The morning started as many others, breakfast and quick look to see if there was anything interesting that we could see. We had started to go through the stretch of water that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and as this stretch of water isn't very wide, there were several container ships travelling quite close to us. It was interesting to see a bit closer how big the container ships were and how many containers they were transporting. They certainly dwarfed our ship.

 At around 9:40am there was a little bit of excitement on the ship – a small speed boat came hurtling towards us at great speed . This is not a usual occurrence and as such raised the interest of several passengers who were nearby as well as a crew member who was on watch duty.

As the boat moved towards the ship (and after calculating how many flights of stairs I would need to climb to my cabin) I said to a random woman next to me 'that doesn’t look good, I hope it turns soon’, she was in agreement with my assessment of the situation and then proceeded to take some photos.

Mum (who was on the pool deck taking photos of the big ships) said that at this point in time, someone started announcing something in what she thought was Arabic over the loud speaker and that after a couple of announcements the speed boat started to turn away from the ship.

Discussion then was as to whether anyone had seen anything interesting and what we all thought the boat was doing. As my camera battery had died earlier, our assessment of whether this was a pirate incident or a fishing vessel gone astray is dependent on Mum’s photos . There is one photo that looks a little dodgy, I would like to give it the benefit of the doubt and say it’s a paddle, but it looks a little like something more sinister…

The rest of the day passed with us seeing another three speedboats that looked just like the one we saw in the morning, however these ones didn’t get near the ship and while I’m sure they were noted by the crew, did not require announcements to be made or any other kind of defensive action to be taken.

As nightfall came we were well and truly in the Red Sea with Saudi Arabia on one side and Eritrea on the other.

I should also add that each night the ship is showing various world cup games on the big screen. While not as good as catching a movie, it is still a nice way to spend some time digesting dinner and chomping down on some popcorn. There isn’t much cheering, but the same people seem to be turning up each night.

Fun fact:
Who two islands in the Mediterranean are members of the Commonwealth? Malta and Cyprus.