Monday, April 29th
Our position as of noon today. Temperature outside 90F.
I could not get yesterday's posting done until this morning. Our internet was very slow yesterday afternoon and loading my photos on it took right up to dinner time. I had not finished writing it so did that today.
We now have 4 days at sea enroute to Aqaba, Jordan. Aqaba is the port for our visit to see the ancient ruins near Petra. More on that in next few days. I wanted to put some photos I took yesterday evening as we sailed out of the Salalah port. They show how large these container ships are. (More text after photos)
Omani fishing boat
Last night we had made reservations at Signatures, the French specialty restaurant. We had been putting off going here as neither of us care for French food but Sylvester, the maitre 'd at Signatures, kept asking when we would come to his restaurant. We both had beef tournedos (small filet). First ones they brought out was rare (we order medium rare) so sent them back. Next ones were over cooked but we ate them anyway. Probably won't be going back there. Highlight of that dinner was we struck up a conversation with a couple from Sarasota sitting at table next to us. After dinner we were front center row for the production show, "Just Swing".
Our dinner at Signatures. Putu, the wine sommelier, and Emmanuel, the waiter. Both guys have to be our two favorite crew members so it was nice to be served by them.
"Just Swing" production show with the Jean Ann Ryan company singers and dancers. They are incredible.
Female lead singer is Julia.
You have to enlarge this one to see her "perched" up on his shoulders. Ship is moving and they use no safety wires when performing.
This is headline entertainer, Helen Jayne, from her show couple nights ago. She had a very big voice and was great singer.
Last night we entered the "security lanes" for passage through the Gulf of Eden. As you see from our noon position we are between two not so safe countries. Yemen is pretty much a known terrorist training and safe haven. To the south of us now is the pirate haven of Somalia. This area has a lot of shipping traffic and is patrolled by US/British coalition forces. This morning we had a small British helicopter fly over the ship at a low altitude. During the Captain's noon PA, he said we should be entering the Red Sea around 9am tomorrow. Our current speed is 19.5 knots which is considered "high speed" for this ship. It has been sunny all day and the ride last night and today has been very smooth with no swells at all. What a great cruise! They are showing the movie, "Lawrence of Arabia" in the theatre this afternoon. Very appropriate as we are now in that part of the world where it took place. I have yet to see a camel though!! Our lecturer was giving us some interesting facts about camels. Did you know they can run at a sustained speed of 25 miles per hour for an hour or more. For short sprints they can achieve a speed of 40 mph. The hump is not for storing water but is fatty tissue that helps insulate them from the dessert heat. Their life span is 40 to 50 years. They can go for long periods with no water. Here is the most amazing fact of all. They can drink 53 gallons of water in just 3 minutes. That is not a misprint!
Tonight we are going to a reunion dinner of all the folks who were on our Circle South America cruise last year at this time. There are about 30 of us onboard this cruise also. Kind of amazing that of the 200 people doing the full Circle South America last year, there are 30 of us here. Tonight's show features Neil Lockwood starring in "The Rocket Man", a special tribute to Elton John.
https://goo.gl/photos/6YyNxVGCFBYAUYvp7
I could not get yesterday's posting done until this morning. Our internet was very slow yesterday afternoon and loading my photos on it took right up to dinner time. I had not finished writing it so did that today.
We now have 4 days at sea enroute to Aqaba, Jordan. Aqaba is the port for our visit to see the ancient ruins near Petra. More on that in next few days. I wanted to put some photos I took yesterday evening as we sailed out of the Salalah port. They show how large these container ships are. (More text after photos)
Last night we had made reservations at Signatures, the French specialty restaurant. We had been putting off going here as neither of us care for French food but Sylvester, the maitre 'd at Signatures, kept asking when we would come to his restaurant. We both had beef tournedos (small filet). First ones they brought out was rare (we order medium rare) so sent them back. Next ones were over cooked but we ate them anyway. Probably won't be going back there. Highlight of that dinner was we struck up a conversation with a couple from Sarasota sitting at table next to us. After dinner we were front center row for the production show, "Just Swing".
Last night we entered the "security lanes" for passage through the Gulf of Eden. As you see from our noon position we are between two not so safe countries. Yemen is pretty much a known terrorist training and safe haven. To the south of us now is the pirate haven of Somalia. This area has a lot of shipping traffic and is patrolled by US/British coalition forces. This morning we had a small British helicopter fly over the ship at a low altitude. During the Captain's noon PA, he said we should be entering the Red Sea around 9am tomorrow. Our current speed is 19.5 knots which is considered "high speed" for this ship. It has been sunny all day and the ride last night and today has been very smooth with no swells at all. What a great cruise! They are showing the movie, "Lawrence of Arabia" in the theatre this afternoon. Very appropriate as we are now in that part of the world where it took place. I have yet to see a camel though!! Our lecturer was giving us some interesting facts about camels. Did you know they can run at a sustained speed of 25 miles per hour for an hour or more. For short sprints they can achieve a speed of 40 mph. The hump is not for storing water but is fatty tissue that helps insulate them from the dessert heat. Their life span is 40 to 50 years. They can go for long periods with no water. Here is the most amazing fact of all. They can drink 53 gallons of water in just 3 minutes. That is not a misprint!
Tonight we are going to a reunion dinner of all the folks who were on our Circle South America cruise last year at this time. There are about 30 of us onboard this cruise also. Kind of amazing that of the 200 people doing the full Circle South America last year, there are 30 of us here. Tonight's show features Neil Lockwood starring in "The Rocket Man", a special tribute to Elton John.
https://goo.gl/photos/6YyNxVGCFBYAUYvp7
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