I’m still struggling to make progress with the Blog and it is now Wednesday at 2.00pm!! The best time to use the Wi-Fi is 3.00pm whilst everyone is having a siesta! So I will send 4 new postings and continue to try to catch up for another instalment tomorrow. We are now at sea for 4 days en route to the Maldives and the smallest capital in the world Male.
Work today has been interrupted by a ‘Safe Haven’ drill in preparation for any Somalian Pirates that may chase the ship. Evidently we will enter a higher risk area tomorrow evening and will stay on a higher alert until we leave Bahrain. The risk s relatively low since the pirates really like to go for tankers and freighters that are slow and have low freeboards – the bit between the sea and the first open deck. On Black Watch that is over 14 metres up the sheer side of the vessel but the ship has to comply with International Maritime Regulations when travelling through these waters which means a mandatory drill to show everyone the locations of a ‘Safe Havens’ in the centre of the ship. This involves sitting on the floor - not an inconsiderable problem for some guests - in case the Captain needs to make violent changes of course. We were told that most chases only last for about 30 minutes and of course Black Watch can do 20 knots and therefore relatively fast.
The open Deck – 7 – has been festooned in razor wire and as of this evening 24-hour deck patrols will be implemented and we have some trained marksmen from a private security firm aboard. We are also now sailing in an internationally designated corridor that is patrolled by some 20 naval vessels from varying nations all of which are aware of and tracking our passage.
All in a day’s cruising!!
No comments:
Post a Comment