April 11, 2004 - Aiming for May 2004 to sail Meridian from Kilifi to Richard's Bay, Durban. Horst and Andrey will fly from Cape Town, and I will fly out from here to join them. KISMETSE...
April 13 - 5:00am trip to Bodrum tomorrow, with Ismail, Belgin, Osman and others. Underwater archeology meeting at the Bodrum Museum, with the folks at 360º ARASTIRMA GURUBU.
May 12, 2004 - Back from Istanbul--bought the Kenya ticket in Izmir and returned to Manal. After basic maintenance in Kilifi, we'll be off to Comor Islands and further down to Richard's Bay and Durban. Horst would like to be in Durban the end of July as Andrey is going back to Russia.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:49 AM - "Manal da son akşamım," last night in Manal.
May 27 - Start at 11:00 a.m., Manal to Izmir, then to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, then to Dubai on Emirates Airlines, and then to Nairobi the next day, on Emirates again. Fly to Malindi on East African Airways, followed by a 1-hour taxi ride to Kilifi to meet Horst and Andree at the Kilifi boat yard, where Meridian is.
June 1 - We sail from Kilifi, heading out to Pemba Island. Strong SE winds and current force us to return to Kilifi as we make no progress. We decide to stay until the 7th and give it another start.
June 7 - Assisted by the motor and the genoa, we tack close to the shore for about 35 miles to Mtwapa, thus avoiding the current and the winds.
June 10 - Sail out from Mtwapa just long enough to tear the main sail in a squall, so we head back to port.
June 14 - After rigging the spare sail (made by Mehmet Ali Yelkenbicen, 2 years ago), and tacking close to the shore again, we sail to Gazi (57 nm.), Wasini Island, Shimoni (20 nm.), Moa Bay (22 nm.). Then to Tanga (21 nm.), via the Shundo, Wamba and Fungu Nyama reefs.
June 17 - Arrive in Tanga, Tanzania. Slow progress against the Southern winds and strong currents. As we are pressed for time, the plans have changed: we will sail to Zanzibar, leave the boat there and continue on to Durban in November.
