"So where do you keep the guns?"

            When you think Somalia, one thing that might come to mind is pirates.  Our route from Mauritius to India happens to lead the MV Explorer a right around the area off the coast of Somalia.  One afternoon before we made it to India, my friend and I somehow got into a conversation with one of the chief crew members.  Early that day we had noticed some of the crew sitting out on deck 5 with numerous giant water hoses dangling over the side of the boat.  We had never seen this before so we asked our new friend what that was all about.  He said although a pirate attack was highly unlikely, it was important to be prepared for the worst.  But with water hoses?  He further explained that pirates would climb up the side of the ship with magnets and so the giant water hoses would be used to knock the invaders into the ocean.  Now somewhat concerned, we asked him “well where to do you keep the guns?  We must have some kind of weapons on the ship?”  He laughed and said, “of course not, our weapon is our speed.”  So to anyone who was maybe worried about my safety, no need to worry… the MV Explorer has speed and water hoses.