African Ocean Blues

By Carlo Auriemma and Elisabeth Eordegh

Published in Italian in 2001, translated to English 2015

Available on Amazon

Elisabetta Eordegh & Carlo Auriemma are two Italian seafarers who for the past 25 years have lived and sailed all over the world on their sailboat. Whilst traveling by boat started as a hobby, it has become their profession which in their own words is to “use our sailboat to search the oceans for the last uncontaminated realities, forgotten peoples, the last clean environments on the planet, describing and recording these last remaining natural paradises through documentary reports, which we produce for Italian and European television networks, and through the books that we write”.

“From the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean”, translated into English in 2015, is a thumping read about a rarely explored coastline that grabs you from the first page. Carlo and Elisabeth’s infectious writing hooks the reader into their travels by yacht and weaves together very cleverly the stories of the people they meet and the lands that they explore with life onboard in an inhospitable and challenging part of the world.

This book picks up after their circumnavigation. Whilst the book is dated – originally published in Italian in 2001 covering a 3-year voyage from 1994 to 1997 – it is thoroughly enjoyable and will perhaps have you lamenting for “cruising times of old” when red tape was much shorter (or non-existent) and regulations minimal.

Carlo and Elisabeth’s curious and carefree cruising style of following their noses from one anchorage to the next with very little planning is not for the faint-hearted. However, these two cruisers/filmmakers/storytellers are prepared to give anything a go to get the best footage and stories and to truly experience and squeeze out every drop from wherever they drop their hook.

“Every time we see land we’d like to take a look. Every time we decide to pass by without stopping we’re left with the doubt that we might have lost something precious.”

The potpourri of different peoples, smells, tastes and experiences that endure down the Red Sea coast and on into the Indian Ocean, will satisfy any armchair travelers and tickle the taste buds of cruisers perhaps considering this route now that security restrictions in this part of the world have started to ease.

You won’t be able to put it down!

Reviewed by Sue Richards

Editor – Noonsite.com

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