We recently completed a transit of the Red Sea and the Suez. I thought the following would be of interest.

We sailed very close to the Yemeni coast staying 5 to 10 miles off the coast. We were approached by the Yemeni Coast Guard two times and boarded one of the times. They were very professional and very courteous.

Considering that we listened to pirate attacks in progress every day on the VHF we felt very safe. Some of these attacks were only 50-60 miles offshore so we were glad to be where we were.

The stop in Aden was very nice. There was no oil in the harbour, the people were very friendly, and the new Lulu Supermarket had all the supplies that you could ever want.

Secondly, the transit through Egypt was interesting, to say the least. Stopping in Port Ghalib is not worth the effort and is very expensive. In spite of the website quotation of low rates for cruising boats the charges were the highest we have encountered in 5 years . . . their comment “the website is wrong and we can’t seem to get it updated”. The new marina in Hurghada is a much better choice.

Suez fees have gone up. The charge for our 50-foot ketch was nearly $700. A French cat 36 feet long paid $550 going North to South.

Frank Balmer