Passage Journal: Mersa Dudu to Shumma Is

March 6 - 7 , 2008



What we soon began to learn about the Red Sea as that there is either no wind or a lot of wind.  We departed Dudu on the 6th for an overnight trip to Port Smythe.  Throughout the day and night we’d either be motoring in about 5 kts or sailing reefed down in about 25 kts.  There was rarely anything in-between.  The good news is that since we were still in the Southern section of the Red Sea we still had southerly winds, so everything came from behind.

We caught two more fish, a gigantic Trevally and a good-sized Spanish Mackerel.  After our fishing draught of Indonesia we were in heaven!

The anchorage at Port Smythe pretty much sucked.  It was a reef anchorage which didn’t allow for much protection in higher winds (which we had by the time we arrived).  It was safe and mostly comfortable, but too rough to really do anything.  Supposedly there is good snorkeling to be had there, but we didn’t get the chance.