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These
excerpts from Queen of Diamonds: World Cruising relate the adventures
Capt. Ian van der Watt, his crew, and the owners of the 131'2" Feadship
Queen of Diamonds enjoyed during a world cruise from 1996 to 2000.
The 52,000-mile journey began with the yacht—QOD, for short—disembarking
from a yacht-transport ship in Palma de Mallorca and finished in Fort
Lauderdale via Saint Martin; the yacht burned about 156,000 gallons of
fuel, not counting the gensets. The voyage engendered contact with worlds
of contrast and a renewed love of the sea.
We pick
up the story as the yacht, having cruised through European, Greek, and
Turkish waters, enters Egyptian waters:
The
actual trip through the Suez Canal is something to plan for well in advance.
We dispensed of uniforms with boat logos and wore khakis, thus circumventing
the inevitable T-shirt handout. Officials and nonofficials alike came
out of the woodwork. The boxes of cigarettes and whiskey were rapidly
depleted, and we wondered if we would have enough to make the trip; no
wonder this is called The Marlboro Straits! On a serious note, however,
it is not always easy to know who to let onboard and who not: If in any
doubt, always contact your agent.
Apart
from all these disturbances, the actual transit through the Suez is long
(around 27 hours) and monotonous. Once through, we were glad to stop in
Hurghada for some time off before the trip through the Red Sea. Hurghada
has a surprisingly good marina, and some crew members chose to join a
taxi convoy to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Beware that this trip
is around four hours each way, leaving only a short period to view the
tombs themselves….
Everyone
well rested, we took on the Red Sea. I had heard the horror stories about
this sea, but nothing had prepared us for experiencing it firsthand. It
is not a hospitable area, with the deserts of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia
on the west coast and Saudi Arabia on the east coast. The winds seem to
funnel up from the south, creating a sea with no particular rhythm. Most
of the time we felt like we were in a submarine, the rest in a washing
machine. Moreover, the sun and salt was severe enough to strip layers
of varnish off in one day that had taken several weeks to apply. When
we finally reached the Gulf of Aden, there was an immense sigh of relief
from both the crew and, I suspect, QOD herself.
We debated
with our bunker provider where to refuel, as he had received some bad
reports from Djibouti. We contacted Aden and received a warm invitation
to stop there. A genuine reception committee greeted our arrival, and
we were taken into town to see the sights, including the famous British
water cisterns built during WWII. We had lunch in the true Yemeni tradition,
eating with our fingers out of communal bowls while lounging on a carpet
on the floor.
The
fueling was quick and efficient, and we left within 24 hours to make the
transit past the Socorro islands [off Aden] in the daytime. We had subscribed
to a Piracy Alert hotline, as this was an area that had recently been
in the news. Yet, with the crew on full alert, we passed through the region
without even seeing another vessel.
Next page >
QOD continued > Page 1, 2,
3, 4, 5
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