No, it's not a Disney Ride. Pirates on the High Seas is real life. Off the coast of Somalia, pirates continue to shoot at passing ships with an eye on serious booty.
The danger is serious enough that the MS Columbus, a German cruise ship on a round-the-world trip, dumped its 246 passengers and most of its crew in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah last week, flying them ahead to Dubai. The ship made its way through the Gulf of Aden with a skeleton crew, said tour operator Hapag-Lloyd. The Gulf of Aden is a major sea lane used by ships heading to and from the Suez Canal.
Television showed pictures of a boat manned by pirates who shot at the cruise ship Nautica off Somalia on Nov. 30.
The next picture you see may be a pirate ship blown to smitherines.
The Associated Press reports that the Bush administration is proposing to take on the pirates. A plan will be presented at a United Nations session on Somalia on Tuesday (Dec. 16). The proposal says that the U.S. wants to "interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea."
"Interdicting" pirates means mighty guns and missiles.
That's one thing the United States has always been good at: Blowing stuff up. If we can find it. Osama Bin Laden may hide in mountain caves, but nobody can hide on the ocean. The U.S. can find a rowboat and blast it out of the water.
When that day comes, you wouldn't want to be a pirate hiding near Somalia.
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Molyneaux is editor of TravelMavens.net. CLICK for articles on cruising, golf, Florida, Europe, adventure and travel gear and gadgets.
