We are in the Indian Ocean, heading south-west, having left Colombo yesterday evening.  The sun is shining,  the wind following and all is well.

You may notice there is no Google map with pin today, a deliberate absence on my part, we are in the HRA, or High Risk Area for piracy, I see little point in advertising our route; nor have I put where we are going, for the same reason.  The HRA is actually vast, 100’s of thousands of square miles and we are a mere pin-prick in the scheme of things.  We have taken precautions of course and this morning, I conducted a drill for guests and crew, it would be remiss of me were I not to.  We report to the naval command too, so we are being ‘watched over’.

Last night, we crossed the main shipping lanes from the Malacca Straits to the Suez canal, it was surprisingly busy and the watch officers had their hands full for 3 hours as we avoided numerous vessels, the majority of which were heading east, perhaps an indication of the trend in the Trade routes of today and how Asia is growing.

During the drill, we ‘wound’ this baby up for 20 minutes, just so I could gauge how fast she would go; 22 knots and we still had a diesel in reserve, easily capable of 25 should I need to, it’s a comforting thought.

Strangely enough, the acts of boarding ships has geographically changed; there are far more off the West African oilfields now; the ‘pirates’ taking small coastal tankers, stealing the fuel, (or transferring it to another vessel) and then letting it go, minus a few $million of fuel.

It’s Sunday of course and that must mean some photos of Vi this time, just looking at them brings a smile to my face 😆

All nice and cosy

Practicing her backstroke, (Liz takes her swimming)

Morning exercises