Avoid Egypt

[hatteras53]

So VERY SORRY for your terrible experience in Egypt. As one member has said, every country has them (idiots). I have been into 22 other countries and have met many of them..........maybe they travel from country to country L.O.L. You did VERY WELL indeed under the trying circumstances and are fortunate to be alive. These idiots possess very little brainpower, plenty of firepower/authority.....wrongly placed to say the least and almost all have the LITTLE MAN SYNDROME. Hindsight is always 20-20. It would have been better to become humble Harry while still refusing to obey an unsafe command. I must READILY admit that my reactions have not been good and probably much worst than yours. And am lucky to be alive. I mistake these idiots as having common sense and compassion when mostly what they want to do is be THE MAN/do what I say/shut up. It reminds me of the of the male police here in the U.S.A. and it ain't funny. The best plan of action next time (and it will happen again) it happens is to passively resist with humility. In the process of doing this hopefully someone finally steps forward who has common sense to save the day. Agreed, we do not obey an unsafe command but resist passively so as to not offend the idiot. Believe me, I am still learning the art of doing this. I hope that next time I will have perfected this art. Take good care shipmate. Glad that you are still around. Shipmate Michael

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by rognvald

Valhalla,
Your "know it all" reply to someone who has sailed widely throughout the world(chuckr) without this harassment and inconsideration can only be described as ignorant. You owe him an apology. Rognvald

You are right. I re-read it and realize my mistake. I thought it was the lead in to a discussion of how to move forward and find solutions. It clearly wasn't and that's my mistake.

Therefore, I rescind my original post and replace it with the following:

Egypt bad.
You were wronged.

Good luck in your future endeavors.

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

You are right. I re-read it and realize my mistake. I thought it was the lead in to a discussion of how to move forward and find solutions. It clearly wasn't and that's my mistake.

Therefore, I rescind my original post and replace it with the following:

Egypt bad.
You were wronged.

Good luck in your future endeavors.

You are a true gentleman, Valhalla! Good luck and safe sailing . . . Rognvald

[meirriba]

Your experience was horrible but I believe you may meet similar experience in other countries as well...say Albania 10 years or so ago.
Anyway - if you had chosen Port Said as your entry port you would have met more understanding authorities.
I did that twice. There are agents there who work with yachts and secure berth where you wait (long wait, lot of paper work and necessary baksheesh) until your agent completes the process. It is impossible without an agent.
Alexandria is not on the normal path of foreign yachts and as already explained above should be avoided.

[steve77]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

You are right. I re-read it and realize my mistake. I thought it was the lead in to a discussion of how to move forward and find solutions. It clearly wasn't and that's my mistake.

Therefore, I rescind my original post and replace it with the following:

Egypt bad.
You were wronged.

Good luck in your future endeavors.

To some of the fiery posters on this forum, this is how you should respond when you make a poorly worded post.

Good on you Valhalla! Excellent response.

Cheers!

Steve

[valhalla360]

On a more positive note, Egypt recently opened the Bent Pyramid for tourists.

If it's your first time, you have to go to Giza but we were much more impressed with Sakara/Dashur Pyramid complex (about 15-20miles south). It's located on a military base away from the built up urban area of Cairo, so you don't get the hoards mobbing the place.
- In the Great Pyramid at Giza, you basically had to fight your way thru the crowds in the passageways if you go into the pyramid.
- In the Red Pyramid at Dashur (almost as big), I was literally alone in the main chamber after climbing down the 15 story passageway (Tammy was already tired from the Giza experience so she waited in the van). Sitting in silence for a few minutes with the weight of all that history (and rock) was incredible. Huffing and puffing up the 3.5ft tall passageway, I did have time to ponder what would happen if I had a medical issue. We could only see the Bent Pyramid from the outside.

Hopefully, next time we will have an opportunity to go into the Bent Pyramid.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

On a more positive note, Egypt recently opened the Bent Pyramid for tourists.

If it's your first time, you have to go to Giza but we were much more impressed with Sakara/Dashur Pyramid complex (about 15-20miles south). It's located on a military base away from the built up urban area of Cairo, so you don't get the hoards mobbing the place.
- In the Great Pyramid at Giza, you basically had to fight your way thru the crowds in the passageways if you go into the pyramid.
- In the Red Pyramid at Dashur (almost as big), I was literally alone in the main chamber after climbing down the 15 story passageway (Tammy was already tired from the Giza experience so she waited in the van). Sitting in silence for a few minutes with the weight of all that history (and rock) was incredible. Huffing and puffing up the 3.5ft tall passageway, I did have time to ponder what would happen if I had a medical issue. We could only see the Bent Pyramid from the outside.

Hopefully, next time we will have an opportunity to go into the Bent Pyramid.

Concur about Dashur and Sakkara. Thou it's much about timing. I went there some years ago when the demonstrations against Mursi were going on (actually the coop happened while we were in the air to Cairo). Anyway, there were only two minibuses by Giza pyramids, the other one was ours. Nobody else in Dashur or Sakkara. The only place a bit more crowded was the old Egyptian Museum by the Tahrir square but no queue waiting there either.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by meirriba

Your experience was horrible but I believe you may meet similar experience in other countries as well...say Albania 10 years or so ago.
Anyway - if you had chosen Port Said as your entry port you would have met more understanding authorities.
I did that twice. There are agents there who work with yachts and secure berth where you wait (long wait, lot of paper work and necessary baksheesh) until your agent completes the process. It is impossible without an agent.
Alexandria is not on the normal path of foreign yachts and as already explained above should be avoided.

You are correct in Port Said would have been easier BUT - and there is always a but -- I contacted two agents there and the new cost just to enter Port Said is 675USD -- and that does not include any overnights or the transit -- both agents told us we should go to Alexandria

As for Albania we went in first time in 2014 and WOW - it was a great country -- we were told my many not to go but we did anyway and loved it and the people - we loved it so much we went back the following year and sailed the whole coast - what a great country (but that was just 5 years ago and things do change)

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by MartinR

Nothing in Egypt works without bribes. That goes for commercial vessels also

A few packages of cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey would have made everything much smoother.

This. I have probably been through the Suez canal at least 50 times. Marlboro Reds make things happen. Without them, nothing happens except indolence, inconvenience, interference, and intransigence.