International Talk Like A Pirate Day

September 19th 2010
Huzzah, it’s nearly here again. You wait and wait and wait and then suddenly it’s only nine days away. International talk like a Pirate Day! Mwah hahahaha! Avast me hearty’s!

The Gulf of Aden

It seems like over the last few months the Gulf of Aden hasn’t really been out of the news with one thing and another and a lot of people with itineries that take them through this stretch of sea have been asking us several questions.

What are our Cruise Lines doing to protect us?
And more importantly; why are cruise ships sailing through there?
For those of you who don’t know where the Gulf of Aden is, it’s located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide.
The waterway is part of the important Suez Canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean with 21,000 ships crossing the gulf annually. The gulf is known by the nickname "Pirate Alley" due to the large amount of pirate activity in the area.
So, with the introductions made, why aren’t Cruise Liners more worried about this area?
Why are they still sailing it?