Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, after we skedaddled from that great Sangraneb Reef/Lighthouse back to the mainland trying to beat out the north winds, we threw down the hook and raced to land. First time in a few days. The flat sand cay had a bit of scrub with 2 juvenile osprey's hanging around on their "old" nests, probably looking for handouts. We had a quick stroll before the winds picked up & we were back on the boat for the next 3 days waiting for a weather window. We heard that the pass had good snorkeling but it was way too rough to get there.

We did get 1 small reprieve when we were invited to go to the yacht Silver Fern for a birthday party for Allister ( Yacht Lago Star) . It was his biggy #60... There were 20 + of us packed onto a 70ft monohull cockpit. We shared some munchies and we all blabbed at the same time competing with the tunes.....it was a roaring good time!

The next morning we took a chance and ventured out super early to beat the wind. The rule of thumb here is if it's not howling leave at first light and be tucked in somewhere safe by noon. So, we didn't go too far, just the next bay to the north. We feel like we are running scared all of the time never knowing when the wind will lower the boom. There was a small beach area there where we searched for shells and met up with Tuatara, the only other boat in the anchorage. We played a little beach bocci ball at sunset. Gals against the guys. Pretty soon Dave will be playing all by himself ***##$++**^~##++***

Yesterday we anchored in a "Marsa"(bay) along with 5 other boats. The landscape here is certainly stark. The desert goes right into the sea with dark mountains highlighted in the background. We saw a real tree far off in the distance on a tiny islet near to where we were anchored...the only sign of life. We didn't go ashore.

Those beautiful south winds that were predicted must have all went South, way South. We were out of the anchorage by 6:00 AM this morning and by 10:00 we had north winds over 25 knots on the nose. We choose an anchorage closer than one we were headed for because of the pounding we were taking. The second you turn the boat west towards the land, the full force of the winds hit you. It's like a hot sandy blast furnace. Anchoring in that isn't the most fun. We've already had to re-anchor since getting here at 11:30 (2:00).

We are trying to get to Dolphin Reef 160 miles North to swim with the _______, you guessed it, DOLPHINS! Catherine on The Southern Cross swam with 20 of them all by herself just this last week. But NO, it's too windy for us to get there. So here we will sit for the next 3 days waiting for the winds to ease..

I've probably already mentioned before that this Red Sea is a nasty piece of work.

Coming into this anchorage today felt like Dave was wind surfing Freebird in the Columbia River Gorge. Where is that darn Haschak when you need him??????