British hostages (??) freed in Iran

How stupid can you be, to sail your new boat from Dubai towards a destination you know nothing about? and that's not in the canary islands, but the (politically) turbulant region of the Persian Gulf! The British couple Linda and Paul along with Aussie Ruprt have shown an unbelievably ignorant attitude. It's funny that Paul's claims in his interview with BBC (listen to the audio part) that he had consulted a few local sailing experts and he was told that it would be fine to sail to Abu Musa island!! Now I, as an Iranian, would never even think about sailing near Abu Musa, the lesser and the greater tunbs. The islands' ownership dispute is enough for me to know that there's a military presence watching all movements in the area. Apart from that, the US navy also has a heavy presence in the region. Linda and Paul, you were lucky that you weren't evaporated by a nearby American destroyers, thinking that you were an iraqi suicide bomber in disguise. Remember the IranAir 655?

Instead of/in addtion to asking their expert sailor friends, they should have spared a few minutes searching the web. A simple search on Google brings up very informative pages about how unstable the situation is. Read a short introduction to Abu Musa in Wikipedia, and follow one of its links about the military installations there, and you'll seriously rethink the plans for your brand new boat!

Last but not least, I feel a sense of adventure seeking here! but hey, if you're after that kind of adventure, you should also be prepared for its possible consequences: "very courteous" hospitality and "five-star" hotel at the end? very lucky indeed.

P.S.: Check out the difference between two different versions of the story from BBC and Yahoo!

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