Good Morning From the Gulf of Aden!

The days are flying by, yesterday marked the halfway point in terms of days.  We've spent an entire day transiting the Suez Canal,  a day in Cairo,  a day in Luxor-- each of which I'll cover in a separate post,  steamed down the Gulf of Suez into the Red Sea (it's blue), and last night (ship darkened, decks closed) though the Strait of Bab el Mandeb (there's one you didn't know about, did you?) into the Gulf of Aden.    It's 2000 nautical miles from our last port, Safaga, Egypt to our next which is Muscat, Oman, giving us four days at sea.   Yay!   I love days at sea.   By the way, no problem with seasickness.   With the exception  of one day crossing the Atlantic and one day on the Bay of Biscay the sea has been very calm.   Those two rough days didn't bother me (I loved them), but you could tell some people were a bit green around the edge.  This ship has a deep draft (32 feet),  a very streamlined bow and hull, and four stabilizers-- she really is built to handle whatever the sea might have in store.   Of course we've seen nothing like the worst that can be dished out, 20-40 swells, or the occasional rogue (out of nowhere) wave, which can reach 90 feet in height.    The QE2 took one that high once, a lot of broken crockery etc., but she righted herself and just kept on ploughing through.    Another by the way-- a nautical mile.   It's the equivalent of one degree of latitude at 45 degrees,  and equals 6076.12 ft.   Yet another by the way,  use of the word steaming, it's not technically correct, we run on diesel generators, but the Commodore uses it so I feel free to take the same liberty.   Several things of note have occurred since Safaga.   We entered the tropics, defined as crossing the Tropic of Cancer, 23 and 1/2 degrees north latitude.   The ship's officers switched from their dark uniforms to their whites, all bright and crisp-- you could tell they love it, me too!   Then yesterday afternoon a US Navy destroyer was spotted.   She came abreast of us and did a 360 degree turn (on a dime), coming right along our starboard (right) side, with all the ship's company (some 300) lining the decks at attention.    Big cheers went up from all of us crowding along the railing of the promenade deck.  It was a thrilling sight!     The two ships blasted their whistles repeatedly, and the destroyer (USS Ferragut, number 99) peeled off hard to starboard.   Off it went, wonder what it's top speed is!    By the way,  a ship's horn is called a whistle and the Mary's is a deep A note, two octaves below middle C, and can be heard for ten miles.     Just now, as I write,  passing westward on our port side is a convoy of ships being escorted by a warship from the Indian Navy.  The officer of the watch on the bridge just announced that, mentioning as well that in the early hours we passed by a US warship escorting a sensitive cargo of weaponry.   Busy place around here!   We're coming up on a Turkish Frigate and soon after that a Saudi warship called Mecca.  They are being very chatty from the bridge today!    Yemen is 60 miles to the north and Somalia is 100 miles to the south.   We are now 1050 miles from Muscat and running at 26 knots, per the Commodore's noontime announcement.        We are following the IRTC, or Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor, and as you can see, it's well patrolled.   Gorgeous day out there. 75 degrees, time to go snag a deck chair.    Cheers!         Oh, by the way,  will someone who has Gabriel's email forward the blog to her and Tim,   I don't think I did.    Thanks.