Day at Sea, Indian Ocean, April 16

Today we are sailing from Sri Lanka west to the Maldives.  All day at sea.  Here is a picture of Peggy hard at work in our office, otherwise known as Blog Central.  We have discovered a spot up on the pool deck with relatively good WiFi connection.  It should have, because on the ceiling above our spot is a WiFi repeater/booster device.  Even so, the connection is slow, and a bit spotty.

 

Today we had an Emergency Piracy Drill.  We are now entering the high risk for piracy zone, and will be in it for a couple of weeks.  They take this very seriously.  The Captain gave a one-hour presentation, complete with slides, on maritime pirates, how they operate, how much has been going on, etc.  He explained that this ship was actually attacked by pirates back in 2008, but the pirates never got on board.  Basically, the ship outran them.  The Nautica can do 19 knots or more in any seas, and keep it up indefinitely.  The pirates are typically in outboards that can go that fast if the water is calm, but they can't keep it up.  So, generally, the pirates prey on slower ships, like freighters than can only go 12 or 13 knots.  In the Emergency Piracy Drill this morning we had to all leave our cabins, go to a central part of the ship, and sit down or lie down.  We went to an interior stair well and sat on the stairs with lots of others.  Interestingly, after the attack in 2008, Oceania sent an e-mail to all the passengers asking if any of them happened to get photos of the pirates, despite the fact that all passengers had been asked to go to an interior part of the ship and stay low.  Oceania asked this because they had failed to get any photos themselves, and wanted some documentation.  Well, surprise, surprise, they were deluged with thousands of photos from passengers who had obviously stood on their verandas or on the deck and clicked away.  So much for following orders.  We were told there was some gun shots last time, so I think next time, people will be a little more obedient.

 

For some reason our television feed was not working yesterday, so we missed the news about the Boston Marathon.  Today, we have TV again, and are up-to-date.  Thanks to those of you who notified us by e-mail.  Nasty stuff. 

 

OK, off to dinner at the Italian specialty restaurant tonight, then Male, Maldives tomorrow.  It's a tough life.

 

Cheers, P&G.