Day 94, 95, Sunday, and Monday, April 8, 9, 2018 AT SEA

Today and tomorrow were sea days, Sunday ed doesn’t have thi Chi, but I had watercolor, and I didn’t go, and of coarse they had a difficult painting, giraffes!  I’m still working on them, I’m almost as behind on watercolor as I am on this blog! But we did go to Barbara’s presentation on what to do in Luanda. It was presented at two, instead of the normal time of 10, I’m not sure why, maybe to try to get the most people there, as what she had to tell us was not very encouraging. So we all came away a bit frightened. 

On day 95, it was a Galla Night, and the theme was “ Out of Africa” ala Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. And we both went to our classes and of coarse arts and crafts, to make the last necklace of this cruise. Then it was time to get gussied up for happy hour and dinner, we were ready!

Dinner was great, but not quiteAfrican. 

 

Dinner was lobster tales and Bobby and I had a good talk! 

Quotes: “ To travel is to live.” - Hans Christian Anderson 

                 “I read, I travel, I become.” - Derek Walcott 

 

(Backup) Day 93, Saturday, April 7, 2018- Walvis Bay, Namibia

We had a sea day between Cape Town and Walvis Bay, and its a good thing as most people were exhausted from there time in Cape Town, or many had been on overland to Safari excursions. 

We arrived in Walvis Bay as scheduled, and immigration was very efficient, this time, no waiting. We did have to wait until our # was called, and then we headed down to get our passport stamped and receive our immigration card, for our return process. We used to call this getting chopped in and then out, I guess that terminology is no longer used, I guess for obvious reasons.LOL We then went to join our tour group to be called for the tour. 

Walvis Bay means “whale Bay” in Afrikaans for this deep water harbor, and it was long known as a stopover for whaling vessels along the Southern Atlantic coast between Cape Town to the south and ,Whindhoek to the north. The town became part of the English Cape Colony after WWI and when Namibia gained it’s independence, remained in limbo until it was given back to Namibia by South Africa in 1994. 

We started out at the Walvis Bay Lagoon known as a birders paradise, the lagoon on the south side of the city is a stopover for thousands of migratory birds and Flamingos, are there year round. It is a very important wetlands in South Africa.  Further down the coast at Sandwich  Harbor, the dramatic dunes of the Namib desert meet the sea. Which was our next stop. 

 

The picture on the right is me collecting  sand from the dune, and there is a man on top!  Dune #7 a very important sand dune as it is the most photographed sand dune, and people climb it and surf or they call in sandboarding down it!  Not us for sure. It is a 426 foot high sand dune, but it was an amazing sight for sure. 

Then it was on to Swakopmund a charming nineteenth century village founded by the Germans which still has some of it’s colonial character, but not much. First stop was the crystal museum, it’s flame to fame is the largest crystal that they have harvested in the world. 

 

Then it was time for lunch at the Breu House and it was very good, but you don’t want to know what we ate. 

 

Zebra

Back to the ship and get ready for dinner.  And that night we saw a wonderful after dinner we saw a Great African show. 

Quote:  “There is still SO MUCH to see.”  - Anonymous 1

DY 91, Thursday, April 5, 2018 day 3 Cape Town, South Africa

Our third day in Cape Town, and it was wonderful too!  We booked a tour to Stellenbosch, and wine tasting.  This is a beautiful little town, that in many ways is like Williamsburg!  The houses dated back to 1709. It was settled by the Germans, we could have enjoyed spending the whole day here, but we didn’t have that kind of time. 

 

Note the thatched roof, and antique furnishings. 

 

Inside the church, and the dinner table is set. 

 

The Kitchen and the lady of the houses bedroom. 

So now we went on to the wine tasting. Did I tell you that our guide Winston was our guid today too?  Well he was and we were so happy to have him again. 

  

So then it was back to the ship and sail away, another party, oh my!

 !

This is before the party,,, and Kathi’s friend sent her this photo of us leaving, goodbye Cape Town, hope we come back again someday. We had an incredible 3 days. 

(Backup) Day 90, Wednesday April 4, 2018, Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town,,,, day 2, what a day! This was our day to have a bit of a Safari, and it was more than we had antisapated.  We were boarded into two buses, we were on bus #1 and our guide was a wonderful guy named Winston, who was delightful, we had him again the next day too, but I get ahead of myself. 

So we started on our long 2 1/2 hour bus ride an this was a surprise too! We were traveling through some of the most beautiful mountains, huge mountains, and the literally through one of the biggest.  The tunnel was one of the longest we have ever seen 2.4 miles long. 

 

So after the 2 1/2 hours we arrived at Amazing Aquila and we all signed in and were given a nice glass of wine. 

 

Now we walked back to the back to board our 4x4, not this little one, ours held about 20 people. 

Our guide for this part was named Memory, but he said his name in  the African clicking way, so he shortened it to Memory, as he was going to give us lots of those, and he sure did. 

 

First stop was the hippo pond but, the pictures we took don’t show them well. We needed a telephoto on our cameras, and guess who forgot to put it in the bag. 

 Then it was on to find the elephants, and we did. And we saw springboks and Elands, and Wildebeest. 

 

We were still in for surprises, next stop was find more animals, so off we went. 

  

The road is bumpy, but then we found the king and his pride. I could go on and on, but if I don’t get this out I will be home, before I finish. It suffices to say we had a wonderful day. And all and all we saw the big five and then some, went back to the lodge, had lunch, which was delicious, and road our bus back for 2  1/2 hours, back to the ship, mellow and happy, about the extraordinary day we had.