Christmas in Dubai and the weeks after
Christmas in Dubai and the weeks to follow:
We spend Christmas in Jebel Ali. Jebel Ali is one of the largest man-made ports in the world and it sits in the Dubai Emirate in the UAE. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Dubai on previous cruises and was particularly looking forward to this one.
Unfortunately, just prior to our arrival, there were a couple of gators in there, and with gators, come Marines. Loveable leathernecks that they are, it always seems that a handful of them (usually the young ones) have seen one too many Clint Eastwood or John Wayne movies. Long story short, a handful on the younger mob got drunk, allowed their alcohol / testosterone overloaded mouths get the better of them and managed to wind up in jail on public drunkenness charges. (Further advancing the stereotype of the typical American tourist.) I guess they stopped teaching “When in Rome” at Paris Island (or wherever Marine boot camp is these days…) The end result was that liberty in The Emirates was restricted to the compound in the port commonly referred to as The Sandbox.
Liberty in the Sandbox could be worse. There are vendors there with merchandise to hawk, food (with actual texture and flavor) to be consumed and relatively inexpensive beer. The USO and MWR folks really to a great job of setting up entertainment so it beats spending Christmas at sea supporting OIF.
And while it’s nigh impossible to obtain Dip-Clearance for a COD in The Emirates, reindeer driven sleighs coming in from the North Pole seem to have no issues making a landing. Santa did find his way to the stage that evening to entertain the good little boys and girls on the ship. He left them with a poem. I think it went something like this:
Twas the night before Christmas
And out in the sandbox
There were beer food and vendors,
And karaoke that rocks (not!)
The crew all surrounded the stage over there
In hopes that belly dancers soon would appear.
When up on the roof, there arose such a ruckus
I ran to the island to see what the… heck.
I looked past the 4-wire and what did I see
But a miniature steam turbine and 8 tiny BT’s.
And out from behind there came a huge elf,
He cursed spat and roared, and I crapped myself!
His eyes burned with fire, his hands looked like brick,
This was one mean hole-snipe, it wasn’t Saint Nick!
He belched and he farted
As he lit his cigar.
I thought about running,
But wouldn’t get far.
Frozen with fear, I thought I might hide,
But he saw me and yelled out
“Son rig fenders! Come along side!”
I trembled and shook as I slowly crept near.
Of this I was certain, this beast could smell fear.
“What on earth are you doing, here in this land?
You should be home with your family, and not in the sand!”
“What brings someone like you, here to Dubai,
at this time of year. I’m asking you why?”
I thought for a moment, about the questions he posed.
And as I pondered, my courage, it rose.
“I’m defending freedom from those who’d abuse it.
I come here principled with the willpower to use it.
For all men have certain inalienable rights,
And to defend them from others, I’m willing to fight.
And if that’s what it takes, to spend Christmas here
Then I’ll do it gladly, for these things I hold dear.”
And that cranky old bastard, he started to smile,
And I thought to myself, “I might live for a while.”
“Go get a beer son, celebrate with your friends.
Tonight they’re your family, out here in the sand.
And this gift that you bring to this far away place
It will last forever. It won’t be erased.
And then he leapt to his sled
Screaming “Light Fires!” and “Let’s fly!”
And he disappeared
Off in the night sky.
I heard him exclaim, away as he flew
Merry Christmas Shipmates
I am proud of you!
So, we didn’t get out in town, but I think most folks had a good time and we rang the New Year in up in the Northern Arabian Gulf doing what carriers do best. (Bombing the shit out of some third-world despot…)
The Buckeyes choked (again) in the BCS championship. The Big Ten in general made a pretty miserable showing but NASCAR is right around the corner.
January had us at sea most of the month. We managed to build one monstrous barbecue and tested it out on our second visit to the Sandbox. All told, we loaded 1000lbs of ribs and 1000lbs of chicken in this beast. So far, the feedback has been pretty positive but you never know.
Mom came out this visit also. I was somewhat concerned at how she would respond when I told her that I had obligated to cook for 5000, but when I softened the blow by announcing that Jimmy Buffett was going to play a free concert for the ship, she didn’t kill me. We spend 3 of 4 days in the Sandbox but had a good visit. We did get a bonus day when a sandstorm blew threw the area and shut the port down. Turns out her flight wasn’t until late that night and the XO was kind enough to let me go spend the day with her so I scored a few of those points back.
Well, that’s where I am. The shootout is this weekend and Daytona is only 11 days off. The cruise is rapidly approaching the half-way mark and things are going remarkably well. I still haven’t gotten to any of my books yet (probably won’t) but that’s because it’s been just busy enough to not allow time for reading but not so busy that I can’t keep up.
More later.
On-On,
Gopher
We spend Christmas in Jebel Ali. Jebel Ali is one of the largest man-made ports in the world and it sits in the Dubai Emirate in the UAE. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Dubai on previous cruises and was particularly looking forward to this one.
Unfortunately, just prior to our arrival, there were a couple of gators in there, and with gators, come Marines. Loveable leathernecks that they are, it always seems that a handful of them (usually the young ones) have seen one too many Clint Eastwood or John Wayne movies. Long story short, a handful on the younger mob got drunk, allowed their alcohol / testosterone overloaded mouths get the better of them and managed to wind up in jail on public drunkenness charges. (Further advancing the stereotype of the typical American tourist.) I guess they stopped teaching “When in Rome” at Paris Island (or wherever Marine boot camp is these days…) The end result was that liberty in The Emirates was restricted to the compound in the port commonly referred to as The Sandbox.
Liberty in the Sandbox could be worse. There are vendors there with merchandise to hawk, food (with actual texture and flavor) to be consumed and relatively inexpensive beer. The USO and MWR folks really to a great job of setting up entertainment so it beats spending Christmas at sea supporting OIF.
And while it’s nigh impossible to obtain Dip-Clearance for a COD in The Emirates, reindeer driven sleighs coming in from the North Pole seem to have no issues making a landing. Santa did find his way to the stage that evening to entertain the good little boys and girls on the ship. He left them with a poem. I think it went something like this:
Twas the night before Christmas
And out in the sandbox
There were beer food and vendors,
And karaoke that rocks (not!)
The crew all surrounded the stage over there
In hopes that belly dancers soon would appear.
When up on the roof, there arose such a ruckus
I ran to the island to see what the… heck.
I looked past the 4-wire and what did I see
But a miniature steam turbine and 8 tiny BT’s.
And out from behind there came a huge elf,
He cursed spat and roared, and I crapped myself!
His eyes burned with fire, his hands looked like brick,
This was one mean hole-snipe, it wasn’t Saint Nick!
He belched and he farted
As he lit his cigar.
I thought about running,
But wouldn’t get far.
Frozen with fear, I thought I might hide,
But he saw me and yelled out
“Son rig fenders! Come along side!”
I trembled and shook as I slowly crept near.
Of this I was certain, this beast could smell fear.
“What on earth are you doing, here in this land?
You should be home with your family, and not in the sand!”
“What brings someone like you, here to Dubai,
at this time of year. I’m asking you why?”
I thought for a moment, about the questions he posed.
And as I pondered, my courage, it rose.
“I’m defending freedom from those who’d abuse it.
I come here principled with the willpower to use it.
For all men have certain inalienable rights,
And to defend them from others, I’m willing to fight.
And if that’s what it takes, to spend Christmas here
Then I’ll do it gladly, for these things I hold dear.”
And that cranky old bastard, he started to smile,
And I thought to myself, “I might live for a while.”
“Go get a beer son, celebrate with your friends.
Tonight they’re your family, out here in the sand.
And this gift that you bring to this far away place
It will last forever. It won’t be erased.
And then he leapt to his sled
Screaming “Light Fires!” and “Let’s fly!”
And he disappeared
Off in the night sky.
I heard him exclaim, away as he flew
Merry Christmas Shipmates
I am proud of you!
So, we didn’t get out in town, but I think most folks had a good time and we rang the New Year in up in the Northern Arabian Gulf doing what carriers do best. (Bombing the shit out of some third-world despot…)
The Buckeyes choked (again) in the BCS championship. The Big Ten in general made a pretty miserable showing but NASCAR is right around the corner.
January had us at sea most of the month. We managed to build one monstrous barbecue and tested it out on our second visit to the Sandbox. All told, we loaded 1000lbs of ribs and 1000lbs of chicken in this beast. So far, the feedback has been pretty positive but you never know.
Mom came out this visit also. I was somewhat concerned at how she would respond when I told her that I had obligated to cook for 5000, but when I softened the blow by announcing that Jimmy Buffett was going to play a free concert for the ship, she didn’t kill me. We spend 3 of 4 days in the Sandbox but had a good visit. We did get a bonus day when a sandstorm blew threw the area and shut the port down. Turns out her flight wasn’t until late that night and the XO was kind enough to let me go spend the day with her so I scored a few of those points back.
Well, that’s where I am. The shootout is this weekend and Daytona is only 11 days off. The cruise is rapidly approaching the half-way mark and things are going remarkably well. I still haven’t gotten to any of my books yet (probably won’t) but that’s because it’s been just busy enough to not allow time for reading but not so busy that I can’t keep up.
More later.
On-On,
Gopher
posted by Gopher at 11:22 AM
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