JORDAN

We are now in the 4th segment of our cruise - Dubai to Venice.  There are 615 passengers  on board with 96 Canadians.

We left Dubai at 6 in the morning and have since passed Oman again - so close but yet not able to visit.  We are now in the Gulf of Aden passing between Yemen and Somalia heading to the Red Sea.  Warships can sometimes be seen on the horizon as they patrol the restricted security zone we are traveling.  We will have been at sea for 7 days when we reach our next port of Jordan.

A new Captain joined us in Hong Kong.  He is from the UK  and looks too young (which he attributes to the good genes he got from his Malaysian mother) to hold such a high position.  He gave a short talk today about himself and was very entertaining.  He is very open and friendly - qualified for the  Seoul Olympics in swimming (butterfly) and is a qualified fitness instructor besides all his training in sailing.  His solution to seasickness is to have at least one cocktail of the day.

A few interesting passengers we've met: 

A fellow from Sun City paints by the pool every sea day.  For the Lethbridge people he and his wife are similar to Peter and Olive Green - one quickly sketches interesting places they visit, the other snaps pictures so he can always look at the photo if he's having problems getting the scene exactly right.  He never sells his original paintings but instead sends them out to be copied and will then ship it to the purchaser.

There are a lot of single people on the cruise which, as you know, means they pay a premium for their cabin (usually double the single price).  One woman who we think is in her late 50's decided to advertise on a website such as Cruise Companions and is now bunking with a young fellow who has applied for a job at NASA.  He will not hear for several months if he is accepted so is traveling until then.  He is taking a Celebrity cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to LA and then plans to travel up the West Coast, across Canada and, if he has time and finances, will cross Europe.

Pictures: 1 - with the Captain at Burj Khalifa, 2 - the camel ride