26 May 2020 – Port Ghalib Egypt (still there)
We have been berthed at Port Ghalib Marina for nearly 11 weeks. This photo is from “happier times” before the lockdown started. We had lunch in BiCafe with our friends on YARA (still in the marina) and BIRD OF PASSAGE (on the way to Sweden).
We planned to stay 4 weeks, and visit the Valley of the Kings – but then the world shut down! A few days ago, we learned that domestic movement restrictions will be eased here in Egypt, but we haven’t seen any sign of it. In fact, they have tightened up following the end of Ramadan. We actually went in a bus to Hurghada (200km North) a few weeks ago, in accordance with the established rules. Although the Senza Mall was open, it was basically just the supermarket Spinneys, none of the restaurants or cafes were open. Now, we learned that if we want to take our boat to Hurghada Marina – we will first have to check-in at the Port (about 400m distance) and complete a 14 day quarantine on our boat. What? We can visit there by car, but if we take our boat, we have to stay aboard under quarantine for 14 days? These kind of rules are illogical, and rampant throughout the world. The next day we checked again, and they said, “oh, the rule has changed, the port is closed”. I think the problem stems from the fact that most countries treat small sailboats with the same bureaucracy as cruise ships and cargo ships. Often, when we clear in, we are asked for “de-ratting” certificates, to complete a declaration of “stowaways” and to fill out a form indicating that we had no people “die on passage”. There should be a way of dealing with a small private vessel with only a few people on boat.
Oh well, we are dealing with COVID-19 like everyone else in the world.
These are our friends Larry and Margie on ALTHEA (US citizens, we first met in Fiji) who have just made their first landfall in months in the USVI, coming from Brazil. They left South Africa, stopping at St Helena (mid Atlantic) and then briefly at a marina in Brazil.
They haven’t been allowed to check in to a country, for more than 3 months – since they left South Africa (pre COVID-19). On arrival in the USVI, they did not have to self-quarantine for 14 days, possibly because they are US citizens, or maybe because they have been at sea so long?
Johan and Tove, Swedish friends of ours on BIRD OF PASSAGE arrived in Sicily (from the Suez Canal) a few days ago. They left Port Ghalib more than a month ago.
In Sicily, they were visited by Quarantine staff, checked and permitted to go ashore. The Coast Guard delivered groceries to them a few hours later, dressed in hazmat suits with gloves, masks, and face protectors. The next day, more Coast Guard staff delivered 20 X 20L new jerry cans of diesel, again – all dressed up. They were told that they shouldn’t have gone ashore. Where is the logic?
These links tell even more stories, involving some cruisers we have come across over the years.
The saddest story that I’ve come across are Patrick and Rebecca on SV BRICKHOUSE.
They left SE Asia at about the same time as us, choosing to go via South Africa, while we went to India and then the Red Sea. They both have COVID-19, and are in South Africa now. Patrick is on a ventilator and in ICU, whilst Rebecca also has tested positive and is in quarantine on their boat. Its a sad situation.