Terry on Entering the Red Sea

Terry’s Take on Entering the Red Sea
To an audience of about 40 people, Terry gave a power point presentation on a subject he knows well – power plants! The Rotary / service Club has met several times since we’ve sailed and talked him into sharing his knowledge with his fellow Rotarians. He was surprised that the only discussion about Nuclear waste came from a Frenchman who was totally satisfied with the way France was dealing with the waste. The majority of the attendees were in our age group and understood the role electricity plays in our quality of life. And Terry’s on a roll ….here’s what he has to say!
Well, we are entering the Red Sea, but it still looks blue to me. I wonder if this is where they first discovered red / green color blindness. We dropped off our two security guards; they boarded their “gun ship” and headed for their next assignment with their backpacks. If this stuff keeps up this would be a good business for Kevin and some of his friends to enter when they retire from the Navy. We will work on a business plan when I get back.
My thought is that we buy a couple of subs and then sell insurance against getting boarded by the pirates. The policies would take effect three months after the initial payment date. That would give us sufficient time to find and take out all the “mother” ships that supply the smaller boats used to actually attack the cargo ships. With the profits from the initial business we could buy an aircraft carrier and then bomb the villages where the pirates live. We would want good news coverage as we want our customers to perceive the problem to still be serious so they would keep buying the insurance. Once we have our steady income from the premiums and our costs of operations has been reduced to a minimum we package the business up and sell it to Goldman Sachs. They will then do an IPO and offer it to the pirates as a secure place to put the original ransom money they collected before our original security business came along. At this point you may think I am crazy, but hang in there.
The new pirate business owners now employ some of the poor stupid pirates to continue trying to attack cargo ships; this will keep up the facade that the pirates are still a threat. They also now employ the almost as stupid pirates to become the security force protecting the cargo ships. This will solve several of the country’s problems: population control while raising the average IQ, income for the poor, gain the respect of other countries, ….. This is a win-win for everyone. J
OK, we are having a good time; we still have several more days at sea before we go through the Suez Canal on Thursday. Today is Monday April 26, 2010; we are presently ten hours ahead of California time; it is 4:30 am in CA and 2:30 pm here in the Red Sea. We arrive in Athens on May 3rd in the morning after a one day sail from Alexandria, Egypt where we have scheduled a tour of the Pyramids and lunch on the Nile.
Betty has been working out every day; I have been working out as time permits between naps and meals. I have also been reading e-mails but the ships system does not let me send using my MS Outlook, so I can only send using “Yahoo.” So far everything I have read can wait until we get back so you will have to be content reading the blog we post on a regular basis. We will have about twenty-two hours of travel time by the time we get home. We gain ten hours and with “airport time” and customs we should be pretty well wiped out by the time we hit SFO and get the van to drive home.

Paid Gun(s) Arrive

Gunboat Escort Arrives
This morning while playing cards, our gunboat escort arrived alongside our ship about 11:00 a.m. There appeared to be a half a dozen rather young men (at least from our perspective) on a boat about the size of the Eaglet. There was a big 20 caliber machine gun on the front of the boat and who knows what under cover. Two of these sharpshooters with bulging back packs boarded our ship and are still aboard keeping watch, mostly from the stern of our ship. After a while, we transferred fuel to their boat so that they can make it through the Gulf of Aden. Our ship arrived at the transit corridor with 3 other vessels cruising at 18 knots in order to transit together along with our paid protectors. We’re feeling very safe and the gals continued to play Mah Jongg all afternoon. Tonight is “dark night” -- all curtains pulled tight, balcony lights off, and no strolling along Deck 5 – the open air deck where they have all the fire hoses at ready.
Yesterday Terry & Dennis toured the control room of the ship. Not the bridge or the engine room, but rather the area where all the systems are viewed on screens and monitored by ship personnel.
Continuing on our journey…
Six BMK Travelers
4/25

Dubai Mall - Fashion Update & Burj Khalifa

Dubai Mall – Fashion Update & Burj Khalifa
All six of the BMK Travelers caught a taxi from the ship to the largest mall in the World.
Inside the Dubai Mall is an aquarium, the world’s third largest indoor ski dome, entrance to top class hotels, outdoor water show area like Las Vegas, and an entrance to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Many, many other shops from the top fashion designers lined the vast hallway walkways. The most striking difference were the storefronts showing fashionable burkas, the black cover-all wear of the United Arab Emirates’ ladies.
Dubai offers facilities of the highest international standards combining an exceptional blend of modern city and timeless desert.
Here’s a photo of Dubai from atop the Burj Khalifa – We were only allowed to floor 124.
Six BMK Travelers
4/24

Shipboard Anti-Pirate Measures

Shipboard Anti-Pirate Measures
Captain Smith held an informational update today in the lounge to tell us what measures are being taken to insure safe passage from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea through the area called, in the shipping world, the transit zone.
When the ship was docked in Dubai, the head of the safe passage system came aboard to give our Captain details and methods to put in place to assure the maximum amount of safety to the passengers. They also exchanged telephone numbers and the Captain will call him several times a day to tell him where our ship is located to arrange for the proper escort.
When vessels approach the transit zone, similar ships transiting at the same speed, gather together at Point B and will be escorted by the Military vessels through to Point A. First will be the ships going 5-6 knots, then the ships going 8-10 knots, etc. which are the most vulnerable. Ships in our category going 18 knots will be last and are least likely to be boarded because of our fast speed.
At least 10,000 small fishing boats will be passed between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea and the Captain showed photos of the difference between fishing boats and gun boats – namely, the gun boats have ladders. He assured us that fish cannot climb ladders. The Services desk has received over 200 calls from passengers regarding sightings of small boats. Captain Smith asked the passengers to keep an eye out, but not to Cry Wolf.
Azamara Cruises has hired a private gun boat (costing what a crew member would need to purchase a house), to follow the ship through the transit zone. While transiting, we will have our ship dark and will have our cabin curtains drawn for a minimum of light.
Maximum precautions are being taken. The Ocean Princess that had docked in front of our ship decided not to go to Alexandria Egypt because of the pirates. However, we have a very young Captain – 36 years old and likes adventure in his life. We’re scheduled for transit Sunday evening; Sunday morning California time.
By the way…the current ocean water temp is 91 degrees. We’d jump over and swim but we’re afraid of the pirates and the sharks. Right!!
(Maggie, Maria, Rosie and Dianne…Leila is taking our Mah Jongg money! )
Bye for now; turning out the lights.
Six BMK Travelers

Dubai Dune Dinner - Keep Discovering

Dubai – Keep Discovering

When we signed up for the “Dune Dinner” tour we didn’t know the term “Keep Discovering” was in store for the group. The Dinner, although an experience, was small in comparison to the 4-wheel drive among the sand dunes. There were 14 autos in our caravan, each carrying 4 passengers. After driving about 45 minutes out of town we turned off onto the desert dunes. Wow! We felt like we were out of control about 75 percent of the time, -- up and down the dunes, slipping, sliding twisting, turning, kicking up sand. After 5 minutes we stopped and each driver got out of his car and took most of the air out of all 4 tires. Left about 9# of air in each tire until they “squatted” down into the sand; took off again. Several times the caravan stopped to let the cars cool off. Some heated faster than others (Chevy). The driver explained about all the items on the cars for safety. We assumed it was for the people, but later come to find out all the items were for the car. Roll bars were installed in all the vehicles and the driver explained that if we rolled, we would not break our necks, but didn’t assure us we would still be alive. Of course, he was kidding (I hope). Here in Dubai each driver needs to have a desert dune driver’s license to be part of a commercial company offering dune tours. We drove up and down the dunes for about an hour and then arrived at our open air dinner area.
Up and over a dune we spotted an encampment which was to be our restaurant stop for the evening. They re-created an experience area of another type. Upon first arrival we saw tables set up Arabian-style (low) with large cushioned seating in groups of 7 surrounding a raised platform covered in rugs. Three camels were on the perimeter which you could ride; henna hand painting for the ladies; dune-boarding on one side of the encampment; after-dinner Hoota smoking; Arabian coffee and tea on another area. In other words, not only were we to have dinner, but would enjoy the camp events including belly dancing for entertainment. While we were eating dinner, our drivers were filling up our car tires from the compressor carried in each vehicle. Now that’s a party!
Lots of fun! Keep Discovering!
Six BMK Travelers
4/22

Bombay - Part I Laundry

The Laundry Here I am in the laundry room writing the Blog, which brings up a real story of the “laundry” in Bombay. For a small amount of money the local “laundry washer” takes your clothes to the local outdoor laundry. This is a mighty strange place. The water is only changed once a day, but he uses many, many soaps, lie,and cleaners then beats the clothes against the rocks and the clothes do come out really, really white. The tour guide said they also are prone to being returned with holes. She pointed out “stone washed” jeans. Who knows, maybe it’s where our jeans get the stone-washed look?? Every stop the bus makes is met with the locals selling their wares to the tourists. Still hot, hot. We return to the ship after each trip to our oasis. Six BMK Travelers 4/19

Cochin Photos

Here's 2 photos from Cochin