The Yacht

We made it. 60 hours after receiving the call we are in Tanzania on the first trip on the yacht we're about to sail to Phuket, Thailand. After a short night and the boring drive to Bangkok we had some last preparations left to be done. First we went to the crowded immigration office in central Bangkok for a visa stamp for my brother just to find out he didn't need it. Fortunately, a friend of ours served us and we didn't have to stand in line, once again. Getting the fifty dollar bills for the Tanzanian visa was more problematic. No bank would actually sell these for Thai Baht, they would only buy them. It took about an hour or so to find a counter in the main branch building of the Bangkok Bank to get the two bills we needed.

One problem was still left to solve. A tooth of mine, a piece of which had broken of the night we left for Bangkok. So we made yet another trip to a Thai hospital to have it fixed, just hours before the flight. All went fine and we got back to the house just in time to have two more hours of rest before we we're to leave. That's when the filling I'd just gotten broke into bits and pieces of a piece of soft chocolate. It was too late to go have it fixed again and the dentist was already closed anyway. So here I am in Dar Es Salaam with another dentist trip planned for tomorrow morning. Can't wait to see an African dentist. At least I can speak English with them.

The flight was unspectecular. Not counting the spectaclular old planes and confusion with Ethiopian Airlines. But we got here safe and the visa on entry didn't pose a problem. We made it a transit visa and save 20 bucks. An hour after arrival and a taxi drive through crowded Dar Es Salaam later we boarded the boat for the first trip. We went to a fish barbeque on an island nearby. The yacht is a beauty, a 16 ton wooden ship with traditional rigging, well equipped and fitted with only the best gear. Everybody has a good feeling about the trip ahead. So there is only a couple of things left to do, load her up with food, fuel and water, get a tooth fixed and head out to the Indian Ocean. But until tomorrow we relax in the Dar Es Salaam Yacht Club and enjoy the view