And you thought a cruise off the Seychelles meant prime time rest and relaxation? Well, if you haven't noticed, the 21st century once more has plunged us into the days of pirates and marauders...
"A cruise liner that was attacked by pirates over the weekend docked safely on this Indian Ocean archipelago Monday after changing its course to escape. Passengers described their horror as pirates in speedboats chased their luxury cruise liner at sea, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles - with smiles visible on faces otherwise hidden by ski masks."
Seabourn Spirit, a Miami-based subsidiary of Carnival Corp, was cruising off the coast of Somalia on Saturday when it was challenged by a band of pirates. The ship's captain changed course and throttled up the ship, successfully evading the pirates. The 440 foot, 10,000 ton cruise ship was wrapping up a 16 day cruise from Alexandria, Egypt and was bound for Mombasa, Kenya when the attack occurred approximately 100 miles off the Somali coast.
"The International Maritime Bureau has for several months warned ships to stay at least 150 miles away from Somalia's coast, citing 25 pirate attacks in those waters since March 15 - compared with just two for all of 2004."
Despite the fact that the captain seems to have wandered inside this advised limit, he nevertheless earned the praise of his crew and guests by evading the attack. The protracted engagement stretched to an hour and a half before a sucessful escape was made. Kudos, Captain!
