Days at Sea

 After we left Egypt, we had 4 days at sea as we cruised through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
These three photos show the port workers removing the ropes that anchor us as we prepared to depart for the port.  Steve was always interested in watching the work and how they use the equipment.

This part of our journey allowed us to relax, walk, attend classes, eat and sleep.  It was also the most dangerous part of our cruise as at one point we had Yemen one side of the ship and Somalia on the other side only a few miles apart.  At one point we could see both countries from the bow of the ship off to each side.  Of course, these countries have pirates and are not a peace with themselves or others.

This shows some of our deck security guards.  It was unusual for them to be sitting.  They usually walked around.

Probably the most exciting event during our four days at sea occurred off the coast of Yemen when we saw an explosion pictured below followed by the sudden appearance of two helicopters.  One person reported two explosions but we only saw one.

When Shawn reviewed our helicopter photos during his Thanksgiving visit, he said that they were blackhawk helicopters which are used during battle.  We did see several destroyers during our cruise.

Most of our trip through the Red Sea was uneventful, however.  And we never had an acknowledgement or announcement from the ship's staff.

Many of the sunsets aboard the ship were spectacular but we aren't good enough photographers to capture the moment well.

We loved having a supermoon on November the 14th.  It was bright and beautiful from our ship's deck.  It was the closest a full moon has been to the earth since Jan. 26, 1948.  We enjoyed the brightness of the moon for several nights as we did our deck walks after dinner.

This photo was probably taken from the Gulf of Aqaba rather than the Red Sea.  We don't remember seeing those kind of city lights off from the Red Sea coast.

They had big BBQ's on deck near the pool during sea days.  These were held during the lunch hour.  If we couldn't find enough food we liked at the BBQ, we could supplement it from the buffet.  Sometimes it was quite spicy but we usually gave it a taste.  I often went to the buffet to add the salad bar to my lunch.

This photo looks down at the ship's main atrium from the computer lounge several stories above.

Our stewards made animals out of towels each night.  They were always so clever and cute.

The last night of our sea day Steve chose a pice of cake for dessert.  He called it a Somalia cake.  We found out later it was a semolina cake.  He didn't care much for it and thought they didn't have good food in Somalia.  They would often serve local dishes at the buffet so it was an easy mistake. We had a huge laugh over that one.

Here is our friend Shaun showing the huge chess board on deck of the ship.  I saw people using it a couple of times.

Almost everyone on board had at least one conversation with this very unusual solo traveler from the Britsh Isles.  He had a very heavy brogue accent and was pretty obnoxious after he had been drinking.  Larry took this photo.

One of the activities I participated in on the ship was the choir which was conducted by the cruise director.  His background was in music education so he invited guests to join him for practices and several occasions.  When I went to check it out, they only had about 3 altos and they were singing Amazing Grace which is one of my favorite hymns.  I decided to stick it out even though the group didn't sound very good.

Over time, we improved and got a few more singers but there were a few people who always wanted to be in a choir but there was a reason why they had not.  In the end, we sang a couple of numbers in the atrium on the last sea day.  Steve tolerated the performance.

 The best thing to come of it, however, was that we met this delightful couple from Wales.  They were in the choir and they could actually sing.  There names were Tom and Dee Evans.  They loved that Steve has Welch heritage and invited us to visit them.  We actually hope to do so in the future.  We love having a Welch connection.