On day 16, we sailed down the Red Sea and into the Gulf of Aden. At the southern end of the Red Sea, it closes down into a narrow channel and then empties into the Gulf of Aden, which stretches out for a bit in an easterly direction, over the top of Somalia. Apparently we are getting some helicopter support because one flew around to do some reconnaissance and then did a fly-over of the ship.
The water is like glass and the air is hot and humid -- very on both accounts.
I’ve picked up an intestinal bug and have been taking it easy the last couple of days, getting a lot of reading done, which is lovely.
On day 17 we sailed the Gulf of Aden with no unpleasant events. The weather actually feels a wee bit cooler.
On day 18 we entered the Arabian Sea, heading north towards the Gulf of Oman, passing by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Yes, we will go through the Straits of Hormuz (spelling?) which Iran has been threatening to block, but so far there seems to be no trouble. We are still running dark at night but that will be over by tomorrow. Last night we got a phone call from the ship security people at midnight asking us to close our curtains because they could see light, but our curtains had been closed for a long time so who knows how many other people they woke up.
THIS AND THAT AT SEA
My sister’s food projectThroughout this trip, my sister has been taking photos of many of the dishes we are served, in restaurants and aboard the ship. This results in a rather amusing scene in which we are served and then I must sit quietly, not touching the food, looking for all the world like I am saying a blessing over it, while she photographs.
Latest towel animalsMonkey and aardvark (which may be intended to be an elephant but looks more like an aardvark).
Sun bathersI don’t understand all the people (hundreds of them) who lay out in the sun all day around the decks -- how can they stand it and why aren’t they all already dead from skin cancer? The ship is full of old people who have skin like tanned leather hides.
What is there to do when you are at sea for 6 days straight?Oh my goodness, the list would be shorter if I tried to list things that we couldn’t do. There are various lectures and classes (heard the tail end of a feng shui colors lecture today), lots of games (card games, bingo, competitive soduku, progressive trivia), sports (ice skating, basketball, shuffleboard, Wii bowling, rock climbing, and miniature golf), pool-side things like ugly legs contests and belly flop contests, dance lessons, probably 5 different music and dance venues at night, different entertainers in the theater, several different places to eat (almost every kind of food you can think of), and classes (origami and napkin folding, for example). Of course we try to set goals every day -- like do a bit of hand laundry one day, upload photos to my computer another day, get a manicure -- it’s a grueling schedule. And of course we have to try to be presentable when our cabin steward comes in to tidy up the room and bring fresh towels -- twice a day. And what about the treadmill, I hear you ask? I really haven’t been feeling up to par for the past 3 days so I’m just taking it easy. I’m much better today.
Almost all of the public areas have music playing constantly to create an atmosphere of high energy -- it seems that a lot of people like that. However, both my sister and I are preferring quiet. Because our room is very comfortable, and we get lovely light from the floor to ceiling, sliding doors to the balcony, we find ourselves opting to spend time in the room reading (OK, I confess, reading then dozing and then reading and dozing again) and often we bring our lunch back to the room to read quietly while eating.
We’ve watched some old movies on the TV and rented one movie and that was fun. Today we started working on a jigsaw puzzle that I brought. We also brought cards to play canasta (and don’t you dare tease me about never hearing the card game canasta) but haven’t gotten around to that yet. We went to the last big production show in the theater last night and they did a selection of famous songs and dance numbers from different movies. The oddest bits were when they did the famous song from Carmen (the opera) in a Hollywood musical style, and finished with a Carmen rap. Then they did a Bollywood version of the Arrow song Hot Hot Hot, which is a Caribbean song. Odd but amusing.
And that’s life on the high seas.
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