Day 51 Red Sea

Friday, blue sky and sunny until near sunset, then hazy. Winds and roll midday. This was another perfect freighter day, and no more sand! Stars were good last night. I only noticed 3 other ships all day. This morning, a ship was aft, but gradually fell behind. Early afternoon we met a ship traveling in the opposite direction. Late afternoon, we passed a ship moving in the same direction. This ship moves right along. Course is SSE through the Red Sea. Over today and the next 2 days, we will move south 18 degrees of latitude. That means longer and warmer days. During that time, the vast deserts of Saudi Arabia are on the port side. On the starboard side, it is Egypt today, the Sudan tomorrow, and Somalia the next day. The sea is wide enough here that we only see water.

This afternoon, I wore Bermuda shorts and a tee shirt. On my trek to the focsl, I also wore a wind shell. I think the focsl is my favorite place on the ship. The 'Suez spotlight' has been removed. The 2nd mate told us sharks were plentiful in these waters, because of the temperature. A disturbance in the water on the port side ahead caught my eye. I watched more closely. It happened again, closer. As I watched, a group of sharks swam across in front of the ship from port to starboard. Then another. These were not large sharks, less than 4 feet. I think I would not swim here because of the number.

One of my German friends came up behind me on the focsl. I did not notice. I thought I heard a song bird. I was listening to a book on the ipod at the time. I looked to the starboard. Heard it again and looked to port. The third time, I turned all the way around and saw him. He had been whistling bird sounds. He was laughing. He learns more English each day, and I learn more Deutsch. Today, I paid my November slop chest charge of $70.

The pool awning has been removed. There was cleaning, scraping, grinding and priming work going on all day. That suggests we will have water in the pool soon. I'm guessing salt water, but fresh water seems to be plentiful. I brought my suit! My dark chocolate inventory is down to 12 squares or 12 days. Should be enough to last until Jakarta. I think the rest of the goodies from home will be gone by then, so one of my objectives in Jakarta is to get some cabin snacks. We will have another time zone change tonight, and will be 9 hours ahead of home.