March to April · Early spring
Arrival at AMAALA
Northern Red Sea → AMAALA, Saudi Arabia
- Dates
- March to April
- Duration
- 9 nights · ≈ 620 Nm
- Yacht
- Imladris
- On board
- Up to 8 guests in 4 suites
The last leg, and the most beautiful. Reefs almost nobody has dived, desert mountains, and water at 28 degrees.
You follow Sinai down to the Straits of Tiran and into a sea very few private yachts have ever sailed.
The Saudi coast is one reef, one sand island, one empty anchorage after another. You spend the days in the water and the evenings on deck while the desert cools and the sky turns pink.
And then AMAALA, where the prelude ends and NAORA begins. It is hard to leave.
Waypoints
- Northern Red Sea, where you step aboard
- Straits of Tiran
- Gulf of Aqaba
- Duba
- Umluj sand islands
- AMAALA, where you step ashore
Included on this leg
- · Your own captain and crew, nobody else on board
- · A chef who cooks around you, not around a menu card
- · Reef guiding and full dive equipment
- · Permits, clearance and logistics handled by NAORA
What you take home
Three moments from this leg.
The Straits of Tiran
Walls of coral dropping into deep blue, fish in numbers that feel unreasonable, and an afternoon where nobody bothers drying off between dives.
Empty desert anchorages
Mountains going red at sunset, not one light on shore, dinner on the aft deck and a sky so full of stars it looks crowded. On some nights you are the only boat for miles.
Arriving at AMAALA
Nine nights of reef and desert, and then the coast where NAORA begins. You come alongside sunburnt, rested and quietly reluctant to step off.
“This is the water we built NAORA for. Guests go very quiet on the last morning.”
Sven, captain of Imladris
Sea, wind and light
What it feels like out there.
The leg for divers, swimmers and anyone who wants the longest, warmest and most remote stretch of the whole prelude.
- Sea
- Warm reef water, short hops, anchorages almost every night
- Wind
- Warm northerlies down the Red Sea, mostly aft
- Water
- Around 28 degrees, visibility for tens of metres
- Light
- Hot white middays, desert sunsets, warm nights on deck
The rhythm of the passage
What this 9-night passage actually looks like.
- March
Sinai coast
Board and sail south along Sinai, with the first dives on shallow reef.
- March
Straits of Tiran
Legendary drop-offs, colour that does not look real, an afternoon spent entirely in the water.
- March
Gulf of Aqaba
Desert mountains on both sides and anchorages with nobody else in them.
- April
Duba and the Saudi coast
Into Saudi water, guided reef days, dinner under a sky full of stars.
- April
Umluj and AMAALA
Sand islands, one last long swim, and arrival at AMAALA the next morning.
The yacht
Imladris
A 24 metre performance sailing catamaran, fast, quiet and built for long water. A Lagoon Seventy 8, refitted for real expedition miles. Captain, chef, stewardess and deckhand. Four people who live for this coast. Cruising 10 to 14 knots under sail, with a silent electric tender for everything else.
- Length
- 24 metres
- Beam
- 11 metres
- Guests
- 8 in 4 suites
- Crew
- 4 permanent
Accommodation
4 en-suite suites, up to 8 guests, one single group on board
- An owner's suite with a king bed, its own lounge and windows the width of the hull
- Three double suites, each with a private bathroom and a rain shower
- Air conditioning, blackout blinds and cotton linen you will not want to leave
- The crew sleep forward, so the whole guest deck belongs to you
This leg on the chart
January
Palma de Mallorca to Valletta
February
Valletta to Alexandria
March
Alexandria to the Red Sea
March to April
Red Sea to AMAALA
The waitlist
This leg is full. The waitlist is open.
Every suite on this leg is taken. Leave your email and if plans change before departure, you hear it before anyone else. One personal email, nothing more.
- Dates
- March to April
- Yacht
- Imladris
- Accommodation
- 4 en-suite suites, up to 8 guests, one single group on board
Next leg
The Western Passage