World Cruise - Day 99 - Apr 20 - At Sea

Pretty windy and wavy this morning, quite a change.  I guess I thought it would be pretty calm in the Red Sea, but it’s still a very large body of water (about the size of all of the Great Lakes combined).  It doesn’t appear that there is much hope or promise of a sunrise, we’re pretty much clouded over all across the sky.  Today’s high is expected to be 86, low of 73, tomorrow is a high of 93 and a low of 66 (not sure why the spread increases while in port).

OK, the sun is finally out at 7:22a (sunrise was technically at 7:07a), but it looks more like the moon than the sun:

So where are we in the world right now?  Here is a pic off the stateroom television navigation maps (white boat indicates current position):

In case you can’t see the detail, we are just past halfway up the Red Sea.  That’s Aqaba furthest to the right of the cluster of four stars.  We go there first (tomorrow) then backtrack out of the Gulf of Aqaba to Safaga (lowest star).  Then through the Suez Canal (center star) to Alexandria (top left star).  You can also see our previous ports on the right: Manama, Bahrian (top left of the three), Dubai, UAE (top right of the three) and Salalah, Oman (bottom of the three).  Here is a closer up view of our current path through the Red Sea:

Not sure why, but this map only shows a star for Safaga.  Aqaba is up at the end of the top right finger of water (Gulf of Aqaba) and the Suez Canal starts where the top left finger of water ends.

This one is a little more detailed, interesting that we did a diversion sometime during the night last night (our path cut almost directly west, then back northwest again), probably due to the rough seas?  Or maybe there were pirates?  Funny, several of us are at least slightly disappointed that we didn’t see some pirate activity.  Some people saw several small boats that were apparently part of the Iranian Navy come up close to the ship, young guys onboard yelling at us, then heading back to land.  And some warships going in both directions.  But that’s pretty much the extent of the excitement.

People are already talking about packing onboard.  Still 10 days left (if you count both today and our arrival day in Venice) and people are packing.  I probably won’t pack until 10p the evening before we get into Venice.  If it doesn’t fit in the suitcase, I’ll just throw it away (within reason).  We’ve bought some stuff, but we have used up other stuff and all of the consumables that we brought aboard will be left behind.  And my backup strategy is that I have an extra duffel that can be used as a carryon.  But who knows, maybe I will end up with a problem, check back on the last day?  Or maybe we will be able to get it all off, but have a major fail dragging it all through the streets (and bridges) of Venice?  I’ll worry about that later.

We were talking last night at dinner that this is just like being on the start of a 10-day cruise.  So we introduced ourselves again and made it a new start.  A 10-day cruise is typically considered to be a long cruise, so we have 10 days to look forward to, rather than only 10 days left.  I guess it depends on your perspective.  We all agreed at the table that we’re ready to go home in 10 days.  Chuck and Lorraine are newly minted grandparents, so they are looking forward to seeing their new granddaughter when they return.

Susie, we are looking forward to seeing you and Alan in 10 days as well!

We got 14 out of 20 in trivia today, 15 won it.  Questions we missed:  What is the praying mantis the only insect to have just one of?  Ear (we said eye).  What two word real estate term is code for no children?  Quiet neighborhood (we said over 55).  How many Great Lakes do not border Michigan?  1 (we said 2).  What Australian city boats the largest Greek population outside of Greece?  Melbourne (we said Sydney).  What song has Bryan Adams claiming: “…those were the best days of my life.”  Summer of 69 (we had no idea, I was the only one who knew who Bryan Adams is and I couldn’t name the song).  Who was the first female Native American to appear on US currency?  Pocahontas (we said Sacajawea).  Other interesting questions:  What fruit is depicted in Da Vinci’s The Last Supper even though it did not arrive in that region until centuries after the scene took place?  Orange.  How many jokers in a game of canasta?  4.  What 1993 movie saw Harvey Keitel bare all?  The Piano.  What is the favorite ethnic cuisine in the US?  Italian.  What organ was operated on in the first microsurgical procedure in 1921?  Ear.  What color are a zebra’s stripes during the first six months of life?  White and brown.

Ketsia Poitvien, the female singer onboard, performed as the evening entertainment tonight along with Jimmy Tamley, the ventriloquist who performed a few nights ago.

Tomorrow is Aqaba, Jordan.