(Well) Out of area

Some friends are taking a cruise from Barcelona to Singapore and sent me an
email with the following:

> However, this morning Rob was on our balcony around 10 am in bright
> sunshine when he called me to have a look at a bird flying past which was
> not a ‘beach bird’ (gull/tern). It then flew past quite close and slowly
> (it was going the same direction we were) and we got a very good look at
> it. It was a Barn Owl. We are currently in the middle of the Gulf of Arabia
> with no land in sight. Not sure if it had gone to sleep on a ship in port
> and woken up to find itself not where it wanted to be or what.

Any suggestions about how/why a Barn Owl came to be in that position?

Martin Butterfield
franmart.blogspot.com.au/