Today was a very special day; it was Elaine’s Dad’s 87th birthday. What a grand ol’ age! As a result, our day started with a Happy Birthday video message which we sent to him first thing, so that he would see it when he woke up. That was then followed by a phone call a little later this morning to Elaine’s folks, who are enjoying a Birthday Getaway together with Elaine’s sister in Dundalk and Carlingford. Unfortunately, with our limited data, we are not able to video call or have our usual Zoom Get-Together, so it was lovely to also see the rest of the family, especially the grandchildren with the great-grandchildren in South Africa and the US all posting videos on our WhatsApp Family Chat Line too, singing Happy Birthday to him. It definitely added some extra special sparkle to his birthday celebrations.

After breakfast, we decided to return to bed to stay warm and enjoy a lazy morning, while we awaited the latest weather forecast updates. Once we’d had time to analyse the information, our regular “weather briefing” took place on the VHF radio with Kandiba and Sans Peur. The good news is that the latest forecast, including those updated this evening are looking more favourable for a departure in the next day or so. Let’s hope the weather window materialises so that we can continue north once more.

It was also lovely to receive a message from Golden Spirit (Caroline and Michael), indicating that they had made it safely to Cyprus, where they’ve stopped to get some engine repairs completed and that Talulah Ruby III had made it safely to Turkey, but were departing for Greece today. Safe sailing onwards to both yachts.

Elaine then spent the rest of her morning giving Paw Paw’s interior a quick clean, while Roy returned the fuel polishing system on the starboard engine to its original state and started the watermaker again to ensure we keep the tanks topped up, since we’re not sure what the water quality will be like in Port Suez and through the Suez Canal.

This afternoon, although the wind continued to howl, Elaine completed another video, our Red Sea Passage from Djibouti to Suakin, Sudan, while Roy tried in vain to keep his eyes open and read his book. We were both amazed, though, to see the number of windsurfers and kite-surfers who were out on the water today; new guests had obviously arrived, since it was very quiet over the past few days.

Tonight, another movie wrapped up our day.