Pirate Waters of the Arabian Sea (No April Fool’s!)

We are in the third of five days at sea between Mumbai and Safaga, Egypt.  Before setting sail from Mumbai, the ship was outfitted with coils of razor wire just below the walkaround deck (one friend has called it the ship’s “tutu”).  The water hoses are connected and ready to go if needed.  Security guards, two of them, are constantly walking the deck 24/7 with binoculars trained on the sea looking for possible pirates.  The ship has picked up speed to nearly maximum speed of 22 knots.  We have been averaging a little over 20 knots per hour.  The captain tells us that we should be able to outrun any potential pirate activity.  They are in constant touch with military vessels in the area as well as other monitoring programs and Seattle (home office for Holland America) is in constant touch.  We even learned that a decision was made to increase the speed of the ship ahead of the intended speed in our dash between Mumbai and Safaga so that we arrive in Safaga, Egypt about 4 PM on April 4 rather than 7 AM on April 5.

As this is written, we are just moving into the Gulf of Aden with the Horn of Somalia to our south and Yemen to our north!  Last night the vibration of the ship moving at nearly top speed was quite noticeable and this morning when I went out to walk the deck before breakfast, security guards had binoculars peeled and were checking out an increasing number of ships that were clearly visible.  Obviously the vast majority are on legitimate business in a busy sea lane leading to and from the Suez Canal, but they have to watch for that one possible rogue boat up to no good.

In the meantime we are going about shipboard events as normal.  Since Barb wrote the blog on Mumbai I will add my two cents on my impressions of India as well.  I had taken a graduate school course when working on my Master’s Degree on the history of India/Pakistan and developed a bit of an interest in seeing India “some day”.  It hadn’t been high on my priority list and had been low on Barb’s, but having spent four days there now, we were glad we made the visit.  Despite the poverty we observed, people as in other parts of Asia were genuinely friendly and seemed pleased to have visitors.  I was so glad to visit Mumbai and to have my misconceptions changed.  In short, I really liked Mumbai!

We have two new speakers on board, one of whom, Major Rod Baldwin, is lecturing on the history of the areas we visit.  His first lecture dealt with India’s first war for independence in the mid 19^th century.  The other speaker, Mel Foster, is a biologist who has studied in both Britain and Canada and is knowledgeable in the seas of this part of the world.  The special theme formal nights continue with the most recent being what they called the Maharajah and Maharani Night with its Indian focus.  Our tablemate, Gerda even had an extra sari which she gave to Barb so she could dress the part!

With busy ports we haven’t mentioned some of our new friends.  Gerda and John are our new tablemates from Brisbane, Australia.  Gerda was born in Holland but has lived in Australia for the last 30 years.  Both she and John have traveled extensively and are excellent sources of information on the various ports we visit. Likewise, we have met Bob and Nancy, both recently retired college professors from West Virginia.  They usually find a seat in front of us in the Queen’s Lounge for the lectures and after several weeks, Barb spoke to them saying that we should become acquainted since we sit so near each other so frequently.  They obviously enjoy travel as do we.  They had each expressed interest in visiting different places on their next trip and happened to notice that this world cruise included both places.  They were still working at the time and decided to retire as of December 31, 2011 so they could enjoy this long voyage!  We’ve enjoyed getting to know both couples.

Because of our revision in itinerary, a new shore excursion was offered which basically encompassed the one we had chosen to do in Safaga.  It was to have been the longest shore excursion of the trip with a 14½ hour round trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.  With the early arrival, an overnight trip was offered with a departure in the late afternoon and a dinner at the hotel.  It allows a more relaxed, and hopefully cooler start to the sightseeing as well as a somewhat earlier return to the ship on April 5.

We just wanted to update the current status of our voyage into the waters of the Middle East.  If there is further news before Safaga, we will update.