Going Strait

Cruise ship, Nautica

There's been considerable media coverage lately on the acts of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Yes, real live pirates who have hijacked 100 vessels this year are still at it off the coast of Somalia.

If you are cruising from Rome to Singapore the most direct route takes you through the narrow strait between Somalia and Yemen.

I don't know anyone personally who has taken such a sea journey, but if I was really set on cruising I think I would take a different route.

The passengers on the cruise ship, Nautica, were surprised when pirates attacked their vessel as it sailed through the aforementioned strait.

Some miscellaneous comments from the passengers:

"We didn't think they would be cheeky enough to attack a cruise ship," said Wendy Armitage, of Wellington, New Zealand. "It was very minor really," she said of the attack. "But it was a surprise that they attacked us, and they did fire shots."

Wendy, although I don't know any pirates personally, I am pretty confident that they are, in fact, 'cheeky.' I think it's on the Pirate Application Form.

"I couldn't see them shooting, but I heard them hitting the ship, 'Pop! Pop! Pop!'" said Clyde Thornburg, on vacation from his home in Bend, Ore. "It wasn't really scary because the captain announced for the safety of everybody to get inside and get down, and by that time he was pouring on the coals to the ship and was outrunning them."

Clyde, I would disagree, and say I would think it was plenty scary if my ship was being fired upon by pirates.