19th Oct 09 - Dodging the Pirates of Somalia
20th Oct 09 - Salalah, Oman

As you can see from the map below, on 19th Oct we reached the most dangerous part of our journey. Many ships have been hijacked by Somali pirates here. Now there is an international protection fleet - including the German frigate which shadowed us. Even so, a Chinese cargo ship was hijacked on that very day and its crew of 22 held prisoner.

The following day (well, half day) was spent in Salalah, Oman.

The most dangerous part of the voyage is the 24hrs after you pass through the Straits of Mendab (11 miles at its narrowest point) with the Somalia coast on one side and Yemen on the other

We were shadowed by a German Frigate and her helicopter

We were banned from the lower decks where high pressure hosepipes were laid out to 'repel boarders'. I think there were other measures they didn't tell us about though...

This is the site of the Prophet Salah's sacred camel footprint...

Salalah is remarkably green. We stopped for bananas and coconut milk from the shell at a roadside stall.

The Al Husn Souq - famous for its Frankincense

We bought a load of stuff here including a Gelabaia for me...modeled below!

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