CRUISING ARABIAN SEA OFF OMAN

Saturday, April 27th
"Pirate Alert"

     Today was to be a relaxing, non-eventful day sailing offshore Oman in the Arabian Sea.  Well, we had a bit of excitement this morning around 9am.  Our Captain announced over the PA system a security code "yellow papa".  We knew from our security drill that this was first stage of alert for possible pirate attack.  If unknown ships or boats come within 3 miles of our ship, the Captain calls for "yellow papa" until the unknown craft are identified or leave the area.  There were two small high speed boats off our port (left) side and I could see them through my binoculars from balcony door.  Below is a photo I took with telephoto lens.  As you can see they were indeed very small boats.  Our ship's speed was 19 knots and they were even faster.  They "played" out there paralleling our course for a half hour.  Finally they left the area and our Captain came on PA again and gave the order to "stand down".  He told us that he had notified the US/Canadian task force in Dubai of a "possible" pirate attack so they could prepare assets to send our way if needed.  As you can see from the above map, we will be getting closer and closer to Somalia in the coming days.  No need to worry as we are in good hands.  I rather enjoyed the excitement!!

                                   If you enlarge this photo you will see two small, high speed boats

The Arabian Sea is calm and mirror-like today.  The sea was a greenish/teal color although you can't tell it in this photo.

    Maria & David from Tampa asked us to join them for dinner one evening at Prime 7 (steakhouse).

Last night we dined up in Sette Mari (Italian).  Crina (Asst Food & Beverage Mgr) and Goren (Food & Beverage Mgr) stopped by our table to see how we were doing.  Crina is Romanian and Goren is Serbian.

On left is Luci, one of production show dancers, and on right is Julia, singer in production shows.  Now you know why I sit on front row for all the shows!  The production show cast are Jean Ann Ryan company members and Vegas quality singers and dancers.  By the way, they are all at least 6 feet tall.

     We will be arriving in Salalah, Oman tomorrow morning at 8am.  It is located near the southern border of Oman and Yemen.  More about it in tomorrow's posting.  After that we will have 4 days sailing through the Gulf of Eden and the Red Sea on our way to Aqaba, Jordan.
     Tonight we have dinner reservations at Prime 7.  We also want to go to hear the headline entertainer, Helen Jayne, in the showroom at 9:30.  She has sang in many UK venues including the West End.  Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
   
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