Day 84 - At Sea Wed 3-30-11

We woke up at 9:50 and it was 73 with 73 percent humidity as we sped
through the Gulf of Aden. This is the closest we have ever been to
Somalia, but we are staying closer to the Yemen side. The ship's
security is keeping a 24 hour watch for suspicious boats and we are
under the watch of the international shipping security organizations.
We met a girl onboard whose husband is a U. S. Navy pilot and he emailed
that he was close, but couldn't say where they were but he knew where we
were. I believe he is on the Enterprise. We are traveling at 23 knots,
which is close to top speed until we reach the Red Sea tomorrow. We had
coffee in the room and made it to the continental breakfast before going
out back. Glenda laid out in the sun and I updated my journal. At 12,
I went to the photo shop to pick up our postcards that we had ordered
and then went to the cabin to update the blog. I was unsuccessful with
the internet, so I went back up. A European Forces helicopter flew over
us at one point and a U. S. Navy ship was along side at a distance
before we outran it. We came back to the cabin at 3 until bingo where
we got close again, but did not win. Tonight was a formal night and the
Captain was supplying free wine with dinner. We were invited to have
dinner with Don, Norman, and Ann at their big table along with Barbie
and Peter. Peter got us better wine than was being served by the
Captain. We had a very nice dinner and then went to the Crow's Nest and
stayed until 12:45. Our formal night gifts were 4 luggage straps in
World Cruise green.

Day 83 - Salalah, Oman Tue 3-29-11

Our wake up call was at 7 and the ship had just docked. It was 70 with
85 percent humidity. Our coffee took about 20 minutes, wo we dressed
for our 9 am tour. We had coffee in the room and then went up to
breakfast. We went down for our tour and boarded a bus for a 45 minutes
ride through the edge of Salalah and up into the mountains to Job's
Tomb. There we viewed the mosque and the alleged footprint of Job and
the tomb. We saw a lot of camels along the way up and at the site.
After this stop, we went down into Salalah to the Al Hosn Palace, the
summer residence of Sultan Qaboos. It was a huge modern looking complex
with many houses for his close associates and looked nothing like his
palace in Muscat. Outside the palace, we visited the old souq where
Glenda found a very nice blouse and I bought an Omani outfit. We then
rode past the port up into the limestone mountains on the road to Yemen
for a stop to see Frankincense trees and went to one to see how they
gather it and to smell its fragrance. We then returned to the ship at
1:30 and I downloaded my pictures and we went up for ice cream. We went
back to the cabin around 3 and rested until time to get ready for
dinner. I wore my new outfit and after dinner, we went to the Crow's
Nest and visited with Don, Barbie and Peter. We were going to leave
around 11, but Peter bought us another round of drinks and we stayed
until midnight. We now have 4 sea days before Aqaba, Jordan.

Day 82 - At Sea Mon 3-28-11

We woke up at 8:30 and it was 77 with 53 percent humidity and strong
winds. We had coffee on the verandah and at 9:30, there was a fire crew
drill, so we decided to wait a bit before going to breakfast. When they
have a crew drill, there are not many servers left in the Lido area.
After breakfast at 10, we went out on the back deck to drink our coffee
and I updated my journal while Glenda sunned. I went back to the cabin
at 11:45 to update the blog and after finally getting it done, I went
back up ar 1:15. We returned to the cabin at 2:30 and read until bingo,
where we again did not win. We stopped by the photo shop and picked up
a couple of our pictures and had postcards made from 3 photos. We went
to the Crow's Nest before dinner and after dinner, we returned and
stayed until 10:50. There were not many people up there tonight after
the party last night.

Day 81 - Muscat, Oman Sun 3-27-11

Our wake up call was at 7 and it was 75 with 63 percent humidity. We
were supposed to dock by 7, but the Captain made an announcement that
another ship was in our berth and we would have to wait for it to leave
as we were sitting outside the port for another 15 to 30 minutes. We
had coffee on the verandah and watched our approach as we dressed for
our 9:15 nine and a half hour tour. After breakfast, we boarded the bus
for a 2 hour ride through the desert and the mountains to Nizwa to visit
a fort built around 1660. The highways here are fantastic with 6 lane
and 4 lane divided roads that were very smooth. Our bus driver was
really going fast as we passed cars very often and the speed limit for
cars was 120 kph or 75 mph. At the fort, we had to do a lot of climbing
and Glenda made it up and down very well. After the fort, we had lunch
at the Falaj Daris hotel. It was a very nice buffet served around the
pool area. After lunch, we went to the Jabrin Castle, a typical 17th
century Imam Palace. After I climbed all through the castle (Glenda
stayed below), we took the bus to another city with an interesting water
system and beautiful fruit tree gardens all around. We also stopped at
another fort that was being restored before riding back to Muscat and
the ship. We reboarded at 5:45 and cleaned up a bit for dinner. Today
was the Captain's 50th birthday and there was a big party for him in the
Crow's Nest with appetizers and free champagne. The crowd was very
large as it is anytime there are free drinks of any kind. We had a
glass of champagne for the toast to the Captain and others just kept on
ordering more. We left at 11:50 and there was still a good crowd.