March 25, 2023

Today’s port Takoradi, GhanaFor this port we hadn’t booked any tours. The plan was to go to town to the market with the shuttle bus which was provided. Today’s temperature was very hot and humid. Having breakfast outside on the back deck at 6:30 this morning was nearly unbearable. We got outside off the ship around 10 this AM. and as I said earlier it was hot. The line up for the small shuttle buses was very long, like a 2-3 bus wait. To our surprise the locals had set up a sizeable market on the pier outside the ship. After talking to some passengers who just returned with the shuttle from town, they informed us there was not much of a market there, because the regular area where they usually have the market was under construction. They informed us that onto the ride into town they witnessed a lot of poverty and that we were better off to shop at the market which was set up on the pier. We managed to pick up some souvenirs here. A few locals had set up a booth selling postcards and stamps and they also had a post box at the same location, what a clever business idea. They charged $5 per card, and they were doing brisk business. They had a sticker on the postbox saying same day delivery, we were wondering about that statement. After done our shopping , there was still a sizeable lineup for the buses. We thought maybe riding the shuttle in and then ride it back. Both of us didn’t like the idea to wait in line for half an hour and then climb in a sweltering mini bus. Plan B was go back on board and have a cold drink. That same afternoon we concluded our visit to Ghana with a sail away on the back deck.Tomorrow we have another port, Abidjan, Ivory coast.

Cheers

March 21, 2023

Hi All, going back to our last stop in Walvis Bay, Namibia two days ago.You guys remember the great lunch we had at the German HumPaPa place, well by midnight that same night the dreaded Norovirus got a hold of us. We were very sick for at least one day, and the end result was that we got confined to our room for 2 day’s. We already decided not to go off board this morning. We both got the green light this morning to move around the ship again. We heard that over hundred people had fallen ill because of the virus. Stringent health rules were put in place, like mandatory handwashing when entering the dining area’s and any self serve area’s were temporary suspended.Today we were anchored in Luanda the Capital of Angola. Luanda, a city of 2.6 million. We were already warned not to walk by yourself or in small groups because of the very high crime rate. The country itself is one of the richest countries, but the majority of the people are extremely poor. We heard stories from people who went on tours, that the tour buses had police escort in the front and back. High procentage of kids don’t go to school, stories of people having wages as low as $15/month.Kids in school have to pay the teacher to go to the washroom.( crazy) I don’t think we missed much going not on shore.I still post some pics I shot from the boat.

Cheers

March 18, 2023

After a St Patrick’s Day party last night and a nights cruising we arrived in our second stop in Namibia in a City called Walvis Bay. Walvis Bay is a port city of 80,000 people. Main industries
are fishing, tourism. It also has a large container port, besides importing and exporting for domestic use, it also handles goods from neighboring countries.Today’s program includes a trip to the neighbouring German town of Swapopmund. Our first stop was at the lagoon in Walvis Bay to see the pink flamingos. The lagoon was surrounded by beautiful
homes, definitely no  sign of poverty in this area of the City. Our next stop was at the sand dunes, these sand dunes line pretty well the whole coast line. On our ride up there we past through the lower income area of town with predominantly tiny two bedroom
houses. Our stop at the sand dunes was unfortunately too short to go on any 4×4 quad rides in the dunes. Our next stop was the City of Swapopmund a City of 40,000 people. The German heritage is still seen all over the City. Our first stop was a crystal gallery.
( Not my cup of tea) After this stop we drove over to the museum. By this time we so hungry and thirsty, we decided to have something to eat before we headed to the museum. We walked across the street from our bus stop where there looked like there was a small
bistro. On the patio they were busy setting up a music venue. We decided to sit inside and ordered a draught beer with a charcuterie board for lunch. Meanwhile the music had started playing in the form of an older gentleman playing the accordion and belting
out German Schlager songs, much like the October Fest in Munich. The waiters where busy supplying the customers with beers, many of them green, bearing the colors of the Irish.After having spend too much time at the bistro, there wasn’t enough time left for the museum visit. Many people in this town still speak German. Swapopmund is also a beach and holiday resort,
my guess is that a lot of German tourists come here. Things are very cheap here, a pint of drought in the restaurant was about 1,50 US. Namibia and South Africa have so far been the most affordable countries  on our trip. After checking out a few street vendors, it was time to board the bus back to Walvis Bay.  Throughout the
week the management on the ship have been organizing a fundraiser for the Bernhard Nordkamp Centre. This centre is an after school care for students. The money raised is being used for school supplies, sport equipment, uniforms and food. For this event the
students traveled for over 4 hours to come to the ship to do a concert for us on the mainstage. After the concert they received a standing ovation from the crowd. But the most important thing for the school was they received a check for $9,650 plus 41 bags
of school and other supplies  from the Captain.(well done cruisers). For tonight our friends Rocky and Joan had made a reservation in the Italian restaurant
on board. That pretty well sums up the events for another good day in a great country.

Cheers 

March 17, 2023

Happy St Patrick’s Day to all the Irish readers

Today’s town, Luderitz Namibia. Namibia a country of 2.5 million citizen. Namibia was a German colony from 1880 until 1919 when it became under South African rule.After lots of resistance in the 70’s and 80’s it became independent in 1990.English is the official language, but Afrikaans is also widely spoken.Today we’re anchored in a bay just outside Luderitz. We took the tender into port for a 9AM shore excursion to an deserted German Diamond mine. Luderitz looks like a nice town with lots of buildings from the German era. The town is very clean , no garbage lying around anywhere. The landscape is very desert like, lots of white sand with rock outcroppings. No trees or grass is seen anywhere. After an 20 min drive we arrived at the old mine site. They toured us through the old buildings were German families used to live, including an old bowling alley. We were warned to look out for snakes, but we didn’t see any. As the old mine was far enough away to hear any noise from the road , there was total silence, just the wind noise. After spending a few hours here, we returned back to town. We wandered through the town for a few more hours, stopped for a coffee and bought some stamps to be able to send the grandkids  postcards. I run into an old Man who claimed that he was one of the last German people left in town. Apparently he was here since 1939 he claimed, still carrying a copy of Der Spiegel magazine under his arm  We returned to the ship around 1ish.The rest of the afternoon we hang out laying low for some St Patrick’s festivities tonight.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” By – St.Agustine.

Cheers 

March 14, 15, 2023

Today we’re visiting Capetown in South Africa.The City started as a Dutch settlement in 1652 mainly to supply the passing ships from the Dutch East Indies Company with fresh food.Since then the City has grown to 440000 in the City and 4.7 million in the Metropolitan area.The legislative government of SA is also based here.Capetown was voted numerous times as one of the best places to visit in the world. English is the official language, but Afrikaans is widely spoken here. With my Dutch background I was able to understand and speak Afrikaans not to bad.

This morning we set off on another safari trip. The bus picked us up at 9AM for a 21/2 hours drive to the game reserve. The trip up there was spectacular, driving through high mountains and valleys covered in endless fields of vines growing grapes for the winery’s. Here and There, we’ve seen townships of tiny houses build out of galvanised roofing panels. Most of these are occupied by the poor people.The minimum wage in SA is $1.25 US/hr. with an unemployment rate of 35%. This doesn’t make for an easy life . After we arrived at the reserve, we were given a beautiful lunch with some SA wine. After lunch we climbed in the safari trucks for our drive trying to spot animals. We saw most animals we’ve seen a few days ago with the addition of the Lions, Hippos, Baboons and Ostriches. When we were about ready to head back in the bus, we got word that our bus was broken. We had to kill another hour or so before it was ready to go. While we were waiting at the resort we experienced one of those rotating power outages. They are very annoying if you try to run a business. They last a couple hours each time. After we boarded the bus , it took us several hours to get back to the ship. By now it was nearly 7:30, just enough time left to get dinner.After dinner we didn’t do much more, as we were both tired.

Capetown Day 2

For today we had arranged a half day tour to visit the Botanical gardens named Kirsten Bush , 1300 acre in size nestled against the eastern slopes of table mountain. These Gardens bear a lot of history going back to the Dutch in the 1700’s.The gardens are beautiful and you can easy spend a few days there. Our next stop was in the oldest winery in Capetown named Groot Constantia.The Winery was started by the Dutch in 1685, with the help of a group of French Hugenoten. The objective of making wine was to supply the Dutch sailers some alcohol on their voyages to the east. Our tour group only consisted out of 9 people. We sampled about 4 different wines and afterwards we had an opportunity to purchase some bottles of the wine we liked. The prices of the bottles of wine were very reasonable.After the winetasting we followed the coastline on our way back to the ship. This drive back was stunning. The coastline is rugged with hidden sandy beaches and stunning views complemented with nice real estate.After a quick lunch on the ship we took the shuttle to the inner harbour. This is another magnificent place along the harbour front it consists of hundreds of stores, eateries, cafes, brew pubs and entertainment including a large Ferris wheel which lights up at night. A development like this would be an asset to Vancouver’s False Creek. After spending 3 or 4 hours here checking everything out, we returned back to the boat. After dinner I had a few 1800 on the rocks and called’r the night.Looking back on Capetown, a fantastic City to visit. We could’ve easily spend a few more days here .

” The eye never forgets what the heart has seen.” – African Proverb.

Cheers

March 12, 2023

Hi you all,Gqeberha or previously known by the name of Port Elizabeth. It has a population of 1.2 million. The main industries are automotive, with plants of Ford, Volkswagen, Isuzu and a few Chinese manufacturers. Besides vehicles, there are also numerous vehicle parts and tires manufactured in the area.Today we are all geared up to see some animal’s. The bus picked us up around 9AM. Leaving the City, we saw a lot of industrial plants from numerous well known companies. When we got further away from the City , we got more into farm land, mainly used for livestock farming.I have to say, the roads are in pretty good shape. After driving for a couple hours, we pulled into a game farm called Sibiya. The reserve is a 16000 Hectare eco reserve which is home to all of the big 5 As they say.They welcomed us with coffee and tea.After the coffee break we climbed into the 4×4 and started driving onto the farm lands. We quickly spotted several kudu’s ( looks like a deer) for the next three hours we saw, elephant, water buffalo, wilde beast, rhino’s, Giraffe and a variety of other animals and birds.Part of our safari, was a boat ride on the river. After our Safari we gathered back in the lodge before we boarded our bus. We were all handed a lunch bag to be consumed on the ride back to the City. We arrived back at the boat just on time, they litterly pulled the walkway up as soon as we got onto the boat. Looking back on the day, it was fantastic to see all the animals in their natural environment.Tomorrow we have a sea day before we arrive in Capetown.

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls.”

Cheers

March 11, 2023

Today’s stop is East London.This is a City of 270,000 people on the East coast of South Africa. It is well known for its beautiful sandy beaches and sand dunes, also well known for world surf competitions. Today’s program is a visit to the Inkwenkwezi game reserve. Carol have been looking forward to this visit for several days now. We were standing on the back deck ready to witness the arrival in the Harbour. I was just wondering why the ship wasn’t pointing towards the harbour, when the captain’s voice came on the Intercom, letting us know that because of the small entrance into the harbour combined with large waves, it was not safe to go in and therefore decided to cancel the visit to East London. And carry on to the next port, the City of Port Elizabeth. Carol was very disappointed. It looked liked that all game reserves for tomorrow were all booked up. Luckily for us 1 additional one opened up and we booked it right away. Now we got back to our usual program, the gym for me and Carol was going to take in a movie in the theater. For tonight we booked a Indonesian dinner on board with our friends Rocky and Joan.Below I posted some pictures from the port we didn’t visit, taken from the ship approximate one mile out.

Cheers 

March 10, 2023

Howdy, when I woke up this morning,we were already docked in the port of Durban. Durban is the largest port in the African Continent. It is home to nearly 3.1 million people and is the second largest City in South Africa after Cape Town. Languages spoken are English, Zulu and Afrikaans. With an unemployment of 35%, the City is going through hard times. This definitely is an enormous port City with cranes and container ships all around.I also noticed a lot of new construction equipment and agriculture equipment sitting on the dock waiting for pick up. Apparently the ships pilot was dropped on our cruise ship overnight by Heli. This is the modern way getting pilots onto the boat, a lot safer then transferring boats in high sea. This AM we had booked a City tour with visits to inner city markets. Before we got to the market we drove through several City streets, a little bit chaotic, because they have rotating power blackouts, You got it, this means no traffic lights. Eventually,we did arrive at the market. What an enormous hustle and bustle people everywhere and literally selling everything you can imagine. The market is located under several highway overpasses to keep it protected from the rain. In my opinion a good use of space. For example inside the market somebody was selling tv’s and radio’s and he had the volume cranked up as high as it will go and all of them on different stations.(crazy)then we got to the medicine market where they were selling every herb you can imagine. There were also quite a variety of spices for sale. I thought it was quite the experience to see all that. One noticable thing was , that we didn’t have to deal with all those nasty street vendors like we encountered in Maputo. After we found our way back to the bus they drove us to something called the African Art Institute. This is a place where young Artist are trained in a variety of art skills and there work is offered for sale in an onsite store. Unfortunately my visa card didn’t work here, and they didn’t accept US dollars. I am sure we find similar art in other places. after our gallery visit, we slowly made our way back to the pier. After having a late lunch , it was to late to take the shuttle bus to town for another outing. We left the harbour around 5PM on our way to the next stop tomorrow. The heli showed up to lift the pilot of the back deck when we reached the open ocean. Tonight we also say goodbye to the rock band who are leaving us in Capetown. They had been with us since the start of the cruise and we have enjoyed their music on many nights in the Rolling Stone Lounge.

“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.” By – Isabelle Eberhardt

Cheers

March 8, 2023

This morning we arrived in Maputo and we set foot on African soil for the first time in our life’s.Maputo has a rich colonial history going back to the 17th and 18th centuries being occupied by the English and Portuguese. They also had there share of civil wars over the years. Currently they are independent and the main language is Portuguese. This morning we had a City tour of Maputo with several stops all over the City. The interesting thing is, that they drive on the left side of the road in a Portuguese speaking country.Our first stop was the historic railway station build in 1908. Soon as we got off our bus we were bombarded by local street vendors trying to sell their goods. These guys were very persistent and hard to shake off. I finally caved and bought a $5 hat.The trains in the station come in in the morning, they sit there all day and they leave at night. After the train station we boarded the bus to our next stop a vegetable, fruit and fish market. In order to get into the market, we had to shake off a bunch of street vendors again. It did help, that I had bought the hat I was wearing at the last stop. They still were trying to talk me into buying more hats for everyone in my family. In the market we bought some cashews for snacking on later. Our next stop was an old fort build by the Portuguese in the early 1800. I must say a very interesting Place. The next stop was the Mozambique museum, it was filled with all the animals you find in Africa. The Animals were all stuffed up, including a few elephants.( that’s a big job) It was quite the display. Our last stop was another market, where they were selling a lot of linens, paintings and wood handicrafts. Meanwhile the street vendors were still all over us when we left the market. On our way back from the market we made a brief stop at the Cathedral. In front of the Cathedral there was a large gathering of women in support of International Women’s day. They were closely watched by the police carrying automatic weapons. On our way back to the ship we drove by the house where Nelson Mandela used to live and also past the current residency of the President. The President’s place was guarded by a dozen or so military police all holding AK 47 guns or similar. After a chaotic drive through the crazy traffic here we got back to the ship safely. Looking back at this visit, there are a lot of poor people here and with the high unemployment, I can’t see that change in the foreseeable future. There are a lot of apartment and condo buildings in serious need of repair and maintenance. On the flipside, there seem to be a lot of vehicles on the road and they are all newer. I can’t figure that out. (corruption?)We left the harbor around 7 tonight, just when the moon showed up above Maputo.On to our next stop, Durban South Africa.

“I alone cannot change the world. But I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” By – Mother Teresa

Cheers

March 3, 2023

Good Morning, Overnight we cruised from Mauritius to Reunion Island.

Reunion Island is part of France. So going from driving left in Mauritius to driving on the right side in Reunion. Reunion has a population of 900,000. It has a live volcano standing 2632 meter tall. and there is also a massive extinct volcano. The beaches are a mix of nice white sand from the coral reefs and the black volcanic sand beaches in other places.The road network and infrastructure make you think you’re in Europe. The houses looked all very modern.

This morning we boarded a tour bus on our way to a town called Saint-Gilles. It was about a 40 min drive up the west coast from the harbour. We were scheduled to visit an aquarium. I was a little disappointed by the size of the aquarium, about a quarter in size compared to the aquarium we visited in Scottsdale a few times.We were supposed to spend one hour here and the next hour we were supposed to meet in town under the big tree. All of this was a little confusing .  After half an hour in the aquarium we set off on foot to town to our meeting place. On the way there we spotted a few nice beaches. Apparently some of the beaches were closed because of shark attacks. The only beach we noticed had a shark net installed to allow for some swimming. Despite the beach closures we still noticed some surfers out on the open ocean.There have been 27 fatal shark attacks since 2018. (scary) For that, we skipped swimming today.  We found our way to the main street in town, stopped for a coffee and checked out the bakery on the street corner. It was definitely a challenge to order anything in the stores, as English isn’t spoken here. We eventually ended up at the Big Tree to meet the bus. I thought for sure we would lose some of the older passengers, but they all showed up. 

On our way back to the pier we stopped at an old seaside cemetery outside the town of Saint-Paul. The Cemetery certainly could use a good Landscaper to cut the grass and pull some weeds. When we arrived back at the pier we all had to get off the bus and go through the passport control and back on the bus. They pulled me to the side to pad me down, not sure what they were looking for. Could it be Cheese? After we got back on the boat I had a quick nap before the 5:30 sail away gathering on the back deck.In the middle of enjoying our Pina Colada sail away cocktail for the day, the captain came on the intercom. The news was that we were going to skip the next port of Madagascar because it was not safe to land there . Apparently Cyclone Freddy decided to reappear again and was in the path of our voyage . The captain decided to alter his route further south to miss the cyclone on route to our next stop of Maputo Mozambique. The end result is that instead of 2 sea days we now have 4 sea days ahead of us.

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

By – Gustauve Flaubert.

Cheers