Author Archives: Mike

You say Bombay we say Mumbai

Sunday 13th April

Well, first boob of the trip! Climbed aboard our coach for our tour “The Best of Bombay” now before you say anything, I know you are going to ask wasn’t it (or isn’t it) Mumbai? But we learnt at a lecture by Dr Ram Seth that when the city’s name changed to Bombay it was merely a mistake in the interpretation of the pronunciation of the name of one of the original seven islands that the city is now built on. They thought they were saying Bombay because they pronounced it Mombiayi with a nasal M so they heard Bombay, so Bombay it was and the way it was pronounced and phonetically spelt for 100’s of years until 1996 when the mistake was formally corrected. The name didn’t change at all, only the way it was pronounced.

Anyway I digress! The boob. I forgot my camera, so the trip round the best that Bombay has to offer is without photos. You are going to have to rely on your imaginations based on my descriptions. It may well be for the best because we were dismayed by the way these once majestic buildings had been allowed to fall into such a state of disrepair. A World Heritage Site (would you believe?) crumbling and decaying to a point of being condemned in some cases. These buildings do not deserve this, most of them were brand new in the 1890’s, less than a hundred and twenty-five years old and the quality of the build still shines through, no expense spared! The wealth of India at that time is reflected in these structures. And the poverty of India now, shows how they have looked after them. Wars with their neighbours, (once their own countrymen), development of nuclear weapons, space race, all of these things have contributed to the neglect of what I feel the locals today would really appreciate, a decent environment within which to live.

It is not just the buildings that have suffered. The roads show the lack of concern for the basic infrastructure, repairs left unfinished, surface’s crumbling like underdone shortbread. Traffic control, none existent to the extent that total anarchy on the road has bizarrely resulted in some sort of order. Hands pressed hard on the horn to compensate for the inadequacies of the noise their engines make, vehicles of all types jostle for supremacy of the available space. And, when I say vehicles I actually mean road users. In amongst this chaos is/are (would you believe) pedestrians! They cross the streams of chaotic traffic with the wary eye of a cat taking a short cut through a dog’s home, breaking into a short sprint every now and then.

The safest road user in Bombay is a cow, they walk proudly wherever they wish with impunity, not one other road user wants to tangle with a cow! Not because they themselves are holy, but because they have gods in their stomachs, this is why they are there, so that the locals can appease the gods by feeding them. The cow eats the food and the gods get the benefit. These days though Cows are not allowed to wander at will in the city as there is too much traffic, so they are brought into town on a rope, tied up and enterprising cattle owners bring cattle feed in with them, sell it to passers-by, who then feed it to the cow, thus clocking up credits with the gods. Some don’t have the time to feed the cow, so they pay the owner for the food and a little bit more for him to feed his own cow! Whether he does or not is not known, but the temptation to hang on and then resell the same food to another passer-by must be overwhelming. When it’s time to take the cow home the owner just sets it free and off up the road it wanders, some owners have two or three. They all know their way home and as the route for them is effectively traffic free, a cow is probably the most efficient way of getting from a to b. There are three things you need to drive in Bombay, A good horn, good brakes and good luck. When asked what it the correct side of the road to drive, the answer will invariably be “the Shadyside”

As it was a Sunday morning we were dropped off close to St Thomas Cathedral (completed in 1718) which could be any Cathedral anywhere in the UK, except when we looked inside the wide open doors, there were fifty or more ceiling fans whirling away at high speed over the heads of the, not inconsiderable congregation and as it was palm Sunday we were all presented with a palm leaf. On we walked through the (deserted) financial district. Kids everywhere taking advantage of the empty streets to play cricket. We were told that the Victoria Railway terminus we were heading for disgorged two to three million workers into Bombay every weekday, most of them into this area. Though a Sunday this Terminus was extremely busy with all platforms in use, like many of the other old buildings its look has been spoilt by the many cheap alterations with modern materials. Cables were festooned everywhere with no thought of how they affected the look of the original architecture.

We moved on past other once magnificent buildings some in the process of being restored, others sitting under the grime and neglect imposed on them through the years, now homes for pigeons and other wildlife as we rounded the corner of the Mumbai High Court and University Buildings (both spectacular buildings). We were faced with a huge area full of boys playing cricket. The games were as close together as the wickets are on a test ground very little room for fielders. This was Mumbai’s Oval Mandan. 22 acres of land set aside purely for cricket right in the centre of Mumbai and every square foot was being used. There is room for seven cricket fields on this space if it was used for matches instead of practise and if this many boys play cricket regularly in Mumbai then India should never have trouble in raising a test side. And there was a constant stream of boys leaving and arriving.

After an Indian lunch we visited other highlights including the Watson hotel (now almost a total wreck) where Tata was so humiliated by being refused service he went on to build the Tahj Mahal, the most luxurious hotel in Mumbai and the target of the terrorist attack in Nov 2008. Before returning on board we were dropped off at an Indian crafts shop in order that we may spend a pleasant few moments and a pleasant few rupees which several people did. And that dear folks was about that for Carols Birthday. She was pleased with the cards she got and I’m pleased that I no longer have to get cross with her when she goes in the drawer where I hid them.

Change of course to Muscat

Monday 14th April

Another welcome day at sea, time to catch breath and relax. The ship is still in code red for infection control, ships staff are coping extremely well with the extra work this putting on them but it seems to be working from what we notice. No one is allowed to help themselves to any food or drink, all must be served by staff. Sensible when you think of how many people must touch each serving spoon or tongs when they serve themselves, the coffee machine buttons and the ice cream machine handles likewise. I have seen one or two irritable responses from Lido staff to questions by passengers but to a large extent this extra workload has been handled with good humour and politeness, which is remarkable when you consider the strain this has put on everyone. Well done Cunard. Don’t know how long we will be at this level but I guess as soon as new cases fall away they will start to relax the more stringent precautions. Where ever we go there are always staff cleaning and disinfecting handrails, door handles and lift buttons and that is under normal circumstances, not just when we are taking extra precautions. Managed to squeeze in another gym session, it’s easier when you are at sea! Dr Ramie Seth’s talk was going into hospital from a patient’s perspective, it wasn’t until he became a patient that he saw the other side of the coin and it was very revealing, not least the revelation that the number one cause of death in hospital was DVT (25,000 per year) not super bugs or mistakes.

We are currently still heading up the Arabian Sea towards the Gulf of Oman (entrance to the Persian Gulf) before heading through the Straits of Hormuz, at least that was our intention. During the afternoon the Captain came on the ships broadcast and asked if there was anyone on board who was a blood donor with type A +ve and who had their blood donor’s card with them, could they please make themselves known to the medical centre. During the world voyages cocktail party the captain announced that there had been an excellent response to his request for blood donors but as some may have noticed we had picked up speed to 24 knots and would be making a minor change in course to call into Muscat (Oman) to drop our patients off before continuing on our way to Abu Dhabi.

Diversion up ahead

Tuesday 15th April

Another fantastic Persian Gulf type day, hot weather with the ship making twenty four knots a beautiful breeze blowing across all decks. Hard to believe we are only three to four weeks away to the end. Where have all the days gone? We have not done much today, but that does not mean not much has happened. Dr Ramie Seth’s last talk today was on looking at Great Britain through Dark Brown eyes, he is an excellent speaker and funny with it. He asked did we know why the sun never set on the British Empire? Well it appears that God wouldn’t trust an Englishman in the dark. His talk was littered with quips like that, but it was fascinating to hear someone so complimentary about many of the things that Brits complain about all the time and he acknowledged that things weren’t perfect but as he said they were a lot better than other countries around the world. There was a group of Chinese sitting in front of us and we noticed them all nodding in agreement at many of the things he talked about, but then I guess when you think about the things they have to put up with, any country would look good.

Captain came on at midday and told us that there had been a marked reduction in new cases of illness, but there was still an elevated background level, so they were going to maintain the additional measures for another twenty four hours and if the downward trend continues these can be relaxed gradually. Our two patients were put ashore at Muscat round about Five o’clock, we went quite close in and for once it seemed like little had changed since 1967 the forts were still there and the hilltop lookout towers, there was a new dockyard, granted, but it was nice to see something again nearly 50 years later that hadn’t changed much. Though we have now slowed down to 16 knots, our previous increased speed means that we will still reach Dubai early, arriving at 6pm rather than 8am the following day, but quite what we are going to do with the extra evening, I’m not sure. Clocks go back another hour tonight making us 3 hours ahead of you. Just had a break from writing this as Carol spotted a pod of dolphins playing alongside. This time I did manage to get some film of them, though they had passed by a bit, so not sure how they will look when we replay it. Need to go now as the moons rising on the horizon and I need a shower before dinner, Oh! we have had two new people join us at Mumbai a Sri Lankan couple, Alan and I will have to check her name cos I’ve forgotten. He is an ears, nose and throat surgeon, they both seem good fun and they are on till Southampton. So we still have a full table for now.

Dolphin Pod - 46MB

Abu Dhabi

Wednesday 16th April

During the night we exited the Gulf of Oman entering the Straits of Hormuz which we traversed through the night in thick fog, the ships fog horn sounding every two minutes. I got up at about 5am for a quick look, it was not only foggy but it was raining (again) unusual for the Persian Gulf, there was nothing but a few ships lights, again at 6:30am after daybreak nothing but fog, which was a shame because these straits can be spectacular on a clear day. Anyway that’s life, maybe when we come back it will be daylight and the mist will have cleared (then it won’t be missed 🙂 ). Cocktails with the Captain and other officers again today 11:30am, unusual time but never one to turn down free champagne, off we went. The captain and officers were not shaking hands on account of the tightened hygiene regulations which meant that the queue moved a lot faster than usual. After that we went down, got changed into less formal attire and Carol went to sunbathe, I went for a pint.

We arrived off Abu Dhabi at 5.15pm. The shoreline an uninspiring flat plain with tower blocks, looking like a bar chart from a distance. As we drew nearer we could see huge areas of virgin reclaimed land, rolled completely flat and surrounded by rough stone breakwaters. A solitary tug boat was going round and round in circles spraying water from its single fire fighting nozzle, like an excited puppy wetting itself when people come to visit. Within minutes of obtaining clearance (6:00pm) people were streaming ashore, so some must have cabin fever, we will wait for tomorrow when we are going on a dhow trip. I was last here in 1967 and there wasn’t much to see then, it seems to have changed a tad now.

Abu Dhabi – Day Two

Thursday 17th April

Today dawned a Hot! One. We left the ship at 8.30am and the temperature was already in the low thirties, promising to hit the high thirties by midday, which it did.

We were destined to sail up the narrow waterway between the Corniche and a manmade island in an old fashioned Arab dhow. It was probably the best way to see the cityscape as many of the buildings were too high to appreciate from immediately beneath them. We boarded our dhow and took a seat in a gazebo on the bow whilst an old fashioned siren sounded to signal our departure. We were served fresh fruit smoothies and tiny sandwiches as we sailed along the waterfront, all very civilised. The Corniche is effectively a long park stretching for 7km along the waterfront and it is impressive, dotted with fountains and palm trees. The first fountains we passed were harps, the strings were water. But the buildings as a backdrop were equally impressive. There were so many shapes it is hard to know where to begin. There were competing for who could have the most original top, square tops were out, too boring, pointy, curved, scalloped, domed, wedged, you name it they had it. The same with the finishes on the buildings, this year metallic finishes are in, copper, emerald green, ice blue, steel blue, gold, aquamarine, all reflecting the sun like massive jewels set out for sale. Then there were the shapes, some were close to conventional but not many. One building was designed to look like a folded newspaper (pink of course), it was the Investment Authorities building. There was one with what looked like a big hamburger on top; the meat? black windows concealing a rotating restaurant, another looked like a huge pile of beer mats that someone had pushed in the middle, one was a set of stairs going nowhere and two were like giant sausages with the top sliced off at an angle. Another was leaning like the foundations were giving way, many had huge balls as part of the structure (Stoppp It!). My favourite was one that looked like someone had used a huge ice cream scoop to take a piece out of it and there was a ball that looked like it was rolling down the scooped out bit. It was an architect’s paradise, no building was older that thirty years old, we were told that as soon as a building reached twenty-five, plans are drawn up to pull it down.

We then went down to seafront that looked out over the small bay. On the other side was the sultan’s palace in pristine white marble with white domes picked out in gold glistening in the sun like it had just been pulled out of its box. A short distance away was the Emirates Palace Hotel in red marble with similar domes picked out in gold. This hotel is used for government and sultan guests. The red marble is to remind the sultan of the desert sand, but the sand on the beach in front of the hotel was pure white. Apparently the desert sand clashed as it was not an exact match for the red marble, so they decided on a sand that contrasted, it was shipped in especially, from the Maldives. Just shows what can be done when money is no object.

Finally we were dropped at yet another massive mall, this time sitting under huge Arab tents, the entire structure air conditioned. Miles of shops with polished marble walkways on three levels where one can easily get lost huge computer controlled water features in the crossover junctions and yes Carol found a Marks and Spencer (photo evidence supplied) her excuse? I just wanted to see if the same frocks would be in the UK when we get back and see what the prices are here, hmm, withdrawal symptoms more like, good job there’s no Tesco.

We drove back along the Corniche we had sailed past and close up it looked even better, everywhere was pristine and it was easy to think that everywhere was wonderful. I asked the guide about working conditions here and she said that the people with lower paid jobs had to live in workers hostels and were not allowed to buy or rent in town, health care was excellent (but health insurance was compulsory and the level of excellence depended on the level of cover), so perhaps not quite the utopia portrayed on the front cover. When we arrived back there was a local hawk handler who insisted that Carol sat down whilst he handed her a beautiful hawk to hold, nervous at first, she really took to it and was a little reluctant to hand it back. We finally staggered back on board and sipped our drinks on the balcony as we sailed for Dubai, (another disadvantage, booze is frowned upon) and we stayed there until darkness was well and truly descended.


Dubai

Friday 18th and Saturday 19th April

Today dawned bright and clear and as we manoeuvred to begin our approach through the channels to Dubai. We could see the low lying man-made islands that lay off the coastline. Once again we looked out on a very low lying coastline with its display of high rise buildings. One unusual aspect of this coastal approach were the brilliant blue-white lights that shone out at us from various points along the shore. I thought at first that they were electric arc signalling lights of the type used on board warships, which double as search lights because of the intensity of the light. It slowly became apparent that this was in fact the sun rising behind us and reflecting back from the glass façades of the buildings on the horizon. Dubai has a more spiky or pointy outline than Abu Dhabi and as we drew closer we could see the more prominent (and famous) buildings begin to come into focus. The most famous of which is of course the Burj Al Arab but almost as prominent, though further inland, were the Emirates Towers and the Burj Khalifa. It is a much more spectacular sea approach than Abu Dhabi. Entering the cruise terminal basin we could see outlined on the reclaimed land opposite, plots for new high rise hotels and buildings which will form the new cruise terminal. Landscape planting of the gardens and palm trees had already begun even though not one brick had been laid, what a contrast to building work in the UK where the building is constructed first and the landscaping carried out almost as an afterthought.

Once berthed we had plenty of time for breakfast as transport for our seaplane flight was not due to depart until 10:00am. We went down to the terminal at about 09:45 and on the dot we picked up in a luxury Mercedes minibus and smoothly whisked away through Dubai to the Park Hyatt Hotel which was part hotel part luxury apartments, its grounds swept down to the inland waterway where our aircraft was moored at a small jetty. Prior to boarding we were all photographed individually (or in pairs) on the jetty. We were told that this was for a souvenir photo / certificate, I didn’t say anything to Carol (she was nervous enough), but the thought crossed my mind that it was for identification purposes should we end up embedding ourselves in one of the many high-rises we would fly round/between. Our extremely personable pilot Andy welcomed us aboard (with a slight antipodean accent) and said the escape routes would be demonstrated by the two guys outside the aircraft as there was not enough room inside. As we were sitting at the front, we had to rely on the people at the rear to remember what was said because it seemed a rather complicated arrangement of a top gullwing and a lower step door clipping together. It was an eight seater aircraft and each seat had a window. Once airborne we could move around inside the cabin if we wished to take pictures out of the opposite windows. After being told what the flight plan was and shown where we could find our laminated maps, we strapped ourselves in and Andy wound up the turbo prop. We watched in fascination as he flicked switches on the huge panel in front of him and various images of dials and barcharts flashed momentarily on the video displays in the centre of the console.

The frequency of the turbine had reached and then exceeded my range of hearing when he reached down between the two front seats and pulled a leaver. Immediately we heard the deep growl of the prop beginning to bite the air and we surged forward away from the jetty. Our speed increased until we were almost flying as we taxied down to where we would start our take off. The buildings either side flashed by and what amazed me was Andy could not see out of the front windows above the control panel, partly because of the angle of the plane and partly because he was as short as I am. He looked out of the side window as if he too was enjoying the ride. After what seemed an age the revs slowed and we settled down into the water again, Andy then turned to us and said with a grin “well that’s it folks welcome back and I hope you enjoyed your flight”.

A few moments later after we had turned around (done a one eighty as the jargon has it) and were facing back down the water. We watched again as Andy flicked a few more switches, muttered into his microphone, the whistle increased again, this time at a much faster rate until it reached its crescendo roar and the hand went down again to the lever. Up it came, the growl this time had a more serious gravelly bite to it, the surge forward pushed us well back into our seats and we noticed that Andy now had both hands on the column, hanging on as if his life depended on it, (which I guess it did, ours too). We accelerated up to what seemed a phenomenal speed, buildings, trees, cars flashed by, we zipped under a couple of bridges, no I made that bit up, but the banks were so close it wouldn’t have surprised me. Spray was flying up from the skis and the ride was as smooth as silk as we lifted up. The ground fell away rapidly as we climbed to about fifteen hundred feet before banking sharply away towards the coastline.

It was Carol’s first trip in a small plane and those first few robust manoeuvres were a bit disconcerting, but within minutes the views beneath us totally absorbed her. Andy flew a course which allowed both sides of the cabin the same views, timing his turns so that we were in a perfect position to take our time taking photos. However with the aircraft banking so sharply, the people on the opposite side of the cabin had almost as good a view as the ones next to the window on the inside of the turn. We flew up the coast with views of Dubai’s buildings on one side and the islands on the opposite side. We then returned over the sea performing lazy snaking S turns and circling, first clockwise then anti clockwise. Close enough to see people on the ground stare up at us staring down at them. Past the world which had only a few islands occupied with villas and landscaping, the remaining islands just barren sand dunes. The world islands are protected by a huge circular breakwater which overlapped at the entry point, making it difficult for the postman to find. The palm was almost fully developed with only a couple of empty fronds. The scale of this development is almost beyond comprehension as we looked down and saw just how many villas were on each frond, the design such that each villa has a huge private beach. We then headed inland circling the buildings many of which towered above us. Then further on looking down on the various race and golf courses, all immaculately kept, before finally and rapidly losing height as we dropped back to the small strip of water we had left 40 minutes previously. We touched down so smoothly we were hardly aware that we were down, if it had not been for the spray zipping past the windows. I think we both agreed that this had been one of the best experiences of the cruise. We were then presented with our photo of departure and certificate to authenticate our flight. It was all over too soon and we were on our way back to the ship to prepare for our evening ashore at the ships world voyagers gala dinner cruisers dinner.

Showered and dressed in best bib and tucker we left the ship once more for the Madinat Jumeirah. As we arrived we joined the line to shake hands with the Captain and several other officers and dignitaries before availing ourselves of the hospitality available on the many silver trays circulating in the assembled guests. Whilst waiting for everyone to arrive we wandered around various distractions put on to amuse, like having your name written in Arabic and having tour photo taken with the various hawks being held by their handlers. It was more amusing to watch some faces as the birds were put on their wrists, because the birds themselves were so calm they could have been stuffed (they weren’t, by the way), but some people looked so terrified that you would think they had an alligator on their wrist. Further on I spoke to a lady who had her name written in Arabic and she asked how she could know it said what they told her it said. I told her you will never know, because it says, whatever you do, do not tell this lady what I’ve written here. The look on her face was a picture, so was the look on mine, as there were only four letters (or symbols) written on the card.

After an hour or so we made our way in to a huge hall where sixty or so round tables were set around a central stage. I can’t go through all the entertainment that was laid on, suffice to say it was lavish and continuous. Ranging from popular European songs, to whirling dancers with illuminated costumes. My favourite was the belly dancers, one lady came right up to where I was kneeling (filming!-stop it!) and mesmerised me. (See video). When I found my way back to the table Carol asked me why my eyes were rotating like Catherine wheels. But like everything, all good things have to come to an end and we eventually found ourselves outside warming up because Carol found the air conditioning a bit too fierce and as it was getting a late, instead of going back in we clambered aboard a waiting coach that was about to depart. The trip back was just as fascinating as the journey in, all the buildings in ‘Down Town Dubai’ were now festooned in their finest illuminations and seen close up, were more spectacular than from a distance. By any standard, it was a good night.

We were a tad late getting up the following day, but that was not too much of a problem as we were going to have a look at the various markets close by where we were berthed. We finally wandered ashore and grabbed a taxi into the spice souk. This was a fascinating veritable warren of narrow alleyways with tiny stalls many of which were packed from floor to ceiling with spices and herbs. Stall holders were only too willing to talk at length about all the different products and what they were used (or good) for, opening jars and saying smell this. Some were pungent some were sublime, I would have bought most of what was shown me if it wasn’t for that moderating influence, otherwise known as a wife. I did end up getting some vanilla pods which were as cheap as chips, even there I ended up getting half the quantity I originally wanted, as Carol said we are not going to use all that before it starts to go off.

We spent a couple of hours or more getting lost in this maze before walking back along the creek, we toyed with the idea of popping into the gold souk but we guessed from the few shops on the outside it would be the same as the others and as our legs were just about to drop off. So we made our way back to the ship sailing was early tonight and as I am late with this dispatch I’ll close for now.

[Video quality due to dad’s phone only sending low res versions to his cloud storage. I’ll replace them if I get my hands on the originals – Paul]

Back at sea again

Sunday 20th April

Well we are back at sea again sailing south back down the Persian Gulf, transiting the straits of Hormuz re-entering the Gulf of Oman and out into the Arabian Sea once more, where we turned right (to starboard) and followed the Omani coast round, heading towards the Red Sea. Temperature a hot 38°C, wind a gentle breeze. Once more heading into Pirate areas, though they’ve no real worries about a serious threat. The lecture today was on the royal yachts through the ages, sort of mildly interesting, we will have to see what his next lecture is like, Trafalgar and Nelson. That’s about it for today a real lazy day at sea. Oh! we have two new ladies at the table who seem to be a bundle of fun, so things should get interesting.

Still at sea

Monday 21st April

Sailing on a South Westerly course in the Arabian Sea along the Omani coast, passing the port of Mirbat (scene of the famous battle of Mirbat where nine SAS soldiers led by Cap’t Mike Kearny, held off 400 rebel soldiers who were attempting to take the port in 1972). We expect to head North into the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aden through the night. Today was extremely hot again so I spent a lot of it indoors watching the sea pass by. The Captain’s announcement gave an update on the Norovirus situation, he said there had been a significant reduction in newly reported cases and the ship was returning to normal levels of service. Could it be that we offloaded about a thousand passengers in Dubai which would give us an instant 50% improvement? The atmosphere and character of the ship has once more changed subtly with the recent influx of Brits, it’s strange how the character of a ship can change with the mix of passenger nationalities. The talk today was, ‘Is there anyone out there?’ by Richard Holdaway about the universe, which turned out to be a whistle stop tour, with so many facts and figures my head was reeling; the videos were amazing though, most of them through Hubble but some of the sun were taken by specialist satellites. But an answer to the question, Is there anyone out there? was there none.

Still at sea

Tuesday 22nd April

We are rising later and later (for we, read me) but it is nice when breakfast is always ready, no matter what time of day you get up. We are still sailing through the Gulf of Aden following an orderly procession down the transit corridor at a pirate defeating 23 knots (catch us if you can Long John!) I was a bit previous with yesterday’s blog, thinking it was last night we would pass into the Red Sea, it is actually tonight we sail through the Baba el Mandel straits which is a twelve mile wide strait between the horn of Africa and the middle eastern country of Yemen and an important part of the link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Temperature is still in the mid-thirties, and as the wind has shifted round more, there is less across the deck, magnifying the suns effect.

Today’s talk was Nelson, culminating in the Battle of Trafalgar and before he started he asked if there were any French in the audience. There were not which drew the comment that makes it a lot easier, Lieutenant Commander Eedle then pipes up “I am seconded to the French navy” to which he responded “that’s your problem” big cheer all round! But the talk was a bit disparaging of the French navy’s capabilities at that time and it appears that the Spanish also thought Napoleon underestimated the British Navy’s strengths which were being demonstrated right before their eyes. The French and Spanish had been blockaded for two years by the British and instead of anchoring which was the normal tactic when blockading a port, the British continued to sail to and fro 24/7 carrying out gunnery practice for the whole two years until they could fire broadsides at more than twice the rate of the French and their seamanship skills remained sharp. Though to be fair to the French (if one has to be) they did practice their musketry skills and that was what eventually killed Nelson. Hoping to see some more varieties of sea life as we enter the Red Sea as it is a relatively shallow sea with many coral formations just below the surface. Within recent human history sea levels were much lower than they are now and the entrance to the Red Sea was much narrower than it is today, there is scientific evidence to support ‘The Parting Of The Red Sea’ following a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It initially drained the Red Sea exposing the shallower areas and then the surge of the tsunami refilled it.

Syria to Hadrian’s Wall

Wednesday 23rd April

Woke to the sun shining straight in my face, indicating we had entered the Red Sea and were now heading North, so no chance of a lie in this morning then. Speed has reduced to 20 knots, still not down to normal cruising speed but a little less than the bone rattling 23 of yesterday. Weather continues to be extremely hot and humidity up in the low to mid nineties.

We spent a lazy morning, broken by a talk by Richard Holdaway on the Planets and the Solar system followed later by a talk on Petra and Palmyra which surprisingly enough was very good, even though this was the speakers first lecture on a ship and first cruise, he wove a great story through Rome, Syria, Ancient Greece and ended up with a Syrian Flag salesman on Hadrian’s wall and an Essex slave girl in South Shields, all in Roman times I hasten to add, but it was really neat how he tied up all the loose ends. (Carol swerved both talks and went sun worshipping).

After spotting one or two small pods of dolphins earlier on, we found ourselves in a huge pod they were everywhere, heading across our route. Some playing around our bows and breaking bow wave but most seemed intent on carrying on their journey, leaping over the waves in synchronised jumps, looking for all the world like a marine version of the Grand National. They swam at high speed towards the ship and just as it looked like they were going to slam right into us, they went deep and swam under us, fantastic. No pictures, sorry, it was all over in a flash and it appears I’m not very good at videoing 😥 .

Thanks for all the comments by the way, and no I didn’t buy the headgear as there was no way I could tie it like the guy who was trying to sell it to me, I would have just ended up with an expensive tea towel. Dragged ourselves to the gym despite the heat and got back to find an invite to dine with the officers tomorrow, (electro technical that is, should be interesting for me, not sure about Carol). Spent a nice evening with a whiskey, watching the ships pass in the night before going down to dinner. That’s about all for today.