Passage to India

29th August 2018 Finally, a day of rest. The last few days have been quite intense and very interesting with long day visits in Egypt and Jordan to some very spectacular Ancient sights. Now we have he opportunity to put our feet up for a few days and enjoy this beautiful ship. We noticed that the crew have been busy adorning the outside of the promenade deck with razor wire, probably because in a few days we will be passing through the pirate area. Not a mention has been made by the Captain in his daily address but if you go for a walk on the deck it is hard to miss. Most of the excitement on board for the past several days has been a Norovirus outbreak, which has resulted in all self service food having to be served by staff and endless hand spraying with isopropanol at all restaurant entrances. The pool has been closed also and pumped out, but it will reopen today filled with sea water for the time being. Everything should return to normal in the next day or so a...

28th August 2018 From Sharm El-Sheikh we head up the Gulf of Aqaba to berth at Aqaba at 6am this morning. There is the usual delay getting port clearance with the local authorities before shore excursions can commence. Viking Orion alongside in the Port of Aqaba The port where we are berthed is well out of town, and has been sold to the UAE for development. A new port is being built another 15km South of here, so it seems future cruise ships will berth there, a fair distance from the town. It seems the bulk of people leaving the port are going to Petra, as we are. Disembarkation starts about 30 mins late but we are quickly shepherded onto our buses and are soon on our way. Our guide explains to us that Jordan in a very dry country, and in Aqaba, the annual rainfall is 40mm. Petra, where we are heading to, only gets 320mm of rain per annum. The population of Jordan is around 9.5 million and is made up of mainly Arabs including significant numbers of refugees from ...

27th August 2018 Our last port in Egypt is Sharm El-Sheikh, a resort town in South Sinai. Tourism is the main industry here as it boasts some of the best tropical waters in the World with clear water, colourful coral and lots of fish. Instead of doing another long road trip we have opted to spend the morning in the water. The bus left the dock at 8.15 am to take us to the other side of town where our boats were waiting to take us out to the reefs where we would be snorkelling. The town is relatively quiet as we drive through, but no one starts early in this part of the World. Restaurant area in the town There are boats everywhere packing people on board to head out (some for snorkelling, others glass bottomed) It took a while to load our boat and sort our fins and googles for everyone, before a flotilla took off for the snorkelling areas. We are going to 2 separate reef areas and look like we will have plenty of time at each. On our way It is a ...