After almost a day of rough seas and navigating a rocking ship, the weather finally started to calm down by mid morning. This is a good thing for several reasons, firstly it means I won't spend another night waking up from being tossed from side to side while trying to sleep, secondly it means carrying hot beverages is no longer a dangerous activity and finally it means we can travel at a faster speed (we’re a little bit behind time due to having to slow down for comfort/safety sake).

Around mid morning we entered the official transit zone for the Gulf of Aden . The Gulf sits between Yemen and Somalia. Since the area we are going through is a very high risk area for pirate activity and for the safety of their cargo (including people), ships transiting the area follow a set course and the ships progress is monitored by the UK Maritime Trade Operations and other international maritime organisations. A part of this monitoring is for there to be military ships patrolling the area. A couple of passengers said that we had passed an aircraft carrier around lunch time, unfortunately we both missed seeing it. L

While cruise ships carry a lot of potential wealth, they are difficult to board when compared to lower lying ships like oil tankers and container ships. The last passenger ship taken over by pirates was in 2008, so we’re unlikely to need to put our 'pirate training’ into practice.

On the arts and craft front, today I started my ‘paper mache urn’, this is going to be a multi day project and is currently a yellow balloon covered by black crepe paper. Time will tell as to whether it turns out ok or not.

Fun fact:
Shrimp (aka prawns) have five pairs of legs.