April 10, 2024 - Cruising the Gulf of Oman
April 11, 2024 - Cruising the Arabian Sea
April 12, 2024 - Cruising the Arabian Sea
April 13, 2024 -Cruising the Indian Ocean
April 14, 2024- Cruising the Indian Ocean, Arrival at Port Victoria 19:00
We left Dubai on the 9th just after it had gone 18:00. We are heading right straight to the Gulf or Strait of Hormuz. Yes, that is the place Iran has said they are going to close. We are heading east back towards Oman, over the horn at the tip of the peninsula, and as close to Iran as you can get.
Sometime in the early morning we rounded the tip of the peninsula and headed into the Gulf of Oman. Not really concerned about Iran. Kuwait, the entire U.A.E. And even Oman will not stand for the closing of the Strait of Hormuz after all this is where all their oil gets shipped through. China might also have something to say about the closing of the strait.
We will spend most of the day and night along the coast of Oman. Honestly we really don’t care. We are very tired after several days of excursions back to back. It is nice to have a sea day, or five, to relax. Mary did do her book club with Dana this afternoon.
We’re now cruising off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia. Mary went to the morning lecture with Stuart Hendin entitles Yemen: An out-of-control country holding the world hostage. A nap was more important to me. The afternoon lecture on Lawrence of Arabia by Terry Bishop was much more interesting. Lawrence came up with a map for the division of the Middle East, which the British in the infinite wisdom chose to disregard. Would it have made a difference? We’ll never know. All we know now is there is another mess left behind by the British.
The middle eastern buffet wasn’t anything special at dinner, and we have it again tomorrow night. We did sign up for another cruise. This one is in 2026 and is called Arabian Nights & Egyptian Shores. It is from Doha in Qatar to Athens (Piraeus) Greece and through the Suez Canal. Nineteen nights. We’ll see if things have improved by the time payment is due in December 2025.
Friday we had a great “lecture” or show by Terry Bishop on the opening moves of the American civil war. They did a great job detailing the surrender of Fort Sumter at the beginning of the war. Jennifer Eremeeva did one entitled “The Parthenon Marbles”. It would have been interesting to go just to find out what the heck she was talking about. However, it interfered with some special nap time.
Mary did get up and go to the Stuart Hendin lecture on “The Internationl Criminal Court: The Hunt for Justice Never Ends.” I chose a cigar. Pan Asian dinner in La Veranda, really wish they would stick with Italian. It was good just not some many things we would normally eat. Mary did get sushi, so she was happy.
Saturday there was another Crossing the Equator ceremony. On this voyage alone we are on our third crossing, so far. There is talk about going to Null Island. That really isn’t an island. It is the place in the Atlantic Ocean where the coordinates are the Latitude is 00 degrees, 00 minutes and 00 seconds and the Longitude is 00 degrees, 00 minutes and 00 seconds. The places where the Prime Meridian and the Equator meet. There is only one.
We missed crossing the Equator at the 180th Meridian. We were too far west, near Singapore at the time we crossed back over it. Thus we missed out on become Golden Shellbacks. However the most coveted or most distinguished is the Emerald or Royal Diamond Shellback, a person who crosses the Equator at the Prime Meridian. Maybe who knows.
There were several lectures to day. We went to Terry Bishop’s entitled “A Good Dusting”. Not so sure he likes the British. It is either that or the British really messed things up all over the word with their colonialism. We also went to Jennifer’s on “Meet the Pirates”. It was good for Mary as she is still working on basic history.
Sunday began with a wonderful Sunday Brunch. They really layout the royal rug on Sundays for Brunch. We generally haven’t gone to brunch, but this morning we decided to go. We usually like to eat earlier than the 10:00 starting time for brunch. Way too much food. You could spend all day eating if you wanted to.
We’re counting this as a day at sea, even though Regent doesn’t. We will dock at about 19:00 in Port Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles, well officially the Republic of Seychelles. The Seychelles, as you might guess, is a country made up of islands. One-hundred and fifteen of them. Its capital and largest city is Victoria. Yes the British have been here.
The islands sit approximately 1,500 km (800 nautical miles) east of mainland Africa; off the coast of Kenya. Even this far east of the mainland it is still part of the African continent. Another continent for Mary. Only Antartica remains now. Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa, as well as the least populated sovereign African nation. In 2022 it had an estimated population of just beyond 100,000.
Before the meddling Europeans arrived in the 16th century Seychelles was uninhabited by man. Then the colonial powers of the French and British came into play. Seychelles proclaimed independence from the United Kingdom in 1976. It basically relies on tourism. Lots of beach front property on 115 islands. It has the highest per capita GDP of any African nation. The highest Human Development Index of any African Nation. It ranks highest on the V-Dem Democracy Index for any nation in Africa; not to mention is it 43rd worldwide, meaning it is in the top third.
Our excursion tomorrow is a short one, 3 1/2 hours, and the only one that doesn’t involve going to the beach at some point. It will be interesting to see what it is really like.
These past five days have gone by quickly. Since Tuesday the 9th, I have managed to get 16,000 steps or more a day, save the 11th, but that was north of 14,000, so the average is close to 17,000 a day for the five days.
The 14th, Mary Serra’s 104th birthday, celebrated with a manhattan by Mary, dinner at Prime 7, a bottle of wine, it was also our 100th day at sea. Imagine hanging out in a 376 square room for 100 days. In prison you would share that much room with 4 or 5 guys. No I am not making an analogy there. It has been great fun and we are looking forward to the next 37 days. Looking at the 37th with some sadness.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria
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