Good morning Hunter,
Thought I would feed you another update on the trip to this point.
The last time we talked HMCS Fredericton had just left Haifa, Israel.
From there, we transited the Suez Canal and Red Sea and into the Gulf
of Aden where we would spend the next several weeks patrolling the
International Recommended Transit Corridor, a merchant ship
super-highway, protecting vessels from pirates. I must say, we did a
super job of keeping them at bay.
Our next port of call was a city called Salalah, Oman. The city is
known as “the perfume capital of Arabia”. To be honest, there wasn’t
as much to do here other than go do a little shopping and to walk
around but it was a good break for the crew.
After Salalah, we were back in the Gulf of Aden doing what we were
sent here to do, patrol the shipping corridor. We would eventually
head to our next port of call, Mombasa Kenya. On our way there, we
would cross the equator and take part in a true ritual of any sailor,
properly known as “the Crossing the Line Ceremony”. It would take a
while to explain all that’s involved in the ritual but lets just say I
am glad I will only have to do that once, although a good time was had
by all who participated. You will have to google it to find out what
all happens. I have included a picture of part of the ceremony.
Mombasa, Kenya was a pretty cool port visit. Many on the ship
volunteered to help a girl’s hostel, priming and painting a new level
and organizing additional work for the Hostel. Very rewarding work –
though it was 43 degrees Celsius! We also were able to go on an
African Safari. We saw giraffes, lions, water buffalo, and elephants
just to name a few of the animals. Another cool part of the visit was
stopping into an actual Kenyan tribal site to see how they have lived
for hundreds of years. Houses made of cow dung and still making fire
rubbing two sticks together gave a real sense of just how lucky we are
in our part of the world. Again, I have added a picture taken at our
safari.
We headed back north to our assigned patrol area for our final counter
piracy patrol with NATO. Then we headed to Jebel, Ali, United Arab
Emirates, the port that most of us onboard were looking forward to the
most. We were in port for 10 days for a RAMP (Rest and Maintenance
Period). Jebel Ali is approximately 20 minutes from Dubai. Many of the
crew would spend their time there when not on duty. In Dubai, they
have the worlds tallest man-made structure and the worlds largest
mall; over 1200 stores! Let’s just say my wife would be lost in here.
It was that big. They even had a hockey rink inside the mall. We also
spent a lot of time at the Souq, or markets. Here you would find
streets lined with clothing, spices, and the most popular one amongst
the sailors, the Gold Souq. I have included a picture of the Gold
Souq as well. It was store after store of gold, gems and jewellery. If
you were good at wheeling and dealing, this is the place for you.
There just wasn’t enough time to see nearly enough of this city.
We just left Jebel Ali and are off sailing the big blue ocean once
again, this time to the Gulf of Oman and Northern Arabian Sea, all
part of the Indian Ocean. We are over half way done our deployment and
a lot of people are counting down the days. I would love to say we are
on our way home but we still have a little work to do before that can
be said. We still have a few more cool port visits to go on our way
back to Halifax, so stay tuned for my next update.
Take care!
Leading Seaman Chris Pudsey
HMCS Fredericton
