ARRRGH.

We left Singapore this morning and set sail through the Strait of Malacca. Now, I was unaware of this until coming on the trip, but this is one of the areas most populated by pirates. Yes, pirates, no joke on the open seas. We're told that an SAS trip in the past has been attacked by pirates. Seriously though?

We have students who have been recruited by the crew to assist with "pirate watch" today and tomorrow. They are thrilled. Actually I think it's pretty great as well, but didn't get a spot on the watch crew this time....something about students first. =) We will have a couple of other opportunities for this throughout the semester, particularly in the Red Sea, so I may get my chance.

We are lucky because our ship has a maximum cruising speed of about 32 knots, which is enough to outrun a majority of pirate ships. However, should pirates attack our ship, we first use the fire hoses to knock them off and then up the speed. That's the grand plan!!!

Is it bad, that for the storytelling value, I would love it if we at least saw a pirate ship and/or pirates? (Even better if they all looked like Johnny Depp). I don't really need them to attack or climb up the sides of the MV Explorer, but wouldn't that be a fun story to tell you all!

One of my favorite students on board and I were talking last night and he was shocked that pirates existed. We had fun joking about it but, he said that if he does encounter a pirate he's going to have to tell them to get a real job. Apparently he doesn't think that pillaging is a real career.

What makes the whole day better is that there is very low visibility as there is a ton of fog all around us. It has been gray and eerie all day! And I can't tell you the number of people who have told me pirate jokes and how many people think it's hilarious to talk like a pirate today (yes, this includes me).