March 27, 2007 - Salalah to Eritrea, Day 3
by George & Merima

Hi Everyone:

"Pirate Alley" is now behind us (big sigh of relief!) and the Red Sea is just ahead.

The wind has still been blowing very steadily down the course line at 16-23 knots, which means that we've had to gybe five times to make our way to the next waypoint. We've made good 165 miles in the last 24 hours, although we've probably sailed at least 200 miles over the water. We're happy to have wind instead of engine noise!

Weaving our way through the large volume of shipping traffic has been our greatest challenge, and we've yet to have any sort of small craft come close or change direction towards us.

On one occasion last night we were headed towards a fleet of five small fishing boats all showing small red flashing strobes, similar to the type that was commonly used in Asia. We gybed away before ever actually seeing any of them.

As of this writing, we have roughly 100 nautical miles to the Gates of Sorrow, the entrance to the Red Sea. We hope to be anchored in Eritrea sometime early tomorrow morning.

Cheers, George and Merima