Muscat, Oman to Aqaba, Jordan

Our second sea day on the current five day passage between Muscat and Aqaba. The rockin’ and a rollin’ continues for most of the day in the wake of the tropical cyclone, as we traverse pirate alleyway between Yemen and Somalia. However, by late afternoon, on passing the Horn of Africa and entering the Gulf of Aden, we did get a brief respite from the wind and swell, so had a smooth passage.

Temperature: High33C/91F, Low 29C/84 

Wind/Weather: S’ly 30 kts  with still well defined S’ly swell of about 10 to 12’. High overcast.

Sunrise/Sunset: 05:56/19:06 

Clox: Z+3 (No change)

Distance to Noon: 768  miles from Muscat

Navigation

Throughout the day Sea Princess maintained a WSW’ly course towards the entrance to the Red Sea in strong S’ly winds and moderate swell. About 07:00 we completed our transit along the Oman Coast, passing into waters off the Yemen Coast. In late afternoon in the lee of the Horn of Africa and on entering the Gulf of Aden we gained a brief respite from the almost continuous rockin’ & rollin”. About 19:00 this evening Sea Princess passed the small island of Al Qibliyah. 

Activities

Based on the daily schedule we planned to attend:

• 10:00 Morning Trivia
• 11:00 Cruise Critic Seafarers meet & greet
• 12:00 Pub lunch
• 13:00 Enrichment Lecture – What Star is That?
• 14:00 Cruise long trivia
• 16:15 PM Trivia
• 19:45 Dinner

Yet again I took a break from the exercise routine, so our day started with breakfast in the dinning room followed by AM Trivia, where we scored a very respectable 17/20, just 1 point behind the winners. From trivia it was off to Razzmatazz for the Cruise Critic meet & greet, which again was well attended. After introductions from the new joiners in Dubai we listed the future cruises others have already booked. The 40+ day African Adventure from Fremantle, the 2016 World Cruise and 70+ day Pacific Circle were all popular, but we are the only ones doing the 2016 Hawaii and South Pacific RT from Los Angeles in October 2016.

From this point our plan went astray, as Judi wasn’t doing well with the ship’s movement, so we headed back to the cabin so she could lie down. We basically remained in the cabin until just prior to dinner, by which time we were in the lee of the Horn of Africa. This resulted in cancelling the swell, so for a few hours we experienced a smooth passage.

Dinner this evening was the South Pacific menu, with both Judi and I having the Lamb Shank, which was actually hot, tender and tasty. The galley had a vastly superior evening compared to last night. After dinner we headed down to the Vista Lounge to catch the end of Liar’s Club and the Comedian. Liar’s Club is brilliant with 3 crew members on stage. It consists of multiple rounds with each round having a very obscure word from the English dictionary. Each of the 3 crew provide a definition, most of which are lengthy. The teams must guess which one is telling the truth. The cruise staff did an excellent job this evening, better than the supposedly professional comedian on stage last night.

This was followed by a singer/comedian. A little gun shy after last night, so we sat at the back to make an exit, if as bad as last night. It wasn’t too bad, so stayed for most of the show.

As another day closes, we bid you farewell, till tomorrow and hope for fair skies and following seas.