World cruise 36

March 27

At sea today, ripping along at our anti-pirate pace. We slept late this morning...or at least I did...so missed the announcement of a course change to avoid a pod of migrating whales. Then during lunch, the Officer of the Watch came on the PA system to point out a super-pod of dolphins cavorting off the starboard side. For the second time in my life and on this trip, I was on the correct side of the ship to see the sea life. They had obviously found a school of fish and were having a feast. There were even a couple of small fishing boats hovering nearby.

The ship has been battling a stubborn outbreak of GI illness for several weeks now. A rumor this evening is that there is only one case in quarantine at present. If no new cases occur for 72 hours, we might be back to so-called normal operations and some of the super sanitizing measures can be relaxed, e.g. we can get our own drinks from the coffee and water machines in the Lido and can check books out of the library, etc. etc. Fingers crossed.

March 28

Today we are at Salalah, Oman which is about in the middle of the southern side of the Arabian peninsula. It is close, but hopefully not too close, to the borders of both Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Ah, after we sailed, the Captain announced that we will stay at least 70 miles off the coast of Yemen as long as possible, and tomorrow when we get to the strait called" The Gates of Tears" between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula at the south end of the Red Sea, he will, in his own words,"wind this baby up to well over 20 knots" until we reach the (relative) safety of Saudi territory. Like Bilbo Baggins, we set out on this trip to have an adventure, and we certainly have managed to find a few.

Meanwhile, if you like hot, flat, sandy, and maybe camels, Salalah is the ideal place for you! It is the largest city in Oman. I think that's because there is all this very flat desert to expand onto. It's probably also why they have lots and lots of really broad traffic circles. Here's a sample of the suburban countryside.

I took the short version of the basic tour. Our first stop was unplanned and due to a traffic jam...of camels! The herds of camels roam freely during the day and return to their homes at night for dinner just like people. Anyway, suddenly, in the midst of a nice, fast highway, there were about 8 or 9 camels of various sizes.

So the bus stopped while they wandered up the road. Most kept to the sides of the road, but one got square in front of the bus, walked slowly away giving us a view of its rear end while expressing its opinion with "emissions."

We saw several other camel herds along the roads, but none actually blocking traffic at the moment we passed by. I understand that, if you hit a camel in daylight, it's automatically your fault, you will owe the owner recompense, and the owner will turn up promptly to claim it was his very best camel. However, if you hit a camel at night, it's the owner's fault, but you'll never see him, and you're still stuck with the damage to your car. When asked what camels are used for these days, our guide said they are raced, eaten, and entered in camel beauty contests. Go figure that last one.

So, we drove past a beach that seemed pretty desolate for a Saturday morning, but by the time we came back by an hour or so later, people were beginning to arrive.

Our first scheduled stop was to see a frankincense tree "in the wild." I could see several perfectly well from the (air conditioned) bus window, so felt no need to get down and hike up a rocky hillside. Besides, in the dry season they don't have leaves and look pretty brown and generally dead. That is when the sap is harvested, and frankincense is a big export for Oman as well as a big seller within the country.

We made a stop to see a famous blowhole in some ocean cliffs, but the tide was out, and it wasn't blowing. Next we headed up into the mountains to visit the Tomb of Job. Yes, That Job. I found the trip more interesting than the tomb. Here's the one shot I took of the tomb, plus one of a very friendly camel who came to greet the busloads of tourists. I had forgotten how long their necks are!

Before Sultan Qaboos was crowned in 1970, Oman had no paved roads, no schools or hospitals to speak of. His vision and regime have turned that around. When these people decided to build roads up mountains, they didn't mess around. They made them as steep as possible to just allow a loaded truck or bus to creep up slowly in its lowest gear. On the other hand, the trip back down is rather exciting. Here is your basic Omani mountain scene.

The last stop was for shopping at the local souk. At that point I bailed on the tour and got a cab back to the port. I must say, however, that the Omani people are really nice, friendly and helpful. And I am most impressed by their national policy of helping others rather than fighting them.

Remembering that some of the best chairs on the ship are up on Deck 9 forward in a place with huge windows called the Crow's Nest, I managed to arrive there just as they were beginning to serve afternoon tea. That's 3 days in a row for a fancy tea...this could be habit forming!

March 29

At sea. Slept late. Worked on updating the blog off and on with one major break for a game of Mexican Train Dominoes.