We have dodged the strong Northerlies again and made it as far as Port Ghalib, which is our official arrival point into Egypt. We now have 1,100 miles of the Red Sea behind us which has taken us 3 weeks - same as a 3,000 mile Atlantic crossing!. We now have only two 100-mile legs, firstly to Hurghada and then to Port Suez, to get to the Suez Canal.

But what an odd place this is!

It is a very smart, recently built marina resort, with a couple of large hotels, a beach resort, and a large precinct with bars, restaurants, shops and apartments. There is a small army of people constantly watering the trees and shrubs, sweeping the pavements and fishing rubbish out of the water. It is also a full Customs and Immigration port at the southern end of Egypt.

But here's the thing - firstly, it is in the middle of nowhere - there are no towns for miles - just desert in every direction. And, even more strangely, it is almost empty. The apartments have their lights on to give the impression of occupancy, but they are empty. The bars have some yacht people and a few holiday makers in them, but most of the tables in the restaurants are empty. And most telling of all, in a place that is miles from anywhere, the car parks are empty too.

To underline what an odd place this is, there is no Egyptian restaurant, though there is a TGI Fridays and a Costa Coffee! Anyway, we took advantage of our first night in port to go to a recommended Japanese restaurant for Tapanyaki - they cook the food on a hot-plate right in front of you; it's real theatre! After three weeks of boat food, the last two weeks of it out of tins, we can't begin to describe how much we enjoyed it!

Neva is also happy to be in a marina again (the last time was before Christmas). She is plugged into mains power to get her batteries topped up to maximum, and she is getting her first fresh water hose-down for 3 months! The layers of salt and sand coming off her have to be seen to be believed!

It is going to take the authorities 2 or 3 days to turn our paperwork round, so we'll relax here until Sunday/Monday and then start looking for our next weather window to get to Hurghada from where we hope to have time for a trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.