Went to Egypt to help commission this crane ship. Ended up in a big high level contractual dispute, my beautiful ship (a UT755LN) was ‘arrested’ by Egyptian Coast Guard and we were marched ashore. Crew were locked down in dongas but I was given special treatment and ‘interned’ at a one star (!) hotel in Hurgharda for 3 weeks.
Even had a scruffy bodyguard for the journey!
Hotel was spectacularly bad and run down; one letter had fallen off the sign – good indication of what to expect. Huge Russian presence in Egypt and this hotel was fully booked with low level Russian gangsters and their moles!
There were two swimming pools – one at the hotel, and the other half a kilometre away at the beach – and they were joined with a canal you could swim down.
I got into town once a week – not a great deal to see though.
Camel was named Dody – same as Princess Di’s boyfriend I was told….
Eventually the contract was sorted out – Egyptians won, my company lost and had to take the ship back to Europe, remove the very expensive crane, and find another job for it.
Sat by the Suez Canal with a beer and watched the ships go past.
I hope to never see Egypt ever again in this lifetime!!
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