[Lighthouse]

Due to the many incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Aden I would be interested to know if any current cruising circumnavigators are still planning on transiting the Red Sea as opposed to the alternative Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town, South Africa) route for the next Indian Ocean crossing "season".

In your replies, please state whether:
You are now in the region and planning your Indian Ocean crossing next "season";
Or
Planning your future circumnavigation and your thoughts;
Or
Whether you are simply giving your thoughts/ideas on the situation and routes.

I look forward to some interesting debate as well - but please refrain from turning this topic into a discussion on pirates.

Some references:

Cruising and sailing in the Indian Ocean is a wonderful experience with all those beautiful Indian Ocean islands and atolls, many of which are remote and seldom visited. (From: Indian Ocean on the World Cruising Wiki)

The "Cape of Good Hope" sailing route is a wonderful alternative to the Red Sea route for circumnavigating yachts, with all the wonderful Indian Ocean island stopovers en route. The sailing passage between Durban and Cape Town has a reputation of being difficult and dangerous but cruisers who are armed with the right information and backed by excellent South African weather forecasting resources the passage can be extremely rewarding. South African yachts sail along this coast all the time, however, timing of the longer passages is important (see details). (From: South Africa on the World Cruising Wiki)

[umngane]

With South Africa opening up and growing as a tourist destination, it may well be worth the round trip. Madagascar, Mozambique and Zanzibar are some of the other superb stops one could make on this round trip.