Day 29 Gulf of Aden

Day 29 22nd June

Gulf of Aden. We had Somalia to the west and Yemen to the east. We woke this morning to smooth, mill pond like seas, which were covered by either a sea mist or remanets of a recent sand storm. At first I thought the ship must be stationery as we felt very little movement but once I opened the curtains and door to our balcony, I saw we were travelling a reasonable speed. I guess we would have been travelling at 17 knots. I found out about 2 hours later, the ship's speed was 17.7 knots and we were sailing 945 metres above the bottom of the sea.

Around 4 pm we passed through the 'Gate of Tears', Babble of Namdab, the straight from the Gulf of Aden and into the Red Sea. 3.3 million barrels of oil pass through this straight every day. The Island of Jabutti, previously an old French Foreign Legion base, and  is now an American Airbase, is only a few kilometres from here.

Yesterday a Yemen helicopter circled around the ship before flying away. Two days before we arrived into Dubai we had a United Arab Emeriti military plane fly over us several times before flying away. An Italian Naval Ship passed by this afternoon and one of the bridge's Officers reported the aircraft carrier George W Bush was on the horizon. All this surveillance is due to the threat of pirate attacks.

Since leaving Cochin, the ship had put into place defence measures in case of a pirate attack. We had a pirate attack drill the day before arriving into Salalah and since then the ship's security has increased.

This afternoon whilst we were at lunch, a request for –O or A+ blood donors' came over the pa system. Several passengers immediately left their lunch table to offer their blood. Even Paul left his lunch to offer. He soon returned with the news that there were a lot of donors already in the hospital. We found out later that there were 15 passengers who stepped forward and 2 units of blood taken. The other donors are on standby if needed. The ship's doctor was amazed at the generosity of the passengers. 

Just came back from watching the movies under the stars, Red with Bruce Willis. Perfect night to be sitting outside, again the ship feels as if it is stationery…..must be smooth seas again.