No fuel available in Port Massawa, Eritrea

Created by doina. Last modified on 2007-11-01 17:37:08
Countries: Eritrea

We are a 50ft Bavaria Ocean making passage from Hurghada to Malaysia. We are now in Aden, Yemen (23 Oct 2007) having taken fuel in Port Sudan and intending to refuel in Massawa, Eritrea for the long headwind sail south through the Bab El Mandab straights into the Gulf of Aden. Although we had an extremely friendly welcome from everyone in Massawa and invaluable assistance from "Mike" (highly recommended), in conjunction with a US flagged yacht, we were unable to obtain fuel due to rationing and shortages. Due to strong head winds approaching Bal El Mandab (F7/F8) we were able to take shelter in Port Assab, Eritrea, but again no fuel was available. After five days of tacking hard on the strong head winds, against the prevailing currents, we were able to obtain fuel from the Yemen Army via the fishing village located in the anchorage listed in the pilot books NW of Bab Al Mandab. This gave us sufficient reserves to motor and sail to Aden, which has ample supplies of everything.

Please ensure you have sufficient fuel and reserves once south of Port Sudan or Sawakin.

Dave Ungless, S/Y Sänna 2