Gulf of Aden Thursday 13 June 2013

Hello to everyone.  Goodness I cannot believe it is over a week since I last put pen to paper.  I think everyone has settled into life on the high seas, mostly everyone looks quite relaxed now and one knows many more faces now.  We had the first performance of our choir last Thursday and it actually sounded pretty OK there was standing room only at the Princess Theatre, so good fun really.  We are now preparing “The Prayer” for our service at Anzac Cove on 25^th June.  Then the one after this is just the day prior to arriving in Ireland, so lots of work to go into that.  Our musical directors are Alan and Alana and they are very patient with us all.  By the way Ray and Paula thank you for your message on the blog, I gave your best to Alan and Alana and they were delighted and sent their best to you both as well, Sam and I hope your next cruise is great as well.  

 We arrived in Mumbai last Friday, we had actually cancelled our tour, Sam had a nasty cold and we just went for a very short wander and had a ship day.   We then arrived in Dubai a couple of days later, Sam did a desert safari, a camel ride which was fun, I just went for a city drive.  Quite an amazing place and you could certainly do with at least a week to just get an idea of the place but somewhere I would like to come back to.   We are now at sea for five days and arrive in Safaga in Egypt on Sunday, we have a very long day that day, we are going to the Valley of the Kings and that is a four hour drive there and back , the following day we arrive in Aqaba in Jordan and Sam has a tour booked for Petra, I have cancelled that one for myself.  After that day we pass thru the Suez Canal and that will take a day and we then arrive in Ashdod in Israel and we have a tour to visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  We are still sailing thru Pirate infested waters and this morning there was  Korean warship patrolling close by, these warships give safe passage to ships thru these waters.  We will be going into the Red Sea tomorrow morning at about 5.30 passing by Somalia so very dangerous waters indeed. 

 We have met lots new CBFs  and our dinners are very good fun.  I have not been to many of the shows I am so busy thru the day, start my day with my stretch class and abs workshop then Zumba so goodness busy indeed, Sam is still pounding the deck.  This afternoon I am going to have a little sleep I think.  Hope everyone is well as we are, we still have not been able to attach our photos, it is quite frustrating dealing with the satellite, I just type everything up in word and they transfer it over when we have connection.  Anyway I will sign off and do some emails.  Love Sam and Sabine  XXXX