THE journey from the North Maldives was prepared with the threat of piracy in mind.

'The Gulf of Aden, which is bordered on the south by Somalia, is currently notorious for acts of boarding, shooting, stealing but luckily, as yet, no loss of life that we have heard of,' says John.

The Rally's plan was to create a point 'A' about 50 miles from Djibouti then point 'B' 150 miles between the two points (waypoints). This was so that yachts' positions could be given in relation to these rather than give longitude and latitude over the SSB radio.

This information was relayed to the French Navy, via the rally organisers, who patrolled the area and looked after the yachts.

'One of our yachts, 'la Billeboard', which had been the first in the area, did encounter a situation where two motor boats, one across her bows, the other, presumably to board her, approached during the night,' says John.

'The skipper, Dominic, took evasive action and made it clear "they" were not welcome. Luckily the incident passed without developing. But it galvanised the rest of the boats to make sure they were in a group and stayed together, closely.'

Djibouti was not one of the best places to stop but the Alf-a-Bet crew still managed eight days after which they were glad to leave.

'The town was scruffy and in dire need of repairs to just about everything from the people to the buildings. Beggars and wide boys accosted wherever one went. Not a pleasant stop,' recalls John.

Now, with Djibouti left behind the yacht negotiated the Bab El Mandeb Straights. Entering the notorious Red Sea the first day proved appalling with 40 knot winds, 50 knot gusts and large following seas.

Those on board began to worry about 'broaching' — where the stern tries to overtake the bow ending up sideways on to the next wave that swamps the boat or worse turns it over.

'Our "auto-helm" coped brilliantly, better than by hand,' says John.

'We had just a small triangle of sail well forward where this power helped keep us in line and not slewing sideways. Gradually our initiation was complete and the weather began to ease to being comfortable.'

The first stop was scheduled as a dive stop for the crews of 'Nakatcha' and 'Give-us-a-Buzz'.

John went with 'Nakatcha's' crew to operate their outboard dinghy as surface support. One of the divers had ear trouble and could not submerge so he loaned John his mask, fins and snorkel.

'I followed the divers' bubbles, and the dinghy followed me!' he says.

'I had the most wonderful time. The fish here were different to previous experience and the coral was a mass of colour, size and shape. Far superior to the "Great Barrier Reef" in my opinion.'

He saw his first white tipped shark that showed quite an interest in him and came quite close — but then veered off much to his relief.

'Next day I had a snorkel with 'Give-us-a-Buzzes' crew and once again it was so good.'

John said they took advantage of a report that told them there would be a five-day window in the normal Red Sea weather and they reached "El Gouna" with fair winds and seas.

Yachts arriving a few days later reported strong head winds and crashing into big seas. 'We got it right for once,' says John.

John made contact with is sister Mary and niece, Dawn who both have teaching jobs in Maadi, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt.

He booked a coach and was looking forward to a nice change, being spoilt, guided everywhere and shown the sights.

'The first day I was there my teacher relations told me I was booked to give a talk at one of their older pupils' assembly! It went OK — I quite enjoyed it and so did they,' he says, adding that he had some really nice feedback.

'The Egyptian Museum, the Sphinx and Pyramids, of course are a must and a preview of the Suez Canal was a pleasant day out.

'My sister took me to see "Rubbish City" — a place not normally on the tourist trail. As it suggests this area of Cairo is dedicated to the collection, sorting and recycling of the city's garbage.

'There is rubbish everywhere — even on the unfinished flat roofs of the houses.

'The good point about this very untidy smelly area is that these people have a living and the recycling pays for their children's education and only "their" children may use the education facility.'

Ironically right in the middle of this very scruffy area are two tidy clean areas — one a conference centre, the other their Coptic Christian Church. They are quite unique and built into the cliffside.

John said the church has amphitheatre-type seating looking down into the stage area surrounded with murals and wall carvings of New Testament scenes and stories.

'There has to be seating for over a thousand worshippers and I imaged most seats are taken during services due to their apparent obedience to the faith.'

John thinks he will write to 'Lonely planet' compilers telling them of this potential tourist sight, which will benefit the whole area.

'Now it's back to "El Gouna" to continue our journey up the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and back into the Mediterranean Sea. And on to Crete where Brenda, my wife, is coming to be with me. Great!'