Extra - Somolia Pirates

This evening we leave Sandpiper secure in her slip while we head inland to Luxor. And then we head down the Nile on a river boat cruise. I am posting a link to "Report from 'Pirate Alley ' (Gulf of Aden)", an article that was passed off by email to us by a boat named s/y Dolphin that traveled with us right through the middle of the Gulf of Aden in April. They write of their experience, something to read while we are gone…

Disclaimer:
When I first received an email from another boat that was in the area, I was very skeptical of this story. I could not understand why they were transiting in this area right between Yemen and Somalia. We purposely hugged the coast of Yemen when we transited the Gulf of Aden to avoid this area. Since then I have had this story verified by another boat that was in the area on delivery with limited stops.

We send this out because we have written before about Somalian piracy. We also linked to some BBC broadcasts about the subject. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden gets very little publicity, mostly because there are no reporters in this area or in Somalia. For one contemplating a Red Sea passage, this area can be avoided by hugging the coast of Yemen, like we did.

When we passed through the Gulf of Aden in April, reports of piracy incidents in the area had been just about nil. I say "JUST about nil" as there may have been an incident that was never passed along. However, cruisers being a tight knit group, always seem to get this information out.

See you when we get back!!

Tom and Amy