World Cruise - Day 97 - Apr 18 - At Sea

Sunrise can be rather fickle:

I was looking out our balcony every few minutes and there was no sun, no sun, no sun.  Then full sun.  So it suddenly broke through the low lying clouds all at once.  I took the photo above at 7:03a, sunrise was at 6:46a (but not visible until the photo above).  Then I took this photo at 7:34a:

I enjoy taking the sunrise photos, since it is ever changing.  Although I would like to get an actual sunrise at the horizon again before we end the cruise?

Millie Cavanaugh gave me these pics of camels walking on the beach in front of the Hilton Hotel in Salalah, Oman (where we just were two days ago):

Apparently there were hundreds of camels moving along the beach.  Here is a pic of an adult and two babies:

…although I guess not truly babies, since camels are born without humps (per the trivia question we had yesterday).  We were hoping to see the camels when we were there, although we didn’t see any.  We did see camels (and rode them) in Dubai, which was nice, since they are also available in Egypt, but we’ve heard stories about how the locals try to rip you off with camel rides.  One way is that they charge you $10 for the ride, but then charge you $40 to get off (I would just jump off, but most people wouldn’t be able to do that).  The other thing that happens is that they offer to take pictures with your camera, then ask for $20 to give it back to you.  So it would be nice to see camels, but no rides for us in Egypt.

Someone onboard mentioned that she really did not like Egypt and is not even planning to get off the ship at our two stops in Egypt.  We are still looking forward to it, although we are fully aware that it is possible the stops may be canceled on short notice for security reasons.  Here is a security alert from the U.S. Department of State issued on March 29^th:

“The U.S. Department of State alerts U.S. citizens traveling to or living in Egypt to the continuing possibility of sporadic unrest. Egypt will hold the first round of presidential elections May 23-24, 2012, and if needed, a second round June 16-17, 2012. The new president is scheduled to take office no later than June 30, 2012. Political rallies and demonstrations are likely to occur in the period leading up to and following the elections and during the drafting of a new constitution. In the past year, demonstrations have degenerated on occasion into violent clashes between police and protesters, in some instances resulting in deaths, injuries, and extensive property damage. U.S. citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to be vigilant regarding their personal security. The security situation in most tourist centers, including Luxor, Aswan, and the Red Sea Resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh, continues to be calm.  The U.S. Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all demonstrations in Egypt, as even peaceful ones can quickly become violent and a foreigner could become a target of harassment or worse. Several U.S. citizens have been arrested during demonstrations. Should security forces block off the area around the U.S. Embassy during demonstrations, U.S. citizens should not attempt to come to the U.S. Embassy during that time. U.S. citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to carry identification and, if moving about alone, a cell phone or other means of communication that works in Egypt.”

Hopefully we will not have any issues on the days we are in Egypt.  Luxor (our first stop there on Sunday) is much less likely to be disruptive than Cairo (next week Wednesday).  However, the Luxor area is also the location of the Luxor massacre in the late 1990s when over 60 tourists were killed by terrorists.  So there is a high focus on security in both locations.

We passed through the Strait of ____ this morning, which separates the Gulf of Aden (part of the Indian Ocean) from the Red Sea.  Technically, we are past the most dangerous part of pirate alley, since most pirate attacks take place in the Gulf of Aden, not the Red Sea.  Here is a view of Yemen on our starboard side:

…and this is an island of either Somalia or Djibouti on our port side:

Note that we are traveling much closer to Yemen than Somalia, which is barely visible.  Here is one of the points of land in Yemen:

If you look closely at that pic, you will see that there is a tank just below the lighthouse structure and there is a small boat just to the right.

There are several large ships in the area:

…and these:

Mainly container ships, as least that’s what they appear to be from the long lens.

We got 10½ out of 20 in trivia, winning team had 13.  Questions we missed:  What is the British term for an American hobo?  Tramp (we said buster).  In which children’s comic does Dennis the Menace feature?  The Beano (we said Dennis the Menace).  How many vowels in the Russian alphabet?  10 (we said 6).  For which traditional dish is pialu an accompaniment?  Curry (we said lamb).  How many tarsal bones in each foot?  7 (we said 5).  From which language do the words robot, pistol and howitzer originate?  Czech (we said German).  Which anniversary is crystal?  15^th (we said 20^th).  Kolrabi is a cross between which two vegetables?  Cabbage and turnips (we said cabbage and broccoli).  According to Greek myth, what was Namesis the goddess of?  Retribution or vengeance (we said adversity).  Other interesting questions:  Where is Traitor’s Gate?  Tower of London.  What is the most massive tree in the world?  Giant sequoia.  Whose last words were: “Get my swan costume ready.”  Anna Pavlova.  A group of cowboys, constables or police is called a what?  Posse.

Entertainment onboard tonight was the International Crew Show.  One of our favorite performers was Tuly, the nail technician who does Krissie’s nails.  She is from South Africa and sang This Time for Africa:

Tomorrow is sea day #3 of 4 on our way to Aqaba, Jordan.