Felucca Boat on the Nile

We departed Aswan by boat—we’d spend the rest of the day, and that night on a local felucca boat, piloted by the handsome Nubian man above.  The felucca is the traditional boat for Nile transport.  It uses a lateen sail, which is triangular, and the main spar pivots on the mast, which allows it to navigate under bridges when needed, while giving it a very tall sail the rest of the time.  Below, you can see several feluccas moored, with their sails tied up, but the hinged spar is easier to see.

Postcard: Hvar

Jelsa Harbor on the island of Hvar, Croatia

Postcard: The Nile

Felucca captain; Nile River, Aswan, Egypt.

Boats

One of our favorite things to do (and why our trip to New Zealand was so much fun) is just to find a medium-sized town that may not, on the face of it, be much of a tourist attraction, and simply explore it for what it is. In Whangarei, on the eastern coast of New Zealand, just below the Bay of Islands, we spent a couple of days driving around the peninsula, eating some pretty great pizza, and walking along their riverfront.  These dinghys were all parked, waiting to ferry their owners back from town.  The one on the left is going to need a bail out, though.