What fun we had on Tuesday evening. An unidentified vessel was spotted approaching the Balmoral from astern by the lookouts, and on the radar. We were, at the time, in 'pirate alley' in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen. The captain took defensive measures ,and all the passengers assembled in what were designated 'safe haven' areas within the ship. Eventually, a warship of the anti pirate patrol, believed to be US, arrived, and the 'pirate' craft left. This all took place at about 8pm ship time, (5pm UK time) We were a little fortunate, in that we had not showered and changed for dinner. It was, to say the least, a little warm in the safe haven. After about half an hour from the alarm being given, the episode was over, and life carried on. The warship stayed with us through the night, and in the morning put up its helicopter to check that no other suspect craft were around. Throughout the whole episode, the captain kept the passengers informed as to what was going on.
It is understood that one British paper(The Sun) published a highly sensational version of events. It just goes to show that you cannot believe all that appears in some papers!
After an uneventful day at sea, we arrived in Salalah in south Oman to refuel, and do excursions. This port is primarily for container transhipment from the large ocean going carriers to smaller boats to serve the Gulf and some of East Africa. The town itself is 22 kilometers from the port, and really does not have that much to commend it. From chats afterwards, we were on the most exciting excursion, and ours included viewing ancient camel footprints solidified in limestone! We also saw the Sultans Palace(he was not at home!), a mosque, the souk where one could buy frankinsense, more frankinsense, and even get a haircut whilst buying frankinsense!! Possibly the most interesting visit was to the museum, whilst the liquid refreshment of fresh coconut juice was most welcome. Our guide was a local one, with a sense of humour. He was telling us about the area and some of its customs. Apparently, arranged marriages are very much the thing, with the bride being decided on by the potential groom's mother and sisters. Also that six children was the norm from such arrangements. He pointed out that under the rules of Islam, a man can have up to four wives. His view was that such an individual needed to be both healthy and wealthy! One interestin fact about the area was that for three months in the summer it rains and is pleasantly cool at around 26 degrees. As a result, many people from the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia come on holiday then. So much so, that the locals set up tents in the desert, and rent out their houses to visitors! We left Salalah at about 1.30pm local(9.30amUK).
Today the sea is calm, and the air temperature at noon was 76 degrees and likely to get hotter. Tonight is another dressing up night, into dinner jackets for gentlemen and posh frocks for ladies.
Our next port of call is Mumbai, and we are due there on Sunday.