Author: Stew

Desert Treats

Hey Stew,

We did clear Dubai and I’m going to send pix as soon as I can. I agree with you on pirates and the QM2. In fact there’s a journalist here from Reuters who asked if he could quote me on not being worried about pirates. My logic was the same as yours but I’m sure it will come out dumb because all I managed to say was ‘It’s … a … big … ship’ Kathleen O’Connell, 66, Portland, Maine, USA.

Hey! I was forgetting you might be still up. We’re now 10 hours ahead of you! I’m having coffee and juice. Heading offline now — it’s expensive!

Kiki

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DAY 17, DATELINE DUBAI – We did a roller coaster 4-wheel drive through the dunes then lounged in tents eating dates and sipping Arabic coffee. Stew, you asked about coffee on the cruise: The QM2 does tea much better. Every afternoon with scones and cream.

Just a slave to the galley. Food groupie at sea.

Day 13 Gulf of Aden – Hors d’oeuvres …. a chef talks about the thousands of lobsters they’ll serve tomorrow night … cupcakes … and me. I was a total groupie.

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Yes, to hiding Diarmuid in the dinghies to avoid getting tossed in Singapore vs Shanghai. Great strategy. I’ll let him know.

We are at sea three more days before arriving Dubai. Sea days are when all the formal nights and full-on entertainment happen. Three nights ago there was an Egyptian ball and people really did it up all Cleopatra. Tomorrow is Burns Night. Expect lots of kilts on the gents (with nothing under, they say) and tartan on the ladies. I’ll let you know.

chefkikiI was up at 7 this morning and absolutely no one else was. Rare to see empty decks. We’re not supposed to bother the guys manning the sound guns but a chatty one found me. He said we have two warships escorting us, that they ‘hide’ during the day and come in close at night. A naval commander has also boarded (almost as good an assignment as someone we know, ahem, who had Naples, Italy duty during Vietnam!) along with three ‘shooters.’

Interestingly, we also had armed protection on our buses in Egypt. At one point we had to travel later than expected at night and did it in a convoy along with an extra vehicle with added armed guards. Once we hit Dubai everything relaxes again.

Actually, everything’s already relaxed as you could hear in the commodore’s report.

Off to sun. Too bad about the weather in Maine.

Kiki

Dear Shireen . . . wish you were here.

Day 12 Transiting the Red Sea – Every noon Commodore Rynd broadcasts from the bridge. It’s all very stiff upper lip. Here’s today’s report. It’s four minutes and starts with a couple of blasts from the ship. It ends with – what else? – a security update. Those pirates again.

And yes, Shireen, that is your trusty bag relaxing on Queen Mary’s sun deck.
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In other ship-board news, Diarmuid is trying to book for the Dubai/Hong Kong leg but so far it’s fully booked with a waiting list. His best hope is if something untoward happens to someone. We can always hope.

Kiki

Sent from my iPhone

Today’s Egyptian Weather Forecast: 75, sunny and dry. With a chance of Champagne.

kikikarnakDay 11 Safaga, Egypt – Saw King Tut, a funny little mummy. Plus Luxor, Karnak, and Valley of the Kings. When we returned our crew met us dockside with champagne.

You are so funny, Stew. And once again, you don’t miss a trick. That shot of the sound gun was taken while we were transiting the Suez Canal. We emerged from the canal at the southern end, berthed at Sokhna, and drove two hours to Cairo to see the pyramids. And belly dancing.

If you haven’t posted it yet, that Cairo dateline should actually be Giza.

Thanks for the weather report. It’s 75 here. Same for the water. I’m going to try to send you an audio of the commodore’s veddy Brit noontime update from the bridge. As an old navy hand, you might enjoy it. He talks about the weather, position, depth, etc.

egyptianchampagneYes! London got dumped on, didn’t it? Diarmuid got pix from my cousin Ann.

Kiki

Stew note: Just for context: Here in Siberia, I mean, Maine, it is zero degrees, plus or minus, with a chance of wind chill at minus twenty. Go Egypt. Way to score the weather.