Pirate territory

Before we left several expressed concern about the risk of passing through pirate areas so here is the scoop!   The risk of piracy is now greatly reduced due to a large amount of behind the scenes effort  and coordination.

After leaving Salalah, Oman which is just east of Yemen we entered the Gulf of Aden. We are travelling west with the coast of Yemen to the north and Somali and the Horn of Africa to the south.   At his noon update yesterday, the captain told us we are beginning transit in the IRTC—the International Recommended Transit Corridor.

Transit is coordinated through a fairly complex system which monitors and controls traffic transiting this area which for years has been plagued by high pirate activity.  While it is emphasized that the ships are not travelling in convoys they are carefully grouped by their speed so that the warships representing many different cooperating countries can keep watch and respond if needed.  Full freighters and tankers can’t go very fast but turns out we can go as fast as 22knots.   We are cruising at slightly over 18ks which is the fastest we have gone so far and the captain said we would slow to 11 or 12 knots once we enter the Red Sea.  According to what we learned, pirate attacks seldom have occurred at night so the ships are arranged and scheduled to transit the highest risk area in the dark.  

Several days ago after we left the Persian Gulf, in his noon briefing the Captain said we would pick up four additional securities “guests” at 9pm off the coast of Oman.  We also received a letter from him explaining the “enhanced security measures” for the next few days.   The letter explained that many vessels would be transiting through the Indian Ocean with us, each of which would be practicing their own internal security measures as well as coordinating with maritime traffic.   As further assurance he said that they would be in ongoing communication with the authorities monitoring these waters to detect and prevent piracy. 

The letter included detailed instructions “in the unlikely event of a pirate attack!”   Basically if we have 4 rapid blasts of the horn we are to go and immediately sit in the hall and prepare for the ship to take evasive action.   We’ve since learned that if necessary we can go 22 k which according to someone we met from a freighter on the dock is fast enough to evade the pirates.   He said they can’t go that fast and are quite vulnerable.  When they have to enter pirate areas his ship which carries asphalt must enclose itself in barbed wire!

Yesterday the captain said he was aware of warships from Japan, China, UK and India with several others they had not identified.   This morning Al just returned and reported that there are currently 6 or 7 countries currently patrolling according to the Staff Captain.  Al noted on the Sojourn stern deck 7 someone appeared to be standing guard with several deck boxes that he thought probably had weapons in them.   Also he noted that we have large devices deployed on either side of the ship which can send high frequency sound waves.  (just as I'm ready to post Al stuck his head in from the veranda where he is reading to report that we have a US Navy patrol plane overhead!  This is the first we have seen of the US Navy having never seen any evidence while in the Persian Gulf!)

All this goes on routinely as we comfortably cruise along with continued calm seas and lovely, hot sunny weather.   We are approaching The Mandeb Strait or Bab-el-Mandeb through which we will enter the Red Sea.  The Bab-el-Mandeb acts as a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.   This narrow (20km) strait is a very strategic spot where millions of barrels of oil and other cargo transits every day.  

We still have 3 1/2  more sea days before reaching our next port Aqaba from where we will travel to Petra for the day.

We traveled most of yesterday with this ship which seemed to be able to keep pace with us.  It definitely was empty and therefore could go faster.   Al thinks it is a car carrier probably en route back to Europe to pick up its next load of cars.