12 October -At sea

Today we are in the Red Sea and tonight will be sailing by Yemen and Somalia. As this can be a dodgy area for piracy there was a 'Pirate Drill' this morning - we were advised yesterday we would be asked to return to our staterooms when the ship's siren sounded.  So after breakfast we did as we were told and it went a bit like this:

Emergency practice for any terrorist or pirate situation in these waters.

Code Sierra pa pa

10.00 am Ship's Company commence bomb search.  

Captain - announcement for emergency practice drill

10.04 Alarm sounds

Announcement for all pax to proceed to their staterooms

Captain - 'ship's company continue with bomb search routine'

Going into the Gulf of Aden, around Yemen

Pirate activity since early 2000's although has decreased of late due better surveillance 

We were free to resume normal activities after about 20 minutes.  Hopefully there won't be any problems! 

We start our transit into the Aden Gulf following the Traffic Separation Scheme.  This Gulf is located in The Arabian Sea between Yemen and Somalia, in the Horn of Africa.  It connects  with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait which is more than 20 miles wide.  Apparently we will be increasing speed at this point to try and avoid any possibility of pirates or terrorists!!!!! There are also many warships in the area as the war in southern Yemen continues. 

It is VERY hot now, staterooms on the port side were warm, had to keep the curtains closed and was too hot to sit or walk outside. For us, that is!!!  It didn't seem to stop people from sunbaking though. Enjoyed another 2 hours of mahjong, then some delicious cocktails at happy hour and we shared a table at dinner with Margaret and Richard from England.  Have enjoyed their company on a few occasions. 

Lost a few $$ on roulette on the way home but sat with a gorgeous girl from Ireland who won several hundred dollars and was still there when I left.