Greetings from Cochin, India. November 11, 2008
From Goa, we sailed south the last day and a half, about 25 miles off the SW coast of India, among dozens of fishing and shrimping vessels working this coastline. We arrived in Cochin late this morning and we’re taking the afternoon off from the ship’s organized shore excursions, to catch up on uploading our blog posts and photos, and to check email and phone messages. We’ve been surprised at how difficult it has been for us to get to an Internet shop ashore in the recent ports that we’ve visited, so this is our first communication with you since our first post sent October 20. The ship’s satellite Internet server has been out of service since we left Greece. Hopefully this will bring you up-to-date with our travel news.
We’re staying in Cochin overnight, and tomorrow morning, we’ll take a canal-boat tour of Cochin and its “Backwater” areas, which we’re told is a popular tour. After that, we depart tomorrow afternoon, but we have a change of itinerary.
We were scheduled to sail for Colombo, Sri Lanka. However, another security threat has reared its head, and we will bypass Sri Lanka. You may have seen the news about two bomb attacks in Sri Lanka about two weeks ago by the Tamal Tigers terrorist group. This is a radical group that seeks to overthrow the government of Sri Lanka and demands independence for one of the country’s islands. The U.S. State Department and the foreign ministries of Germany, Britain, and several other European countries have strongly advised the Star Clipper management that we should avoid entering Sri Lanka at this time. So, the management and Captain Jurgen yesterday made the decision to bypass Sri Lanka and sail on for the Similan Islands in Thailand. The Captain says we’ll spend this extra day in a beautiful island group called Patong Bay that lies between Phuket and the mainland of Thailand. Sounds good to us. :-))
We hope all’s well with you.
Love,
Betty and Bill
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
November 9, 2008 Goa, India
Greetings from Goa, India. November 9, 2008
After we were safely out of the Somalian piracy area and a day out to sea from Oman, the Captain treated us to a “Molotov Cocktail Party” on deck—see the photo. The crew had made Molotov cocktails for the pirates, but thankfully they had no occasion to use them.
Our weather thus far on the trip couldn’t have been more pleasant. We’ve been treated to blue skies, moderate winds, gentle waves, and shirt-sleeve temperatures every day, around 80-85F. During previous Indian Ocean crossings, Star Clipper has had rain and strong winds, which we may yet see before reaching Thailand, but for now, it’s great weather. Yesterday, one of the crew caught a beautiful 7-foot sailfish—see the photo.
Today we arrived in Goa and went ashore for a tour of a spice plantation, vegetable and fruit markets, the 16th-century Portuguese Bom Jesus Catholic Cathedral, and the 17th century Shri Mangesh Hindu Temple. Tomorrow, we’re at sea, arriving in Cochin about noon Tuesday, and will depart Wed. afternoon the 12th. We plan to take a canal-boat tour through this tropical river delta region and see the coconut harvesting areas.
More later from Cochin.
Love,
Betty and Bill
After we were safely out of the Somalian piracy area and a day out to sea from Oman, the Captain treated us to a “Molotov Cocktail Party” on deck—see the photo. The crew had made Molotov cocktails for the pirates, but thankfully they had no occasion to use them.
Our weather thus far on the trip couldn’t have been more pleasant. We’ve been treated to blue skies, moderate winds, gentle waves, and shirt-sleeve temperatures every day, around 80-85F. During previous Indian Ocean crossings, Star Clipper has had rain and strong winds, which we may yet see before reaching Thailand, but for now, it’s great weather. Yesterday, one of the crew caught a beautiful 7-foot sailfish—see the photo.
Today we arrived in Goa and went ashore for a tour of a spice plantation, vegetable and fruit markets, the 16th-century Portuguese Bom Jesus Catholic Cathedral, and the 17th century Shri Mangesh Hindu Temple. Tomorrow, we’re at sea, arriving in Cochin about noon Tuesday, and will depart Wed. afternoon the 12th. We plan to take a canal-boat tour through this tropical river delta region and see the coconut harvesting areas.
More later from Cochin.
Love,
Betty and Bill
November 3, Salalah, Oman
Greetings from Salalah, Oman. November 3, 2008
Leaving Safaga, Egypt on October 25, we cruised down the Gulf of Suez to its south entrance, at a narrow strait called Bab El Mandeb (Gate of Tears). Some say it is named for the fact that during slave-trading days, many ship-loads of slaves were loaded in the Gulf of Suez and taken through this strait from the NE African region that now is Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Others attribute its name to the fact that many ships were lost on the hidden rocks in this narrow passage before lighthouses were erected.
Passing through the strait at Bab El Mandeb, we turned east into the Gulf of Aden, running between the southern shore of Yemen and the northeastern shore of Somalia on the Horn of Africa. No voyage on a tall ship would be complete without a pirate’s tale—and we have ours!
You’ve probably heard about the epidemic of recent Somalian pirate attacks on ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and along the NE Horn of Africa. If you haven’t, you can go to the Web and look up “Somalian Pirates” or look up the article dated October 4 titled “The Million Dollar Pirates” in the British weekly magazine, “The Week.” The article says that more than 60 ships have been attacked in these waters this year, with multi-million $ ransom demands. Somalian pirates are still holding the Ukrainian freighter that was captured in early October, carrying 33 Russian tanks and tons of military munitions bound for Kenya. Apparently, both U.S. and Russian warships are standing by the ship, while negotiations continue, in efforts to get the ship and crew released.
The US Ambassador in Egypt sent a message to the American citizens on board Star Clipper, recommending that we disembark in Safaga and leave the voyage, unless a military escort could be arranged for Star Clipper.
A US-led coalition of NATO countries and others is now providing 13-14 warships to patrol this 600-mile corridor. Captain Jurgen initiated a set of “antipiracy measures” for Star Clipper’s passage through this Gulf of Aden, and arranged for a military escort. To “discourage” any unauthorized boarding of our ship, the crew strung razor wire and a high-voltage electrical wire around the ship on extended angle-iron arms, and draped netting over the side from extended booms that was intended to entangle the propellers of any boat that came alongside.
Most importantly, we’re immensely proud to say that a USN guided missile destroyer, the USS Mahan, was assigned to escort us! (See the photo posted here.) At noon Friday after we entered the Gulf of Aden, the Mahan met us, circled Star Flyer doing 30 knots speed (vs. our 10 knots), blasted a Meet-and Greet on the ship’s horn, and fell in behind us where it cruised for our 600-mile trip through the piracy patch. Believe me, for an old sea-farer, that was a beautiful site! I’d have to say that even the “peaceniks” on board (there are a few) were proud and grateful to be sailing under the watchful eye of this sleek gray lady.
Sunday when we left the Gulf of Aden, the USS Mahan came alongside for photos, and Captain Jurgen slowed down and raised all Star Clippers sails for their crew to get photos of our classic square-rigged clipper ship under sail. We’ve been mostly running under engine and partial sail, depending on wind strength and direction. Our crew put an inflatable boat over the side, went alongside the Mahan, and took gifts to their officers and crew. As we approached the coast of Oman late yesterday, the Mahan said goodbye and departed for other duties. We arrived safely in Salalah early Monday morning, Nov. 3.
Some guests took an optional excursion to the city and surrounding area to see frankincense production and the gift markets, but we stayed on board. We’ve both been afflicted with an intestinal bug the past few days that hit most of the ship’s guests and had low-grade fevers of up to 101.5F. However, we brought along a prescription of Cipro antibiotic and that has cleared it up, Inshallah!
Monday afternoon, we sailed east for Goa, India, a 5-day sail across the Indian Ocean. We expect to arrive in Goa November 9. Thankfully, we should have easier Internet and telephone access there, they say.
Love,
Betty and Bill
Leaving Safaga, Egypt on October 25, we cruised down the Gulf of Suez to its south entrance, at a narrow strait called Bab El Mandeb (Gate of Tears). Some say it is named for the fact that during slave-trading days, many ship-loads of slaves were loaded in the Gulf of Suez and taken through this strait from the NE African region that now is Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Others attribute its name to the fact that many ships were lost on the hidden rocks in this narrow passage before lighthouses were erected.
Passing through the strait at Bab El Mandeb, we turned east into the Gulf of Aden, running between the southern shore of Yemen and the northeastern shore of Somalia on the Horn of Africa. No voyage on a tall ship would be complete without a pirate’s tale—and we have ours!
You’ve probably heard about the epidemic of recent Somalian pirate attacks on ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and along the NE Horn of Africa. If you haven’t, you can go to the Web and look up “Somalian Pirates” or look up the article dated October 4 titled “The Million Dollar Pirates” in the British weekly magazine, “The Week.” The article says that more than 60 ships have been attacked in these waters this year, with multi-million $ ransom demands. Somalian pirates are still holding the Ukrainian freighter that was captured in early October, carrying 33 Russian tanks and tons of military munitions bound for Kenya. Apparently, both U.S. and Russian warships are standing by the ship, while negotiations continue, in efforts to get the ship and crew released.
The US Ambassador in Egypt sent a message to the American citizens on board Star Clipper, recommending that we disembark in Safaga and leave the voyage, unless a military escort could be arranged for Star Clipper.
A US-led coalition of NATO countries and others is now providing 13-14 warships to patrol this 600-mile corridor. Captain Jurgen initiated a set of “antipiracy measures” for Star Clipper’s passage through this Gulf of Aden, and arranged for a military escort. To “discourage” any unauthorized boarding of our ship, the crew strung razor wire and a high-voltage electrical wire around the ship on extended angle-iron arms, and draped netting over the side from extended booms that was intended to entangle the propellers of any boat that came alongside.
Most importantly, we’re immensely proud to say that a USN guided missile destroyer, the USS Mahan, was assigned to escort us! (See the photo posted here.) At noon Friday after we entered the Gulf of Aden, the Mahan met us, circled Star Flyer doing 30 knots speed (vs. our 10 knots), blasted a Meet-and Greet on the ship’s horn, and fell in behind us where it cruised for our 600-mile trip through the piracy patch. Believe me, for an old sea-farer, that was a beautiful site! I’d have to say that even the “peaceniks” on board (there are a few) were proud and grateful to be sailing under the watchful eye of this sleek gray lady.
Sunday when we left the Gulf of Aden, the USS Mahan came alongside for photos, and Captain Jurgen slowed down and raised all Star Clippers sails for their crew to get photos of our classic square-rigged clipper ship under sail. We’ve been mostly running under engine and partial sail, depending on wind strength and direction. Our crew put an inflatable boat over the side, went alongside the Mahan, and took gifts to their officers and crew. As we approached the coast of Oman late yesterday, the Mahan said goodbye and departed for other duties. We arrived safely in Salalah early Monday morning, Nov. 3.
Some guests took an optional excursion to the city and surrounding area to see frankincense production and the gift markets, but we stayed on board. We’ve both been afflicted with an intestinal bug the past few days that hit most of the ship’s guests and had low-grade fevers of up to 101.5F. However, we brought along a prescription of Cipro antibiotic and that has cleared it up, Inshallah!
Monday afternoon, we sailed east for Goa, India, a 5-day sail across the Indian Ocean. We expect to arrive in Goa November 9. Thankfully, we should have easier Internet and telephone access there, they say.
Love,
Betty and Bill
October 25, Safaga, Egypt
Saturday, October 25, 2008. Today we're docked at Safaga, Egypt on the western shore of the Red Sea. Safaga is nothing to write home about—it’s an industrial port, but it’s attraction is the fact that it is about a 2-hour drive east of Luxor on the Nile, probably Egypt’s second most significant historical site and a must-see for Egyptian visitors.
Note that we’ve posted five new photos here, showing:
Knights of St. John Crusader wall tower at Rhodes,
Betty with cannon balls at 15th century Crusader wall at Rhodes,
Bill at the helm of Star Clipper,
Sunset over Alexandria Harbor,
Mosque at Port Said, Egypt.
Today most of our fellow travelers took a bus excursion over to Luxor to visit the ancient site of the Karnak and Luxor temples, the largest and best preserved of the ancient Egyptian temples, from days of the Pharaohs (2700 BC to 100 BC). The city of Luxor was then called Thebes by the Greeks, and was the capitol of the Egyptian royalty for many centuries. We visited there last January on our Egypt tour with Lynne and Bruce Noel, and since we've already photographed every stone, we decided to decline this excursion and relax in Safaga.
Yesterday, we were at Sharm El Sheik at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula on the Red Sea. This is the resort city where many of the international Middle East peace meetings and negotiations are held, some of which have produced the peace agreements between Israel and Egypt and Jordon.
Some of our group took a 3-hour bus ride through the Sinai desert and mountains to Mt. Sinai and the St. Catherine's Monastery on the "Mountain of Moses" (where it is said that Moses received God's 10 commandments and other instructions for his people. Because of the long bus ride and expensive optional cost, we decided to also decline that excursion and enjoy a relaxed day in Sharm El Sheik. Thankfully, our group made much better speed than Moses and the Israelites did. :-)
Betty wants to tell you that she's learning to play bridge and I (Bill) am relearning--after an abstinence from bridge playing of over 20 years. She also instructed me to tell you about the semiformal Captain's champagne and lobster dinner that we enjoyed Thursday evening--a very nice event while sailing down the Gulf of Suez with 20-knot winds at our back. With these winds, Star Clipper ran under only sail, with engines off. Beatimous!
After departing Safaga this evening, we'll have our longest stretch at sea--eight days sailing down the Red Sea and then across the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to Salalah, Oman. We'll be forced to relax a bit—should be good therapy. However, we’ll be incommunicado—the ship’s satellite telephone and Internet connection server failed a few days ago and we’re told that it will not be restored to service for the remainder of the trip to Thailand. The ship’s crew have communications for operation of the ship and any emergency communications, but this is not available to us, the guests. So---we can only send news when we get ashore and find Internet or telephone service, which isn’t always easy.
BBC World News by TV satellite keeps us informed of how fortunate we are to be missing the last weeks of the U.S. election campaign and the financial market news! We miss you and hope all's well with you.
Our next post will be 8 days from now from Salalah, Oman, if all goes well.
Love,
Betty and Bill
Note that we’ve posted five new photos here, showing:
Knights of St. John Crusader wall tower at Rhodes,
Betty with cannon balls at 15th century Crusader wall at Rhodes,
Bill at the helm of Star Clipper,
Sunset over Alexandria Harbor,
Mosque at Port Said, Egypt.
Today most of our fellow travelers took a bus excursion over to Luxor to visit the ancient site of the Karnak and Luxor temples, the largest and best preserved of the ancient Egyptian temples, from days of the Pharaohs (2700 BC to 100 BC). The city of Luxor was then called Thebes by the Greeks, and was the capitol of the Egyptian royalty for many centuries. We visited there last January on our Egypt tour with Lynne and Bruce Noel, and since we've already photographed every stone, we decided to decline this excursion and relax in Safaga.
Yesterday, we were at Sharm El Sheik at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula on the Red Sea. This is the resort city where many of the international Middle East peace meetings and negotiations are held, some of which have produced the peace agreements between Israel and Egypt and Jordon.
Some of our group took a 3-hour bus ride through the Sinai desert and mountains to Mt. Sinai and the St. Catherine's Monastery on the "Mountain of Moses" (where it is said that Moses received God's 10 commandments and other instructions for his people. Because of the long bus ride and expensive optional cost, we decided to also decline that excursion and enjoy a relaxed day in Sharm El Sheik. Thankfully, our group made much better speed than Moses and the Israelites did. :-)
Betty wants to tell you that she's learning to play bridge and I (Bill) am relearning--after an abstinence from bridge playing of over 20 years. She also instructed me to tell you about the semiformal Captain's champagne and lobster dinner that we enjoyed Thursday evening--a very nice event while sailing down the Gulf of Suez with 20-knot winds at our back. With these winds, Star Clipper ran under only sail, with engines off. Beatimous!
After departing Safaga this evening, we'll have our longest stretch at sea--eight days sailing down the Red Sea and then across the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to Salalah, Oman. We'll be forced to relax a bit—should be good therapy. However, we’ll be incommunicado—the ship’s satellite telephone and Internet connection server failed a few days ago and we’re told that it will not be restored to service for the remainder of the trip to Thailand. The ship’s crew have communications for operation of the ship and any emergency communications, but this is not available to us, the guests. So---we can only send news when we get ashore and find Internet or telephone service, which isn’t always easy.
BBC World News by TV satellite keeps us informed of how fortunate we are to be missing the last weeks of the U.S. election campaign and the financial market news! We miss you and hope all's well with you.
Our next post will be 8 days from now from Salalah, Oman, if all goes well.
Love,
Betty and Bill
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