Speaker Ranald Ross-Watt

Stirling Rotary Meeting 24th. April 2015

President David Paterson welcomed members; there were no visitors.  He reported on a Rotary area meeting which he had attended in Auchterarder the week before.  In the absence of the scheduled speaker, Communications Convener Ranald Ross-Watt stepped into the breach by offering a short talk on his most recent cruise holiday, from which he had just returned.

At Mumbai, on the North West coast of India, Ranald joined Seabourn Sojourn, a small cruise vessel which takes just 440 guests.  Sojourn headed West for 3 days and nights, landing briefly at the Sultanate of Oman, then on for another 4 days and nights, along the Arabian coast, and North into the Red Sea. During this period, which involved transiting the Gulf of Aden and passing close to the Somali coast, extra security was embarked, as this area is very much Pirate Central.

Reaching the North East end of the Red Sea at Aqaba, Jordan, many guests went off on a visit to Petra, although Ranald did not.  That evening, the ship left port and headed to the Southern end of the Suez Canal.  Next day, Sojourn, accompanied by 40 other vessels, proceeded through the canal at 9 knots, finally reaching the Mediterranean Sea that evening.  This passage was fascinating, as many large ships were in view at any one time, as well as the huge construction involved in producing a separate, parallel channel, in effect a “dual carriageway” through the desert.  On entering the Med., the ship headed for Ashdod in Israel, the port for Jerusalem.  An organised excursion to the Holy City was an absolute must and proved to be a huge success, with all the famous sites viewed and explained. These included the Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, Garden of Gethsemane, Site of the Last Supper and many more.

Overnight, the ship proceeded North to Haifa, where Ranald hired a car and set off East towards Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee.  The former was principally distinguished by massive traffic jams and an absence of obvious holy sites, whilst the Sea of Galilee, a large inland lake, was simply beautiful.   A road encircled the Sea and was positioned some distance above the water itself, so a complete circuit by car offered great views.  Next stop was Kusadasi in Turkey, where an open air evening concert was laid on adjacent to the ancient auditorium at Ephesus.  The sound and the view as the sun went down and the site became progressively illuminated, was breath-taking.

Last port of call before Athens was Mykonos , the beautiful Greek island of Shirley Valentine fame, which seems unchanged in its peacefulness and charm.  Finally, the ship docked at Piraeus, port for Athens and Ranald spent the last 2 days of his holiday reacquainting himself with the Acropolis, the Parthenon and the Panathinikos stadium, which hosted the first Olympic games of the modern era, nearly 100 years ago.

President David offered the vote of thanks, which was well supported.  This weeks’ Speakers Host is Stewart Wilson, with Visitors Host Frank Kelly.  More info. on Stirling Rotary can be found at the club’s site www.stirling.rotary1010.org.

Ranald Ross-Watt
Communications Convener