Having been awhile at home I was contacted by my ex Ch Mate to do a short delivery of m/y Kalizma from Djibouti to Turkey and as I thought I have time I agreed on it readily and as I had been on her several years ago, last time back in 2012, I knew the yacht and her flaws. She had since 2012 been refitted and undergone survey to become a commercial yacht under Cook Island and successfully chartered in Indian Ocean the past years.
Said and done I received my flight tickets a few weeks later after the initial contact and flew down to Djibouti via Istanbul. Arrived more or less on time and exited the plane to go through the formalities I got the 1st indications of being in Africa.
Had to shell out bribes to get my arrival stamp, of course no receipt was given but got the stamp. Same was for the other seafarers behind me in same line, totally open and accepted. At the Customs I was made to open the bag and it was rooted around in, luckily nothing illegal was found and I could continue out of the terminal and find my ride.
Planned voyage Djibouti to Turkey, possibly Bodrum
As it was already dark I could not see much of the surroundings during the trip from airport. The street lighting was pretty poor and darkness was all pervasive. Finally we passed the port gates and few hundred meters after arrived to Kalizma that sat small and forlorn along the grubby jetty. She has sat there since the unfortunate altercation along he Yemeni coast last April.
Loads of news outlets issued all kind of articles not knowing much anything of the incident. Not commenting myself but I've pasted below few links to various online sources repeating more or less the same mantra which each and everyone can then interpret as they like:
1. Maritime executive 28th April 2023
2. Yemen coastguard 28th April 2023
3. Cook Islands news 29th April 2023
4. South24 29th April 2023
5. Arab news 29th April 2023
6. Superyachttimes 1st May 2023
7. Marine insight 2nd May 2023
8. Gulf states news 6th May 2023
Although the high risk area was officially declared not a HRA anymore there obviously is still some volatility in the area. Boat International has written an article on the issue and few recommendations. Myself I would recommend following the latest best management practices (BMP is freely downloadable) and follow the recommendations of their underwriters and management. Most likely this would be still with armed guards although I passed there with a sailing catamaran in same area a year ago without incident nor armed guards. But I digress, lets continue.
Ganpati in shipsoffice keeping us safe
Kalizma was dusty and dirty, the peninsula is a dry and arid area. Fresh water cost an arm and a leg here and washing her off would have been a futile exercise because the constant dust blowing around. The port looks like nothing has been done to it since the French administration was there. Although there was some developments; since my last visit a year ago another floating drydock had been installed. It looks huge and would be able to cater to the needs of the largest cargo ships out there with dimensions of 217 m long, 37 m wide and 10 m high and lifting capacity of 21.100 tons displacement. Apparently built by Dutch Damen it was inaugurated by the Djibouti president in July 2023. Security was tight around the area as opposed to the smaller drydock next to our berth, anyone could walk onto it. The new dock has cost $200mil and is the largest in the region, I would hazard a guess that similar capacity closest to be found are in Egypt, UAE and India. I hope the venture will be successful.
Dhow's alongside
Port of Djibouti, warehouses
Port of Djibouti, warehouses
The port had plenty of the local dhows of different sizes trading in the area. I'm guessing most of them built in UAE or India. Was told they trade mostly to war torn Yemen and down the coast. Usually cargo handling was done during hours of darkness when it was cooler, hence daytime one could see the laborers lying about in the shade of the dilapidated warehouses. When I was in Dubai I saw plenty of these ships loading in Dubai creek for Iran.
Kalizma aft deck
Kalizma poop deck
Workers waiting for cooler times to start labouring
Port of Djibouti
Port of Djibouti
Port of Djibouti
Workers milling about
Port of Djibouti
Port of Djibouti
Wooden dhow
Massive wooden dhow
Dhow loading livestock
We arranged one day a driver to take me and C/E Sunil around the city, it was a pretty fast tour as it is not large and it was hot, really hot. Made a walk around the shopping area where they sold knick-knacks for pretty affordable prices. Clothing shops sold mostly Asian and Egyptian textiles. The khat shops were still closed as the daily delivery had not yet arrived by train from Addis Abeba, not that we would have bought any, just observed the multitude of them. Below are a few pics of places we saw. To top it all we stopped at a cafe for coffee and I hazarded myself a bottle of sparkling water with ice (maybe a mistake!).
Recently celebrated independence day of Djibouti
Djibouti city
Djibouti city, common sight
Djibouti city
Djibouti city, beach
Djibouti city, refreshment kiosk
Djibouti city
Djibouti city, posh area
Djibouti city
Djibouti city, bottle shop
Djibouti city, beach
Djibouti city
Djibouti city
Djibouti city
Djibouti city, minivan
Djibouti city
Djibouti city, local truck
People's palace of Djibouti and statue of a liberator (built by PRC in 1984)
Then one morning I woke up to the scene a bit different as usual. There was a big crowd on the jetty in front of us and some debris floating on the water. Turned out a dhow had loaded 400 bags of beans the previous night and then capsized or something, still whatever the reason, she sunk where she was moored. The crowd was port officials and probably cargo owners and presumably crew all waving and hollering. Then a day after I think either divers were discharging beanbags or they just swelled and floated up on the surface, the whole basin was full of white bags floating around. At least they had rigged a boom around where she had sunk so the majority was inside the cordon. Then a part of the wreck came up too, it looked to me like the bow was made of GRP and had parted from the rest of the hull. I could also spot a fishing line drum on the bow peeking out of the water. Whatever had happened we suffered from clogged water intakes from those beans. Our Engineers were not happy.
Port of Djibouti, Kalizma
Port Djibouti, capsizing
Port Djibouti, capsizing
Port Djibouti, capsizing
Port Djibouti, capsizing
Port Djibouti, capsizing
Then another day I spotted a steel hulled sailing boat with Russian registry motoring out of port. I surmised to my own amusement that it's probably a lesser oligarch on a world tour whilst the war is going on with Ukraine. He had his wife onboard too. Boat looked tough though with steel hull, good for rough of weather.
Port Djibouti, dhow
Russian "mini-oligarch" departing
Russian "mini-oligarch" vessel
New Djibouti shipyard as mentioned above
Then another day we had a dhow loading astern of us. The truck discharged the cargo on the jetty and longshoremen started packing the hundreds of cases of vodka in big bags. In the end it was all manhandled onto the small dhow and I was impressed that the small vessel could load so much, Also lot of speculation was raised around the coffee table as to whom the load of drink was destined to. Then on the 3rd we had had our last repair survey and also received our remaining safety gear & bunkers so we were ready to depart. Also took on fresh water, it was a very expensive commodity so the boat hadn't been washed down for months, it would have been a futile exercise anyway with all the dust blowing around all the time.
Port Djibouti, cargo arriving to our neighbour
Cargo discharged on jetty
Cargo being prepped for loading
Loading cargo onto the dhow
Then on the 6th we received onboard the security detail. Then 7th August we departed late in afternoon (after waiting for the pilot for several hours and getting postponement after postponement), it was a bit tricky to turn around in the basin as I had no working bowthruster at this time. I got her slowly to swing around but she was very heavy going. It was due to added 29t of fixed ballast to comply with stability requirements that was the issue back in the day when I made the research and inclination experiments with Mr Mishra, our Indian naval architect back then.
Eritrean Navy
Even the pilot was haranguing me to go faster and to give presents. Unfortunately he didn't get any presents being so many hours late so he left in a huff. We sailed on into out of port limits (OPL) to take on arms and then we continued north leaving the Moucha Islands to our starboard side. During night the wind gt up but we got good shelter from waves from the land as we hugged the Djiboutian coast. Next day we were still skirting the coast and passed Bab El Mandeb (Gate of Grief or Lamentation) and into Eritrean territorial waters. It didn't take long for the Eritrean Navy to make an appearance and they were making all kind of signs and gestures for us to stop (except talk to us on VHF). I was tired so I had no interest in stopping and entertain their song and dance so I turned the course off the coast and held them off feigning stupidity until we reached the Yemeni side and they left us to go on our way. I sure got my portion of grief that hour I had with them.
Eritrean Navy
Traveler on our bowsprit
We followed the TSS past Hanish Islands in evening of 8th and then had to veer off WNW of the Eritrean archipelago when TSS ended. There we had a rendezvous with a floating armoury on the 10th and experienced a traffic jam as there was us and 3 other cargo vessels picking up/ dropping off gear and staff. We were slow puttering along at 6kts so they handled all the big boys first and then us. At the same we also disembarked the Indian security contingency. The weather was fine until then but winds kept increasing from N or NNW so I kept to W side of Red Sea and followed coast of Sudan and then Egypt.
Floating armoury
As we had dropped off the security and hardware I came down with gastroenteritis I think. Was completely flat for 24hrs alternating between the throne and bed as the boys handled my watch. I'm guessing the ice in the Djibouti coffee shop had it's revenge in the end or something. Anyway, 11th evening I was already doing my watch again with dry undies.
Floating armoury launch
Dropping off security
As we kept going then by the 15th the yacht pitched like there was no tomorrow but she didn't roll one degree, the fixed ballast made sure of that. As we passed Safaga we had relatively good sea conditions but then we entered Bay of Suez it became pretty bad, heavy seas 3-4m to start with that got lower and lower as we progressed. Wind increased to 7-8Bf from NNW and we entered the TSS. At times we dipped the bowsprit into the sea and then the poop deck as we were pitching so heavily. Speed was still 4-5kts so we kept going slowly creeping towards Suez.
Suez, coaster at anchor (old Japan build)
Suez, livestock carrier
Suez anchorage
Suez, Ever Given waiting to cross
Suez, coaster at anchor (old Japan build)
Then we finally made it to Suez on the 17th and we were allocated anchorage for the inspection, we also wanted to get some engine service done so we could go faster than 6kts. Quotes etc had been gotten and agents involved to organise everything. Then I got word that we will not be granted any shore services, only Canal passage, well not very nice and I'm sure it was due to the earlier altercation in April. Was told that there is somekind of letter circulating from the Yemeni Gov't. I asked Agent to book us on next transit but it was too late for same evening so it became the next. Due to our current speed I'd reported we were put as last in convoy.
Suez canal, mosque
Then late in evening 18th before transit we got unannounced visitors, they had no uniforms on but claimed to be from Egyptian Navy, some 7 guys boarded and the leader asked for documentation from us and started rooting around in every cabin and nook and cranny they could think of and find to look in. The leader kept asking if I wanted the inspection to finish soon and I said of course, he looked at me quizzically but didn't then name his price. I'm sure any "presents" wouldn't have done any difference. They remained onboard and asked a lot of silly questions like "have I had any issues with other ships?" Well, "not me, don't know of anyone else". In the end, instead of spelling it out straight they wanted to know what happened at the Yemeni coast and had the Captain on leave talk to the naval officer. Then printed out the incident report from the time. After that he was happy and they departed.
Suez canal, memorial where Ever Given grounded
Then we got a pilot on 19th morning and once I told him our speed he said he need to call back to control to report this (although been telling it several times to the agent) and ask for instructions. He told me the current is 3kts against us and we re-anchored. As we had anchored again I got in touch with the Agent to arrange next transit, was later informed that the transit will happen the next day on 20th . This time the pilot that arrived was an easy going chap and told me to heave up anchor and head up the ditch. As we entered we also got a launch putting onboard 2 canal linesmen.
Suez canal
So, we started the transit, finally. Speed was not good, we were doing 5-5.5kts on average. We made it to Great Bitter Lake by 1600hrs and anchored, the pilot disembarked and told us the next pilot coming later in the evening, he didn't, he came at early wee hours next night on 21st and we moved to Ismailia anchorage for next 3-4hrs and again pilot left and told us the rest of the transit will happen when all convoys for the day had passed, i.e. the next day.
Suez canal
Suez canal
Coaster in Great bitter lake
Pilot embarking in Ismailia on a coaster
The early wee hours of 22nd the pilot embarked and we got going again. It was hand steering all the way so kind of tiring doing it in the hours of darkness, by daybreak we exited the canal, never had I used so much time for a transit. Then we headed for Cyprus, the destination had changed as we needed technical assistance in the engine room and I was running out of time because of other employ that had materialized and I needed to join.
Finally exiting at Port Said, sunrise
Limassol in distance
Alongside in Limassol marina
The weather after Port Said turned out very good and we made in comparison to Red Sea good time. I sent all paperwork to the Agents in Limassol and prepared coming alongside the next day. We arrived a bit later in afternoon so had a good breeze blowing when I entered the marina. I had a look where they wanted us on the S side wall between 2 yachts stern to on either side but requested another berth due to having no BT and the heavy going characteristics, so they gave us another berth on the N side. I kicked and pushed Kalizma to the right direction with all 3 main engines and managed to get her going to the right direction after a 180deg turn. Put in a long springline and pushed her alongside and then came a bit astern as not to block the exit ahead of us. We had finally arrived.
Snacky-do platter gifted by agents
Agent had us quickly through the arrival procedures and immigration. We had a nice chat with them and then I sat down with the crew for some cheese that the Agent had brought to us for welcome and of course we had a few wee swellies to put it down with. It was a great change after the Indian fare for so long.
Bit of refreshments too
It had actually taken 30 days for an estimated 10-12days voyage. The boys will have a great effort ahead to get all the soot and grime off her from the long time in Africa and our sailing with less than optimal conditions through Red Sea. The next day on the 24th Aug I was on my way to the airport in the morning where I met the full time Captain and gave a quick handover of things and wished him best of luck with the rest of the season and the upcoming winter season. In less than a week I was signing on again, this time a bigger beast, 110m.
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