Today I felt like I'd entered a different era; donkeys suddenly became the main means to transport goods. Mules and camels also shared the burden and the twenty-first century occasionally intervened with a scattering of tut-tuts, Toyotas and Landrovers.
The ruins of Suakin indicate there was once an impressive city here, it's almost as though I'd entered a post-apocalyptic future, with the survivors scraping a living amongst the derelict buildings of the former advanced civilisation with no means, no use or no inclination of rebuilding their once great city.
The "hello mister, welcome to Yemen" greeting we received across the water, was replaced with a slightly more reserved, "hello mister, how are you?" though huge smiles met any response I offered. I restocked at the market, no need to worry about scurvy for a while. Kika has been refilled with diesel and the omens look good for a push north. The flow of strong northerly winds have been temporarily interrupted by a confusing combination of low and high-pressures giving light winds from a variety of directions. I'd hoped to leave this evening, but Mohammed was called off on some other business and I've only just received my passport (8.30pm). My new plan is to set the alarm for 3am, when hopefully I'll have some moon-light and cautiously make my way out of the port channel and set sail north for Egypt.
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