As the World Turns

We have successfully transited the Gulf of Aden and entered the southern Red Sea, now sailing with Saudi Arabia to starboard and Ethiopia to port.

There was a CNN report that a British oil tanker behind us and outside the protected corridor was boarded and/or hijacked the night before last. We know no more than you, but suffice it to say, the observed presence of Operation Enduring Freedom coalition naval task force, plus on board tactics here, left us feeling quite safe throughout.

Now to the present. We have accepted a further option offered by Regent, which is to debark next Monday in Agaba, Jordan, in lieu of just sailing through the Suez and across the Mediterranean to end the voyage in Rome. The still further revised program starts with the planned visit to Petra, but then to Amman for an overnight. The next morning we fly to Cairo, spend three nights in Cairo with an extensive program of visiting pyramids and other monuments, a trip to Memphis, old Cairo and the Antiquities Museum, among other elements. Then we will be flown to Istanbul for a day and one-half visit there. This is almost completely on Regent's nickel.

In addition, on our own, we have booked a 10 day RT Rome "Roman Empire" cruise on Holland America, ms Noordam. This goes to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadasi, Turkey; Athens and three Greek Isles with a call in Sicily on the way back. This of course requires us to fly back from Istanbul to Rome prior to the trip, plus we plan a short stay in Rome on the back end. We should fly to Miami from Rome on May 2, and drive back home the next day or so.

The net is we see all the places the truncated trip missed, particularly ones of interest to us like the pyramids. It will only require sufficient liquid self-medication along the way to make the air travel tolerable.

Meanwhile, on board the crew is breaking their backs to make everyone feel as good as possible.

Here we have our personal favorite for sexiest waiter clowning around at lunch. French, suave and cool--eat your hearts out, ladies!

We are attending the Seder Passover dinner tonight, largely at the urging of our fellow Jacksonville passenger, Rabbi Dov Kentoff.

Meanwhile, from our table to yours, we bid you adieu as logistics may restrict further posts for awhile.