Saga Ruby Captain's blog

The passage through the Straights of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf during the night was relatively uneventful but did provide an opportunity to see some bioluminescence in the agitated waters around the ship. Bioluminescence occurs as the result of certain types of microorganisms emitting a glow or short burst of light as a result of experiencing vibration or agitation.

On this occasion the wash and wake were glowing green as a result of the vessels passing. Engine vibration is attributed to be key in experiencing this phenomenon, as no recorded account of bioluminescence is known to have been made during the days of sail.

The harbour, where the passenger vessels berth in Dubai is a man made structure of modern design with a rather un-necessary chicane at its entrance. With the pilot on board for our lunch time arrival and having ordered a tug for the vessel’s, and my first working visit to the port, the Saga Ruby made a lazy turn to port once past the chicane, in order to swing back to starboard and berth port side alongside.

With the weather calm and wind speed at 6 knots I was beginning to question why I ordered the tug in the first place, but by the time the vessel had turned ready to berth alongside the wind had increased to 25 knots so my cautious decision paid off.

In fact within 30 minutes of the Saga Ruby being alongside a large squall like storm had enveloped Dubai with 65 knots of wind registering on the anemometer. I later found out that this sort of weather happens out of the blue once every 3-4 years.

Dubai itself came to a stand still with palm trees snapping in two and being uprooted, blocking roads with other large size pieces of debris also presenting a hazard. The sand being carried by the wind was painful for those caught out in the open and enshrouded the area in an almost fog like haze. The port did not escape without drama as the QE2, which was berthed opposite us, parted all of its aft mooring lines and started to drift out across the basin that is now its home. Four tugs were quickly called and took several hours wrestling her back alongside while some new ropes could be sourced.

It is a bit of a shame to see the once majestic icon sat in limbo, with the economic crisis preventing her transformation into a hotel and the clause in her contract of sale preventing her from carrying passengers anymore. She is still technically a working ship, flagged now in Vanuatu; her machinery being maintained by the skeleton crew that man her. But a passenger ship that cannot carry passengers is about as useful as the proverbial chocolate teapot! Still, I’m sure that the barnacles are grateful?

The winds dropped from 65 knots to 25 knots as quickly as they had come, but it took a couple of hours for the wind to subside back to the gentle breeze that it had been before hand. I couldn’t help but think of our good luck, had we arrived 30 minutes later we would have had great difficulty entering the port.

There were a number of tours for the evening with Dune Dinner Safari’s and Evening Dhow Cruise and trips to the Burg Khalifa on offer. The tours on the second day permitted passengers to further explore Dubai or take a trip to neighbouring Emirate, Sharjah.

The Burg Khalifa, at over 828 m tall (2716.5 feet) is the tallest building in the world. Being able to boast various world records, such as the highest observation deck, elevator with the longest travel and the fastest elevator (124 flours in 1 minute) amongst them, I couldn’t resist having a look for myself.

Views from the observation deck were astonishing, looking down at buildings that would be considered tall skyscrapers in any other city, and views that stretched out to sea for miles. I couldn’t help thinking, how it would be a nightmare to have to clean the windows! At the foot of the Burg Khalifa is a large shopping mall, the Dubai Mall, and as you could probably guess it is in fact the world’s largest too.

Although I’d never taken a ship into Dubai before I had visited and passed through it numerous times when joining or leaving some of the oil and gas tankers I’d worked on. In the 10 years or so that had passed since my previous visit the city had certainly grown, outwards and upwards.

Even the famous gold souk in an older part of the city had seen a noticeable expansion, along with the price of gold which was about 500% up on when I’d previously looked around it. Still, its well worth a quick visit even if like me, you have no intention of buying anything.

The several streets worth of continuous gold shops somehow manage to make gold look a little tacky by the vast quantities on display, and with the amount of competition its hard to see how each shop can prosper. Its just as well Dubai doesn’t have a problem with ram raiders!

Departing Dubai was a little delayed due to the late arrival of a bunker barge that was to refuel the ship, and it was about 2:30am on the 30th before we managed to slip away uneventfully into the night.

Passage to Muscat from Salalah was routed close to the Oman coast, sailing from headland to headland, before rounding Ras al Hadd and entering into the Gulf of Oman. Speed was kept high to deter any would be pirates as part of the vessels best management practice so our arrival to Muscat was early. In fact we arrived nearly a full day early affording the luxury of an overnight and more shore time for our passengers to better explore Oman’s Capital City.

The pilot boarded one mile from the breakwater and once it had been confirmed that our intended berth had been vacated, the Saga Ruby proceeded to enter the harbour. The berth was just inside the harbour, so swinging the vessel to starboard once through the port entrance helped to take off the speed, and allowed room to swing the stern around and back up to the berth so that we were pointing in the right direction to leave the following evening. With natures own tug, in the form of the wind on hand to gently push us sideways onto the quay’s fendering the Saga Ruby safely came to rest alongside.

On the quay astern of us the Sultan’s Royal Yacht Squadron was moored. The Royal Yacht, its support vessel, a tug and a number of rather expensive looking toys dominated the port in a display of opulence and wealth that one could only dream of.

As we were in port for a while I decided to take the shuttle bus along to the Muttrah souk and have a look for myself. The souk was filled with all sorts of shops selling various Arabian artefacts, some looked original, and others did not. I was coaxed into trying the local style hat on, and succeeded in surprising the vendor into a rather shocked expression when I removed my baseball cap to reveal a clean-shaven head.

Needless to say I looked totally ridiculous in the local head gear so could not be parted with my money, much to the chagrin of the shopkeeper. The distinct smell of frankincense filled the market and its vibrant colours were only out done by the colourful characters hustling and jockeying for customers to buy their wares. Needless to say the spectacle of the market superseded it as a shopping experience, unless you were looking for that unique souvenir to baffle you for years to come as to why you bought it in the first place.

The second day in Muscat enabled our passengers to go off on tours to see a fortress called Nouvelle Nakhl and the old town of Muscat amongst other sites, while our crew set about conducting the weekly emergency drill.

Two other vessels in with us, the pretentiously named Brilliance of the Seas and the Costa Monstrosity (ok, not its real name as I can’t remember it), had similar ideas so there was suddenly a flotilla of survival craft in orange and yellow causing chaos and confusion in the previously tranquil port.

With evening came time to depart Oman and the rather pleasant Muscat. The Saga Ruby set course for the Straights of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf beyond it, with the port of Dubai waiting for us.

The passage down through the Red Sea and along the axis of the Gulf of Aden allowed our passengers to enjoy some sunshine and good weather. The north-east monsoon winds finally started, about three weeks later than normal, as the Saga Ruby passed through Bab el Mandeb (The Devils Mouth) and lined up to enter the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), out in the Gulf of Aden.

The IRTC is policed by a coalition of warships from Europe and America and has been set up to protect World Food Aid shipments from piracy. As a bonus other vessels now benefit from the presence of these 11 or so warships and co-ordinate convoys to help ensure safe passage through this stretch of water, which has been in the news repeatedly over the last few years for all the wrong reasons.

Additionally warships from other nations patrol the area to help maintain safer trade routes including Russian, Chinese, Indian as well as other Asian and Middle Eastern nations. Of course this has just moved the pirates further east and south out into the Indian Ocean where they have utilised some of the Dhows they have captured to set up a disassociated network of mother ships along the line of 65 degrees Longitude between about 20 N to 15 South in Latitude, to prey on the many cargo ships that run trade along or through that stretch of the Indian Ocean, fortunately not on our planned passage.

Despite the continued monitoring of the frequencies and communication channels as well as extra intel afforded us from RN Commander John Sutcliffe, who is sailing with us between Malta and Dubai, since the 22nd Jan no further piracy attempts had been reported in the Indian Ocean up until our arrival in Salalah. This good news for the areas shipping just happened to coincide with our arrival into the Gulf of Aden. Perhaps they heard we were coming?

More likely though the monsoon has sent most of the active groups back to Somalia for a couple of months. Either way we will maintain best practice onboard with our extra precautions and vigilance in the extremely unlikely event we come across some opportunistic types on our travels in the near effected waters that we are transiting. It’s just a shame that in this day and age, the governments in a position to do something about this escalating situation seem to be waiting for someone else to take the lead. Perhaps our MP’s at home need prompting with a letter or two (hint, hint)?

Arrival into the Port of Salalah had the Saga Ruby at the head of a convoy of ships lining up to enter the port. This consisted of several container ships, a Chinese warship, a small tanker and our very own HMS Cornwall, which moored directly in front of us in the port after we had kindly moved the ship 60 ft astern to accommodate them. This of course gave me ample excuse to fly the Cornish flag from the port halyard.

I extended an invitation to the Captain and his officer to come to the Saga Ruby for a coffee, which was taken up, and allowed an opportunity to glean some knowledge of the current Somali Pirate situation and generally find out what they had been up to. In return the Captain of HMS Cornwall kindly offered our Passengers and Officers a chance to have a tour of the soon to be decommissioned Type 22 Frigate.

So a large number of our passengers descended on mass to the gangway of the warship, where the Officers and Ratings made everyone welcome and took small groups around their ship, proudly showing her off. The Officers and Crew of HMS Cornwall will have a 5 day stand down to conduct maintenance, store and have a bit of R&R before going back out to patrol the IRTC as part of the coalition.

Salalah itself offers a number of sites of archaeological interest to visit such as the fabled lost city of Ubar, Job’s Tomb, Al Balid which is home to the ruins of the city of Dhufa, Taqa Fortress, the ruins of the citadel of Moscha as well as the remains of what is believed to be Queen Sheba’s Palace. So there is actually a lot to see despite the first impression of being nothing more than a stop in the dessert.

With the sunset came our time to depart and proceed out to sea towards our next port, Muscat.

The short run to Safaga was conducted in the night with arrival early in the morning. So early in fact some people would technically say it was still night. The pilot evidently would agree as he turned up very late, granting me permission to take the ship through the reef, boarding just off of the wharf that was to be our mooring for the day, and disappearing off the ship again before we’d finished making fast our lines. He was off to bring in another cruise ship, the Thompson Celebration, who was running a little late from her previous port.

The main attraction of Safaga is its proximity to Luxor, and the ability to venture to the various archaeological sites within a few hours drive. For our passengers this was to be an opportunity to visit the Karnak Temple, called Ipet Sut by the ancient Egyptians, meaning “ the most venerated place”. Others were able to witness the colourful sea life of the Red Sea by taking a trip in a semi-submersible boat to gaze at the fish and coral through the boats, “glass” hull.

The Pilot contacted the vessel in the afternoon and granted permission for me to take her back out through the reef without his attendance. In other words he wanted the night off, so I obliged him, as it would save us time and the aggravation of slowing down again to allow him to depart.

Having made it through the Suez Canal in good time we found that we had 7 hours up our sleeves. Arriving in Aqaba in the dead of night would be a pointless exercise, as would cruising the Sinai Coast and Gulf of Aqaba due to the thunderstorms and cloud that had enveloped the region, not to mention the political problems of entering certain territorial waters.

So the plan was to stay in the Red Sea 15-20 miles south of the Sinai Peninsula where it was nice and sunny. So from 11:00am to 6:00pm on the 17th, the Saga Ruby drifted in the sunshine and reaching a maximum of 22 degrees Celsius the temperature was not too hot in the still air without the movement of the ship to create a breeze.

Arrival in the early morning at Aqaba on the 18th was a chilly 16 degrees Celsius, but it is their winter after all. With the vessel securely moored under the shadow of one of, if not the biggest flags in the world, which was no doubt flying to remind the Israeli neighbours who’s port it is, our passengers embarking on an expedition to Petra started the day with an early breakfast.

I was lucky enough to get a place on the Petra tour, so I set off to join coach number 5 with my camera in hand. Our guide on the bus was a jovial native called Soli who had worked on the dig at Petra so was a wealth of information.

With attempts at humour revolving around catch phrases such as “lovely jubbly” and “cheap as chips” I could sense the bus’s occupants groan in unison, willing him to keep to the subject or just let them get a few minutes peace and quiet.

It was my second time visiting the necropolis that is Petra and although colder than my previous visit in March 2008, the numbers of visitors were significantly less allowing more coverage of the site in the allotted time. Personally for me it outstrips the Pyramids as a visual spectacle, though is perhaps less mysterious.

The entrance to Petra commences with a 1.2 km walk down a narrow gorge called the Siq, which provided good natural defences for the ancient city. According to Soli the gates that the Nabataean’s had erected at the entrance to the gorge had collapsed in an earthquake in the 1920’s.

The reward for walking the gorge is evident as the last few yards are completed and you round a slight bend to find a view of the Treasury; with its rose colour façade carved into the rock to greet you.  Beyond that the site is vast, too vast to cover in one day, with still yet more to be uncovered by the teams of archaeologists that still work there.

Once the buses had returned all of the weary pilgrims to the ship, including a number of crew who had gone on an arranged crew tour to Petra, I just had enough time to get into uniform again before taking the ship back out into the Gulf of Aqaba. The Saga Ruby weaved around several waiting cargo ships before heading back towards Egypt and the port of Safaga.

Port Said offers our passengers a base from which to venture into Cairo to visit the Pyramids of Giza and the Museum of Antiquities. The Pyramids, the last of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, are something everyone should make an effort to see once in their lifetime, though unless you are a keen Egyptologist or the like, once is generally enough.

Two facts I remember from my visit to the Pyramids in 2008 are; that until the Eiffel Tower was built the Pyramids were the tallest man made structure on Earth, and the Pyramids were constructed before the wheel was invented.

These two snippets of information highlight the mystery and wonder of how the pyramids were built and perhaps its this “how did they do it?” coupled with the Ancient Egyptian fixation with death, that has made them so popular with school boys and girls over the years and stayed with so many into adulthood.

Meanwhile the ships officers set about dealing with the Egyptian Officials. A task that sometimes, requires such patience and time, one might think building a pyramid an easier option! As did attempting to co-ordinate our transit through the Suez Canal on leaving Port Said.

Initially the plan was to leave in the evening, go to wait at anchor, and then join the 2nd convoy at around 3:00am. Then we were told to sail at 6:00am the following morning when the convoy starts before finally being instructed to call them at 3:00am to find out what is happening? In other words they didn’t know!

Having some previous experience here, with pilots turning up unannounced and asking to sail in 10 minutes (it normally takes an hour to prepare the engines and test other equipment), I arranged with the Chief Engineer to be ready to sail at 3:00am and leave at short notice. My prudence was justified as at 2:45am I received a call from the Bridge informing me that the pilot would be on the ship in 15 minutes.

The transit plan was to lead the second convoy through the Canal, waiting for 6 hours at Al Ballah siding for the northbound convoy to pass, before continuing down the Canal. This would have the vessel clear of Suez for around midnight.

Once we’d left the berth the pilot informed me that the Saga Ruby was the 2nd convoy, all of it! So a new plan was concocted, this time involving us “speeding” down the Canal to catch the 1st convoy and anchoring in Bitter Lake for 3 hours to let the northbound convoy pass before proceeding.

So this is what we did, clearing the Canal with the sun setting 7 hours ahead of schedule at around 5:00pm. Now, a narrative of the canal transit itself is a little hard to write for a blog. The Suez Canal is a marvel of engineering, rich in history, and incredibly important to trade between Europe and the East. However, what the Suez Canal is not, is visually spectacular.

On the west side in amongst the sand there are small towns and villages occasionally, with areas of irrigated greenery, on the East side, there is sand!

After sailing from Lisbon and heading south the weather greatly improved and once passing through the Gibraltar Straits, sunshine and calm seas greeted us.

Arrival into Valletta on the morning of the 12th was marked with cannon fire as eight cannons were fired in sequence to welcome the Saga Ruby to her port of registration.  The Deck and Technical teams had been working hard since Southampton, engaged with Surveyors working on behalf of the Ship’s Classification Society and Flag State, putting the Vessel and Crew through their paces for our annual equivalent of an MOT.

The last part of this to be completed was to check the hull, whilst alongside in the Maltese Capital. Unlike your car, jacking up the vehicle or driving over an inspection pit is not an option, so in the years between dry docks, divers are employed with a camera to sweep the section of hull under the water as well as the propellers and rudder, allowing a Surveyor to view the footage to make sure all is in order.

With a little polishing of one of the propellers completed as the only remedial work required, the Saga Ruby was finally given the all clear with numerous certificates issued for the various port authorities to peruse as we make our way around the world.

Whilst all this was going on our passengers were off on their tours of the island or independently exploring the medieval battlements of what certainly is one of the most atmospheric and visually impressive harbours in the world (in my opinion of course, and I’ve not quite seen them all yet!).

Shortly after 7:00pm the Saga Ruby set sail from Valletta to leave Europe behind her and head for the North African port of Port Said, Egypt.

The Saga Ruby set off from Southampton on her 'Round the World Cruise' just before 8:00pm on the 5th January, somewhat later than originally planned. The delay was primarily due to the logistics of loading stores in order to complete the 110 day voyage in the comfort and manner to which our passengers expect, or at least certainly will do by the time they are due to disembark.

With six cruise ships in Southampton on the day of our departure the local news on TV was awash with reports ranging from how wonderful it is to have the port of Southampton revisiting her glory days to, how will the roads and infrastructure cope with such a sudden surge in numbers of people. Given that all the Ships departed, albeit slightly out of sequence given our delay, I would say that whilst no doubt stretched, Southampton managed to cope with the army of travellers, and that local hoteliers and taxi drivers got to start the New Year with a healthy boost to earnings.

The timing of our departure meant that we followed out behind the Queen Victoria who had also had a minor delay to sailing. Her size seemed to inhibit the speed at which she sailed down the Solent causing us further delay, so in order to make up some time and avoid being stuck behind the QV any longer I took a short cut down the Needles Channel passing to the West of the Isle of Wight, where the larger ships cannot safely navigate passage.

The crossing to Lisbon was not too much fun for our passengers with a large swell developing from the West, forcing everyone to get their sea legs a little quicker than most would like. Ironically the Bay of Biscay was not too bad and we managed to stay ahead of the worst of the weather until we got to the Finisterre region and made our way down the West coast of the Iberian Peninsula towards Lisbon.

Our arrival at the approaches to the Tagus was met with the news that the port was closed due to the swell on the sand bank at the rivers mouth, so despite having made good speed, even overtaking the Balmoral on the way down to ensure a timely arrival, we had to wait for conditions to become more favourable.

The Pilots required us to complete a DUKC (Dynamic Under Keel Clearance) form, in order for the pilots to put the information into a computer program to ensure we could cross the bar safely without grounding.  At 9:00am the Saga Ruby was given the all clear to enter the port and pick the pilot up at the inner pilot station at 10:30am, some 4 ½ hours later than planned.

The run in over the bar towards the pilot station proved quite interesting with the swell not having reduced a great deal from the 6 meters (just under 20 ft) that had prevented us going in any earlier. With the swell on the quarter the vessel was moving around significantly even with the stabilisers still in operation and at one point we caught a large wave and surfed along our intended track taking a health list in the process.  Once in the Tagus proper, and sheltered from the swell, normality was resumed and the Saga Ruby proceeded without further excitement to tie up alongside her designated berth in Lisbon.

Having delayed sailing to ensure that our passengers did not lose out due to the late arrival, and with the tours having been re-arranged by Shorex to better suit our time alongside, the Saga Ruby cast off her lines just before 10:00pm. The wind and current were fighting the ship as we turned in the Tagus under the pilots’ advice and under the gaze of the large statue of Christ on the South Bank and the Monument to Henry the Navigator on the North Bank.

The Saga Ruby had to work engines hard to complete the turn in a timely manner, passing under the 25 April Bridge before the turns completion, and then proceeding out to sea over the now slightly more passive bank.

We picked up the island late on the 31st, while the Scottish piper was energetically paying his salute to the Haggis in the Dining Room. By 11pm we were skirting the coast just a few miles off, the shore lights reaching up towards the sky. Up ahead I detected a number of cruise ships already jockeying for position off the harbour, waiting for that magic moment when the sky would erupt over Funchal.

Approaching slowly, I was gradually able to detect my favoured spot, just behind the barges anchored outside the harbour wall. The ship was near enough stopped fifteen minutes before midnight, the stern swung to face the shore and another ship, whose Captain had the same idea, was just a few hundred yards to our left. She was close enough for us to hear her cruise director counting down midnight.

He was about two or three seconds to soon, as the explosion of fireworks commenced after what seemed a pregnant pause. It was thunderous, the barges behind and on either side joined in the celebratory mayhem, up on the hillsides a co-ordinated spectacular of light and sound took our attention completely.

In just ten minutes, one and a half million Euros (so we found out the next day) went up in smoke, it was awesome. The finale was a cacophony of rhythmic deafening explosions that sounded incredibly loud enough, even half a mile offshore, so that when the end suddenly came, the silence seemed as enveloping as the blackness of the night to seaward. Only the slightly acrid smoke remained, slowly drifting over the ship and almost hiding the lights on shore.

The ships outside the harbour were soon gone, lights slowly disappearing to the east, to continue their voyage homewards. After two hours we docked alongside, once our berth had been vacated by yet another cruise liner who had set off to trail the others.

Surprisingly I woke at my normal time the following morning and, determined to start the New Year in healthy fashion, I joined the Lavada walking tour. A pleasant morning, educated by our South African born Madeirian guide as we followed one of the irrigation channels towards Camacha.

Passing local hillside homes where washing was already hanging out to dry, dogs were barking, cocks crowing and the odd child or two playing with what was probably a well used Christmas present. She even found some flowering Nightshade amongst the vegetation.

Our folks, in the main, had a relaxing day, gradually recuperating from the previous evenings excursions. We sailed, with three long farewell blasts from the ships whistle, heading back towards the British winter. I’m sure I’m correct in believing there are very few of our guests who are looking forward to that weather, having had such a tremendous cruise. I am of course, Cornwall will beckon on Wednesday.