Friday, 5 May 2017
At Sea — En Route to Salalah
Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:00p (GST) … UTC 5:00p (5 May)
Temp: 82.8F (28.2C)
Position: 17.20.22N / 56.53.49E
There is one voyage, the first, the last, the only one.
~ Thomas Wolfe ~
It was a quiet day at sea … lots of masked boobies accompanying the ship today — gliding gracefully on the air currents, hardly flapping their wings. I’m happy to say that these “masked” birds were the only pirates we saw today ;-)
Once again, this day at sea afforded much needed time to rest after another spate of hot sightseeing days. The veranda was in the sun most of the morning, so I made do inside since Deck 5 is closed until we’re out of the High Risk Area (HRA) … as these pirate-infested waters are known.
Sneak peek at the HRA map Captain B used in his presentation on May 7.
We’re in the shaded area inside the red line where anti-piracy measures have
to be implemented. The shaded area outside the red line is the voluntary
area where ships may choose to implement precautionary measures.
(Photo downloaded from this website.)
So where inside Insignia did I spend time? In the Horizons Lounge on Deck 10 forward. I would have had to go there anyway to attend the 10:30a Meet & Greet for the segment that started in Abu Dhabi, so it worked out well. I used the time prior to the M&G to clean out the emails that have been piling up in my inbox, and also updated some notes.
Although I make an attempt to attend each M&G, this time I had a special reason to do so. I wanted to meet Loretta and Brian, a couple from Australia who will be going to Petra with us. Luckily she recognized me from blog photos so we found each other quickly enough. We had a nice chat and made plans to dine together one of these days to better get acquainted prior to the tour.
I managed to grab some veranda time this afternoon since the stern of the ship was in the shade … it was quite comfortable being outdoors. And no fumes at all today. Not even tonight as I sit writing. As part of the anti-piracy measures, we’ve been asked to keep the lights off and the curtains drawn if we’re not using the veranda. If we are out there, then it’s fine to have the light on.
We went to the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party in the Insignia Lounge this evening. Captain B is back. Since he’s had a break from all the social niceties required of his position, he was actually quite chatty tonight. He thanked us all for cooperating with the anti-piracy drill yesterday and said that ships — cargo vessels mostly — have reported some pirate activity in the region.
Captain B does not anticipate that we will have any problems, and cited our high-to-the water profile and high-speed as deterrents. Certainly, we have been hauling ass since leaving Muscat. He also mentioned that we have several “special services” guys aboard … sharp shooters per se. On one of the upcoming sea days, he is going to present a lecture about piracy and the Gulf of Aden. Should be interesting … we’ll definitely make a point to attend.
The Gelmans joined us at the party and afterwards we joined them in the dining room for dinner. Pam & Ray from North Carolina rounded out our table. It’s possible to tell that it’s early in a new segment, and also that it is a sea day, from the number of tables that were filled. That will change in a week or so. Anyway, we had a nice evening … a good way to wrap up a day at sea.
We’ve got an early morning tomorrow … time to catch some zzzzzzzs.
UPDATE ON 19 February 2019: Piracy info for 2017 can be found at this link.
© 2004-2019 All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.
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