Off the coast of Yemen at the moment

Boy that sun is bright

I woke after 5 and the sun was already high in the sky. The ocean is a dark, almost black, blue color. The wind isn’t that bad but it is ;howling at the cabin door: must be the angle.

Rhodes destination lecture

This was a memory jogger for us as we have been here before.

I’m amazed at some of these people who seemed obsessed with the wearing of shorts. Really now? It’s that crucial? First of all, the sun is brutal and your pasty white flesh will burn. Secondly, the loose cotton clothing of this area (which you probably purchased in a previous port) is perfect for capturing the best of the breezes.

We will be on the Euro probably from Rhodes until we hit the atlantic. That will be convenient. Checking out our supply of currency gets pretty boring after a while.

Interview with the Captain

This guy is British with a wicked way of expressing ideas. Very diplomatic but funny often. Pretty straight forward. We learned of his career which didn’t start on the sea. Some of the anecdotes are quite funny when he describes the personalities of various captains and pilots.

One lady had a communication from her husband in the states who asked why our GPS was turned off as he couldn’t exactly identify where we are right now (sailing close to the coast of Oman actually). This awkward moment was made quite funny and the question was never really answered. But

Pirate party

We are sailing through pirate country and so the Captain has agreed to a pirate party by the pool one evening. I think that’s a howl.

Suez Canal transit.

Ships travel in a convoy and we enter the canal in late afternoon. We will arrive earlier and will lie at anchor until the convoy is put together.  Last time this ship was the first in the convoy which is easier as the first ship determines the speed. Like they say: if you aren’t the alpha dog, the scene never changes.

Apparently there have been some changes in the canal since we last transited and they have added some visual arts along the sides.

Portrait raffle and trivia.

Didn’t win either but it was fun. Did you know that Dublin means “black pool”? we didn’t.

There were four of us for the afternoon trivia and we made 18 out of 20. Drats! One other team got 19!!! So close.

Texans on board

We’ve sat with two separate couples from Texas: one from Houston and one from Dallas. Both have remarked that the government is going toconfiscate land along the border by eminent domain to build the “Wall”. We were all laughing because none of us can imagine Texans Surrendering land without a battle.

More Pirate talk

The anxiety of many folks comes out in these discussions. The ship for several weeks now (perhaps the whole trip for all I know) has staff patrolling the outer decks. We have long had lights on the deck out at night. There was speculation about water cannons and heavy artillery on board. Now none of these people have actually SEEN any of this you understand! I just find the focus on this discussion to be silly: like the National Inquirer version of our situation.

Hoedown

They had a C&W party upstairs so Ed and I went. They had some line dancing; all the styles were different but we simple and they are patient. Some folks are very good as they have line dancing classes on sboard and they are used for exercise classes too.

They are so clever about the games they play too. They are always related to the theme and are very nonthreatening and get everybody in the right mood. Tonight there were a lot of people up there, but like us, many left after an hour. We are not a midnight crowd.