning.

Last night the cell phone went off as we caught reception from Yemen. It's sort of strange to be out in the middle of nowhere, out of sight of land, and be able to send text messages to mates here and there.

We're hoping that the breeze fills in and we can conserve our fuel. If so, we may give Aden a miss and press on into the Red Sea and make landfall in Eritrea, roughly eighteen hours further down the track. We'll make the call tomorrow sometime.

Cheers, George and Merima