Passage Journal: Yemen to Mersa Dudu

March 1 – 2, 2008

Trip Summary - 221 nM, 44 Hours, Ave 5 knots



Our passage from Aden to Mersa Dudu was mostly, thankfully, uneventful.  It was a combination of motoring in no winds to sailing reefed down in 30 kts.  But even the higher winds and rolly seas were not too bad as they all came from behind.

The Bab al-Mandab Straits held up to their reputation of being windy, but again it was nothing unmanageable.  We had to once again cross a major shipping channel, but compared to the Singapore channel this was nothing.  It also helped that we now had AIS so could see the ships, their courses, and speeds from over 30 nautical miles out.

Just after crossing the Straits Chris threw out a fishing line and by 10am on our second morning we had a nice Mahi-Mahi.  We were traveling with a few other boats who all threw out fishing lines after we announced we caught something.  Amazingly within minutes three of the four boats had a fish!  Not even a full day into the Red Sea and it was already living up to its reputation for good fishing.