Port Aden – Past the Pirate Zone at Last..

by Sail-World Cruising/Ian Potter on 5 Apr 2006 Sundancer II is just one of the boats just past the pirate zone heading for the Red Sea on the way to the Mediterranean. Skipper Ian Potter filed this report from Aden.

'We were not really worried before we left Salalah, Oman, which was our last stopping off point before going through the ‘Pirate Zone.’ The convoys that had left seemed to be very well managed, and the Coalition Ships which patrol the Gulf of Aden were reported to be taking much interest in the welfare of yachts passing through this year.

SALALAH TO PORT ADEN:
'Nevertheless, because of the perceived pirate threat, we left Salalah in a convoy named ‘The Seven-Up Fleet’ with six others. We stayed about 60 miles off coast the coast of Yemen. It was a very slow trip as there was no breeze until last 2 days, and it proved very hard to manage the convoy as a result.

'I was nominated flotilla leader. Trying to get close formation especially at night was difficult with yachts at different sailing or motoring abilities - one Aussie boat had gear-box troubles and water pump problems from Day 1. Then 'Sir George' (see Sail-World story) had continuous fuel, motor, generator and sail problems.

'We stood by him at one stage for a couple of hours with many small high-speed fishing boats hanging around. However they were very friendly and only looking - whenever they saw a school of fish they were off. At one stage 'Island Girl' took him in tow for about 15 hours. So our speed most of the time was only about 4 knots allowing for much time waiting while repairs were made.

'Each day we were in contact with a Coalition Warship and gave our position.

'A day out of Aden we passed close by a large container ship (Hyundai Fortuna) which had been on fire for past 2 days. It was drifting west at about 2 knots, had lost many containers aft and there were fire fighting tugs in attendance. Soon after we went past some floating containers - bright orange, looking like tents and/or life rafts from a distance. We also passed many boogie boards, so I guess the locals would have been happy a few days later when they washed up on the shore.

CRUISERS’ DETAILS ABOUT THE PORT OF ADEN:
'Aden has been very friendly, the anchorage is clean, and fuel is about 52 cents US a litre. There’s water at Prince of Wales Pier, and you can also get any kind of refrigerant gas here. It was the easiest check-in so far, but the customs man wanted a ‘present’.

'At the west end of the anchorage there are old cables and a few boats got their anchors stuck there. There is also the Seamen's Club, which is about the only place to get a drink and other services apart from the large international hotels. It is very very noisy with music booming until about 0400 each day. This meant that most yachts moved further west.

TOURING:
'We had a ‘kind of’ agent called Ahmed Ali Hasson who was very good and negotiated us through any problems. He took us on a tour of Arab Town that blew us apart!

'We also went on a tour to the capital Sana'a for a few days - this also was a great experience - to see the countryside took a seven-hour bus trip there. The bus was stopped six times and the only people they ever checked were - us. Later in Sana'a a United Nations worker told us they were keen to make sure visitors were OK after some trouble a few years ago.

'Quite often we had to eat in the family part of restaurants. This was normally upstairs and curtained off - like in a hospital - so that women can remove headgear to eat. However at other times local men made room for us and we were given tablecloths (newspapers) and the food was excellent. ALL the men - and I mean EVERYBODY - has a huge dagger (Jambiyya) stuck inside a wide belt. So now Sundancer has a new cockpit knife (don't know about salt water though).

'Yemen seems much poorer than Oman but the people, if anything, are even friendlier. We have never felt threatened anywhere - the same as the rest of our trip so far.

ONWARD TO THE RED SEA:

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'There are still about ten boats here in Port Aden, about the last of this year’s fleet. We leave tomorrow with a couple of other boats for Hanish Islands and then on to Eritrea. More reports to come later….

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