Monday April 13 2009 - This morning we had breakfast on the open deck at the back of the ship. It was a beautiful morning, 25 degC (77 degF) and sunny, as we sailed down the coast of Oman toward our next stop, Salalah. There was a notice in our daily patter that there would be a ‘practice pirate attack‘ alert and around 09.45am as I sat reading on deck 5, a 5 second blast on the ships horn followed by the announcement ‘code papa, code papa, code papa, sounded out. I passed by the casino, collected Izzy and we went down to our cabin and propped the door open as per instructions , shortly the captain announced we were being followed by a fast boat accompanied by two small skiffs and that some fast manoeuvring may be required. After being checked by a crew member, we sat and waited for the captains ‘all clear’ announcement which came about 10.05am, the drill was completed and all passengers accounted for in 18 minutes and 36 seconds, we had successfully outrun the bad guys, the passengers went wild with excitement………….. just kidding about the passengers getting excited, the only time the passengers get excited is at meal times…….
Tonight at dinner, the captain announced that we would be staying in Salalah longer than originally scheduled. Arrangements have been made for us to be accompanied by a couple of warships through the area most susceptible to pirate attacks, we are to meet at a pre-arranged location at 10.00am Wednesday morning so instead of leaving Salalah at 05.00pm we’ll stay ‘til 10.00pm.
