Today we awoke to the humidity of the tropics. We are still only at 20 degrees north latitude in the Red Sea, so the temperature is not too hot, but hot enough to be the first true shorts and T-shirt day of our trip. The humidity and beautiful weather have brought an extra smile to our day.
We have discovered the bow area on this ship to be quiet (true on most container ships) and a pleasant place to be. There is a wind/wave break before the containers, which deflects most of the boat wind from the bow area. On this ship, there is a platform right on the bow, where we enjoy sitting and watching the world go by. It also is a great place to meditate and to listen to podcasts.
We have also found that on the bow there is enough flat and reasonably clean (nothing outside is truly clean on a container ship) deck space to do yoga. We were reminded how much nicer it is to do yoga outside than in our cabin or hotel room. Becky believes this may be why our yoga practice has fallen into disuse – because we did not have an outside location in which to practice. Now that we can do yoga outdoors, we hope to have it become our daily ritual again.
It is difficult to believe we have already been on board ship for over a week. This trip has not been as full of activity as our previous voyage – mostly because we are not experiencing the “everything is new” phenomenon. That being said, we are not feeling like we have accomplished much in the last week. Perhaps the next week and the Indian Ocean will be more productive.
By midnight tonight we will leave the Red Sea and enter the Gulf of Aden – currently the most pirated area in the world. The ship will go onto pirate watch for about 42 hours. Pirate watch consists of having two A/Bs (Able Seamen) on bridge watch – one on either wing. Also, all the exterior doors are to be locked and we are not permitted to be out walking the decks – so much for yoga on the bow! The ships engines will be cranked up to full cruising speed – about 26 knots. At that speed, our pirate risk in minimal – most of the ships that are taken can only go 8-12 knots.
We shall see what tomorrow brings.