Hester's Head

Since we left Djibouti we have sailed around in patrol boxes, hailing ships, looking and listening for suspicious activity and trying to get a picture of the maritime traffic. About two weeks ago we did find one guy who was acting rather suspicious, here's a picture from our Sea King:

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Notice anything suspicious? Our boarding party went over and inspected it very thoroughly, but nothing was found.

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Other than this things have been rather quiet. It's Groundhog Day now, one day is like another and I struggle to keep up to even remember when the weekends are. Other than the sunrise a few days ago - two days ago? - it's hard to remember, there's not much excitement. Other than the interesting food we took on in Djibouti. And the school of dolphins that came around:

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We get all kinds of food from all kinds of places here. Cowhead brand cheese from Australia, fruit from around the globe, and Modern Bakery bread from the UAE. We have 'White sliced bread (size) medium' and 'White sliced bread (size) jumbo'. The jumbo is a little bit bigger, but, much more noticeably, it is brown, multigrain bread while the medium was recognizably white. They both had the same ingredients:

Flour, Yeast, Sugar, Salt, Vegetable Shortening, Bread Improver, Milk Powder, Water.

Does anyone have any idea what 'bread improver' is? What would the bread be like without it?
There's also some (Wholemeal) bread, it's brown but not as multigrainy as the jumbo white bread. It has most of the same ingredients, but the Vegetable Oil is second last, the Bread Improver moves up to 4th and they add "Mould Inhibator" [their spleling] and Wheat Bran. More Bread Improver than Mould Inhibator, more Mould Inhibator than Wheat Bran. You know what my next question is. WTF is mould inhibator? Penicillin? Some type of herbicide?

We also have some cereals. Some with Indian writing on it, some with Arabic. There are 'Frosties' with Tony the Tiger on the box saying "Now they're supercharged(tm)." There is no indication anywhere on the box as to what they might be supercharged with. Maybe antioxidants? They had Corn Grits, Sugar, Malt Extract, Common Salt, Vitamins, Minerals, and Antioxidants (INS 320).

But the best is 'Chocos' - "crunchy chocolate whole wheat scoops." The monkey on the front is Coco Monkey saying "When you need a friend, I am your'Cheeky Monkey Next Door.'" I'm not making this stuff up. Coco Monkey has four friends: Kylie Kangaroo, Shortie Giraffe, Hefty Hippo, and Osmelda Ostrich. The ostrich claims, "I am fun, vivacious and zany. I love leading life the zany way." This stuff is very popular in the wardroom. Go figure
They also have all types of Corn Flakes here. They have the regular stuff, but they also have it with "Real Honey", "Real Strawberries", "Real Mango", "Real Bananas", and "Real Almonds." We have some of the "Real Almonds," and they don't lie. Want the list of the other ingredients?
I didn't think so. I also didn't want to write it all down. I get strange looks in the mess when I sit there looking at the food and taking notes. Even stranger than the looks I get when I take notes and pictures of my food in restaurants.

I have a mighty fine story of more good that happens in the world, it's an example of cooperation between the coalition nations. One of our sailors was ill and our doc had been monitoring him for a few days. It was determined that he needed more care and maybe surgery (I have no idea for what) so he was transferred to the German ship FGS Schleswig-Holstein by their helo. The doctor and surgeon on their ship agreed with our doc's assessment and decided that he needed to go ashore. When you are off the east coast of Africa where do you send him? Nowhere. You deliver him to Oman - the best place for a few different reasons. The German ship took off on a four-day trip north to deliver a Canadian sailor close enough to Muscat to be flown off on their helicopter. Incredible. And awesome. The Canadian sailor has already been treated, released from hospital and I think he's now at Camp Mirage under observation.