Monday
Dear Elsie
The last 24 hours has been laden with excitement! Last night we were supposed to leave Jeddah at 6pm. As we sat down to dinner, they announced the departure would be 2 hours late due to technical issues. When we got back to our cabin at about 7:30pm, there was such a sight to see. Right below our cabin was a massive service vessel that had a pipe going into our ship. We presume it was refueling.
It went on and on and on. It finally finished and left, but it was after 11pm before we were able to cruise out of Jeddah. Let me pause at this point to mention there were a lot of unhappy drinkers on board. No alcohol allowed to be consumed in Saudi waters so those who had the (very expensive) drinks package weren’t allowed to partake. The drinks package was only worth it for really heavy drinkers who have more than 4.2 units of alcohol a day. We learned this from someone who bought the package and had done the sums. Crazy hey! It’s like drinking a bottle of wine a day as the starting point. While on the subject, Mike enjoys the odd glass of wine. Occasional drinkers as ourselves pay heavily for the privilege of a glass of red with dinner. Euro 6.5 + a 15% service charge = Euro 7.47 – in rands at today’s value that’s a cool R134 for one glass. The Italian coffee on board is not bad but it’s nice occasionally to have a proper cappuccino. I ruined it for myself by working out the Rand value. R152 for two cappuccinos. Darn! I can’t bring myself to spend that when regular coffee abounds, but at least it’s cheaper than wine! But I digress.
While still in port last night, there was a furor in the next door cabin. After the animated voices died down, it was replaced by ongoing tearing of tape on the balcony. A big thick roll of tape would be pulled out and cut. Then another, then another and so it went on and on and on. We were perplexed as to what was going on so eventually, we did what is really bad behaviour on a ship and we looked into the next balcony to find out what was going on. There was one of the ship maintenance men and he was responsible for the excessive taping. When we asked what happened, he said the service vessel had bumped into the glass panel of the balcony and had shattered it. It’s safety glass so it hadn’t actually broken, but it had pushed it in. I planned on taking a photo today but it’s windy and to do so would mean reaching over the balcony with my cell phone and risking it blowing into the back end of beyond and sinking into the inky blue ocean. I thought better of it. The maintenance man taped it as best he could and it’s managed to stay put for today. I figured the service vessel’s rubber stopper must have bumped it as it went past. How I wish I had been in the cabin!
That was last night’s drama. Today there was an event that had all the guests who witnessed it all atwitter! We were cruising down the Red Sea in the middle of nowhere.
There are occasional cargo ships to be seen in the far distance, but generally there’s sea all around. Then this afternoon we spotted a cluster of vessels not moving a short distance away.
To our surprise and consternation, an inflatable started coming towards us. There were no distinguishing marks on the rubber dingy. It looked super suspicious!
As it got closer we got more nervous. There were three men onboard dressed in dark clothing and clearly they were heading our way.
They looked up at us, not waving, but just looking. Then they went behind the ship and headed directly to the bridge where the pilot usually boards. Everyone was nervous. They looked like pirates! We were trying to see if they were armed. To make it even more strange, the ship had slowed right down. What was going on?
We went back to our cabin to get my binoculars. The boat was now on our side and we watched as the men handed a package up to the bridge. They then turned around and as they went past us they smiled and waved.
Who knows what they had or what it was for. Through my binocs, it looked like the other boats were more kind of research vessels. It was the strangest interaction I’ve ever seen at sea.
And finally, the other thing we got hooked into today was a dance lesson. Shew! We walked 4km in the morning and danced for an hour at lunchtime.
We got our steps in.
Now it’s off to dinner.
2 Peter 1:2
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
The best is yet to come – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂