A lovely sunny sea day cruising down the coast of Oman, about 15 miles offshore. Very hot and sunny today.

We went to art in the morning, a class concentrating on painting a still life of fruit. Painting straight to paper without sketching first. You had to really concentrate. Much more pleased with the results today. I managed two different pears and a bunch of grapes!!!! Viv was quite complimentary.

Sushi for lunch again and then we pegged out by the pool on the aft deck. Had a lovely sunbathe out there. Managed to get a laundry load done. Well… two actually. No trouble at all getting the machines. I guess it is early in this segment and most people won’t have got any dirty washing much yet.
Bob went off to a lecture at 4. One of the guest speakers, General Sir Simon Mayall KBE CB, is giving a series of talks on middle eastern history. We saw his first one yesterday, and it was really, really interesting. He has had a fascinating and important career, mostly in that area of the world, and he spoke with great insight. I will keep abreast when they are rerun on the cabin tvs. One of the delights of a Cunard cruise is the variety and quality of the guest speakers. We also have Dr David Dowty, another middle east political specialist aboard and he followed on from General Sir Simon, giving an American view of the political issues. This week’s top speaker is a round the world yachtsman, who recreated the voyage of Captain Bligh, when he was set adrift from the Bounty. Also very interesting. Next week John McCarthy comes aboard to give a series of talks.

This evening we had a couple of cocktails before dinner. I had one called The Scorpion’s Sting. It was tequila marinated with jalepeno peppers and squid sepia, served with fresh lime and a sumac syrup. The glass was crusted with jalapeno salt. It was absolutely delicious, but looked a bit odd, as it was black. I would definitely have one again. You get a nice little selection of canapes with your drink too. The blackout blinds were all deployed in the bar windows and apparently there are lookouts posted all around the promenade deck watching for pirates!!!!! Day and night!

A good dinner. I had a cobb salad to start and then a flattened steak with a blue cheese tart tartin, and vegetables. Very nice. Bob had roasted cauliflower with cumin soup and then duck with orange sauce. He also had a dessert of apple strudel with vanilla ice cream.

We have a bit of an early start tomorrow in Salalah, Oman, so we decided to turn in after dinner. The theatre show was a comedian, and I’m always slightly lukewarm on them.