Journals from the week ending March 28, 1997
Visiting Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Karen May, 3/28/97, aboard ship...After 18 days at sea, we were all very excited to reach Jeddah. It seemed as if it took forever, for the pilot to come to the ship, but finally after about three hours drifting outside Jeddah’s harbor, we were brought to the dock.
On the 16th, when we arrived we were told to get our things ready because we were going to stay in the Jeddah Plaza Hotel. It felt really good to sleep in a big bed, have normal showers and noone ever went hungry.
Saudi Arabia has some rules that we had to follow. Girls are not allowed to show any skin so we all wore abaayas - they look like long black graduation gowns and head scarves. Outside the hotel the girls were not allowed to talk or associate with the guys. That took some getting used to.
In Jeddah, we visited schools, went to a sports center, a bowling center, the old souks (shops in old Jeddah), Sea Science Academy, the Handicap and Rehabilitation Center, a resort to swim, and to the desert one evening to watch the sunset.
Jeddah was personally my favorite port, we did so much and had fun. We got “the red carpet treatment” so we didn't exactly see what it would really be like to live in Saudi Arabia.
On the Move!!
Steve Drake, 3/28/97, aboard ship...Sometime last night we passed the Tropic of Cancer which means we are no longer officially in the tropics. Although I arrived over a week ago from snowy, cold Montreal, I quickly became acclimated to the warmth of the tropics. Throughout the day, the wind has been building steadily and we've had a few cool rain showers. Faculty and students alike are putting on sweatshirts and sweaters in response to the temperature drop of just a few degrees - it's still a comfortable 21 degrees Celsius. It feels colder because of a 25 knot head wind. I can just imagine many North Americans shaking their heads as they read about our “cold” spell.
This morning, I had a comprehensive lesson on Concordia's running and standing rigging from our very competent bosun. It is reassuring to know that our sail maneuvers are directed by someone who is so competent and safety conscious as Bosun Bill. I learned more in two hours about Concordia's 16 sails than I did on my seven day leg from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta. All I need now is a few days of practice setting and striking the sails and I’ll be an old salt.
Right now, we are chugging along toward the Suez Canal under power, slowly losing speed due to the strong headwinds and building swells off the bow. Now that we are several days out of Jeddah, I have to remind myself that we are sailing on the Red Sea rather than off the coast of Massachusetts where I’m from. If we continue to make 5 or 6 knots, we should be at the mouth of the Suez Canal by Saturday evening. As we negotiate with the Egyptians about the fee for our passage through the Suez, the crew and I will once again be reminded that we are a long way from familiar shores.