Saturday certainly turned out to be an eventful day, what with our little skirmish with the container ship and potential pirates in the morning. It's afternoon by the time we turn the corner at the bottom end of the Red Sea, and into the Gulf of Aden.
The coastline looks rugged and mountainous, quite dramatic. As we pass a few small fishing boats every now and then, the occupants, usually three or four, stand up and wave their arms over their heads.
Given that waving your arms in this manner is an accepted form of international distress signal, this appears to be an unusual epidemic of boats in distress, spread out over several miles. Needless to say we're wise to their game, and leave them to go back to their fishing until someone more gullible comes along.
We'd been hoping to make Aden harbour before nightfall, not least because having only seen Jeddah in darkness, it would have been good to see Aden - supposedly very beautiful - in daylight. We didn't quite make it though, with dusk gathering while we're still ten miles out.
"Fishing boat dead ahead!" Steve Lloyd spots the shadowy shape of a slender boat with outboard motor typical of those used by the fishermen in these parts. The guy on board is clearly rattled to find a powerboat bearing down on him at high speed, and after scrabbling about, he flashes a torch at us wildly.
Lucky for him we've already seen him and taken avoiding action. But it's a salutary reminder that there will be many such incidents of small boats out at night without lights.
We have a few communications problems as we arrive in Aden harbour, but eventually we find the right place to go, although not before attempting to tie up at the wrong refuelling berth, where a guy promptly unslings his AK47 and points it at us. Welcome to Yemen.
After an hour bobbing around in the harbour, a small motorboat comes out to meet us. Alan Priddy, Alan Carter and I hop aboard, to be taken ashore to the harbour administration office. Here we meet Gamal Saddiq, our agent in Aden, who helps us complete the paperwork. When I ask the official in charge whether it's OK to film some of the proceedings, I'm surprised when he nips out and returns shortly, dressed up in a splendid uniform. Obviously out to create a good impression. In fact everyone here is extremely warm and friendly.
Also here to meet us is a journalist from a newspaper in Aden. He interviews each of us in turn, with translations from Gamal recorded on cassette. He wonders what we think of Aden. We tell him we're pleased to be here, and that we're looking forward to coming back some time to explore the place properly.
With formalities and interviews over, we're whisked back to the Spirit, still moored up to another boat in the harbour - accompanied by a large posse of people.
Steve probably wonders what's going on for a minute as the boat is boarded by at least a dozen people, some in the cabin, some on the engine box, others clinging to the railings along the sides of the cabin. Then it's off to the fuel bunker to get our diesel, before heading out into the night, crew back down to four, and our next stop in Oman.
Clive Tully
FACTBOX
Jeddah - Aden
Time of leg: 1 day 18 hours 43 minutes
Distance covered: 758 nautical miles
Average speed: 17.7 knots
Fuel consumed: 1,638 litres
Average fuel consumption: 2.16 litres / nautical mile
Next stop: Salalah, Oman
ETA: Monday morning
Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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