We’ve seen a German warship, a Dutch warship, and a Norwegian warship. Captain Frank Allica says he’s been in contact with ships from the Turkish and Chinese navies. There have been warships appearing on the radar that he hasn’t been able to identify, but at least we can assume they’re on our side.
Access to the outside decks has been restricted during the hours of darkness, and we’ve had to eat inside the Verandah restaurant instead of outside by the pool
But as Spirit of Adventure sails for a second day through the security corridor in the Gulf of Aden, the one thing we haven’t seen is pirates, or even anything that looked like one. Not that the passengers are entirely sure what a Somali pirate looks like.
All we know is that the crew are ready with axes, truncheons, hosepipes and the ear-splitting LRAD device in case any of them dare to come close.
Now there is almost a feeling of anti-climax around the ship, and life carries on as normal.
The Antiques Road Show team raised some excitement with a spirited version of Call My Bluff, and Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe, a renowned astronomer from Cardiff University, raised a few eyebrows with a lecture on “The Case for Our Alien Origins” and his theories about the existence of life forms in cosmic dust.
Prof Carole Hillenbrand, who recently secured an £8 millon gift from a Saudi prince for the establishment of a Centre for Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh, will be talking about “Life Behind The Veil”, and her husband, Islamic art and architecture expert Prof Robert Hillenbrand, gave a fascinating talk on the place of the mosque in Muslim life.
Meanwhile the water-colour workshops hosted by Sandy Hillyer are a popular draw, and out in the pool Clive Carrington – who by night plays the piano and sings in the Yacht Club bar – is getting plenty of passengers to dive in for snorkelling lessons.
Tomorrow, we arrive In Salalah, Oman, known as the perfume capital of Arabia. While my fellow passengers take excursions to follow the Frankincense Trail, head off to see the Tomb of Job, or just stay in town to visit the souk, I shall be leaving the ship to fly back to the UK.
I shall be sorry to be saying farewell to the new friends I have made on board, and the ever-helpful crew. If only I could stay on – as many passengers will be doing – for the next three weeks to cruise around India and Sri Lanka, ond on to Bali, Indonesia, and Borneo.
When I’m at home carving the turkey on Christmas Day, I’ll be thinking of them somewhere at sea between Langkawi and Singapore.
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