This is a long passage of more than 5,000 miles through some difficult areas. However, we had prepared ourselves and our boat, and we were actually looking forward to it.
Our plan for the Indian Ocean included Sri Lanka, Maldive Islands, Oman, and Yemen. Our plan for the Red Sea included Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt. We planned to transit the Suez Canal to reach the Mediterranean. But plan do change…
We did sail from Thailand to Sri Lanka as planned. We got delayed a few weeks in Sri Lanka, then we sailed from Sri Lanka to the Maldives as planned. Then disaster struck.
Less than 48 hours before we were to leave the Maldives, an American cruising boat – SV Quest – was pirated along the route we had planned. A few days later, a Danish cruising boat – SV Ing – that had been anchored just next to us in the Maldives was also pirated. Then the Americans on SV Quest were all killed. We have discussed this further on our page describing Passage’s travels from Maldives to Turkey on the deck of a freighter.
Our plans changed drastically. We flew to Istanbul while Passage was making her way through the northern Indian Ocean and Red Sea, and we resumed our cruising when she arrived in Turkey. That adventure begins on our sailing in Europe page.