Gunboats and Manama

I was sitting at the computer yesterday when I looked up to see two gun boats coming directly at us at top speed, a third boat was going around behind the ship. I don’t know if there were others on the port side or not. They were armed with 50 caliber guns. We were just off the Iranian coast in the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman. My first thought was Pirates, but we haven’t even hit pirate alley yet! That is in the strait in the Gulf of Aden. Then Jim recognized that they were flying the Iranian flag. It turned out to be the Iranian coast guard. I suppose they were just letting us know we were in their water. I am not sure why they had to make an all out run at us, dramatically turning off at the last minute – I guess just showing off. Somehow it is not that comforting sailing the coast of Iran. We have been watching the coastal towns of Iran slip by. We are probably 6-8 miles off their coast – close enough to see the cities, topography and gun boats! Then later in the day a motor boat came right at us and turned and cut right in front of the ship. I actually held my breath for the crunch. I never heard anything so I guess it cleared us. It is strange to me that the bridge never comments on any of these events. I did notice we were moving about 18.7 knots – I think top speed for this ship is 19 – so he was moving quickly through troubled waters. Unfortunately, we have to retrace our steps to get out of the Persian Gulf – only to enter the start of Pirate Alley. Exciting times ahead. That was yesterday – today we are in Manama. Here, we were met by a US Navy gunboat. That’s better, but I would just as soon see no gunboats period. I think the whole US Navel 5th fleet is stationed in Bahrain. There are lots of war ships here. The USS New York is docked right next to us – that is the ship where steel used for the smoke stacks was salvaged from the World Trade Center. The stacks are supposed to resemble the twin towers. My challenge today was what to wear. They said to cover your arms to the wrist, legs covered to ankle and the hair covered. That wasn’t a problem, but nothing could be “form fitting”, meaning preferably no knit tops or slacks. Every top I brought was a wash and wear knit. After accessing my wardrobe situation, I decided one of Jim’s dress shirts was the only thing that would work. I can tell you, I was a real fashion statement stepping off the ship in his shirt, hanging down half way to my knees, with a lovely head scarf to set off my ensemble. (It’s was about 97 degrees here to boot.) We were told they can get rather testy if you don’t comply so – when in Manama – do as the Manamans, I guess. We have moved from Buddhist, to Hindi now we are in Islamic country. Bahrain is a Middle East country in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran. If this trip hasn’t done anything else, it has helped my geography a little. They say Bahrain has plenty of fresh water making it a green island in the midst of all its semi dessert neighbors - not. Looks pretty dessert like to me. I sure didn’t see much green. There is a 16 mile long causeway connecting Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. It was a gift from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain. I think the Saudis use this place as a playground when they want to drink or don’t want to wear traditional garb. I ended up not wearing the scarf as I saw lots of bare headed women here. Bahrain doesn’t have much oil but does a brisk business refining the oil of their neighbors. Civilization here dates back to 5,000 B.C. The ruins of Bahrain Fort, which we visited, dates back to 3200 B.C. It was interesting to see as they are still excavating. Their problem is that this area has about 7 levels of civilizations and to get to the next level they have to destroy the level above. Bahrain is currently an independent Monarchy. Pearls were one of the Bahrain’s greatest products until cultured pearls undercut their market. It is a very modern city and the architecture is very different from anything we have seen before. It looks like a cross between Mediterranean and Mexican Haciendas. We toured the house where the old king was born. It was adobe like with thick walls, no windows and a courtyard in the center. The furnishings were still there and were very Middle Eastern, but actually looked comfortable. Currently Bahrain has no taxes, gas is 80 cents a gallon and almost half of the population is foreigners of one sort or another. They are hosting Formula One races next week so the town is in a flurry. People are flying back and forth every day from Dubai because they don’t have enough 5 star hotels to accommodate everyone. Our next stop was king’s camel farm/stable. It is his hobby. He doesn’t race them, ride them or eat them – he just comes out and watches them from time to time. It is amazing to see 300 camels in one spot. They are well cared for but staked to the ground. Different. I guess some people keep dogs as pets, some people keep camels. Bahrain is famous for its grave mounds. There were 170,000 of them at one time. Most have been built over, now they have about 60,000 left on the island. They really look like a dirt or gravel yards in south Texas. The graves had a small limestone wall a foot or two high. The bodies were placed a fetal position inside the walls and then they made these mounds over them. Many of them have been broken into and the skeleton is all that remains. It is amazing that these things have survived since about 2000 B.C. UNESCO has now come in and protected the ones that are left. It was a good stop in that it was very different from anything we have seen so far. Tomorrow - Dubai.