CAPETOWN, S.A.

Calm seas and plenty of sunshine greeted us in this beautiful harbour.  The Port had just re-opened after being closed for two days because of high winds.  The only problem we had was  a bit of ship congestion and a shortage of pilots which delayed our docking and immigration clearance by about an hour.  By 2 p.m. the temperature was a steamy 37C!!  Weather conditions can change here in minutes which we were to experience a few days later as we departed .  But I will get to that.

 

The city itself is lovely and we were all impressed by its cleanliness, wide streets and architecture which is a mix of old colonial and modern new highrises.  We hired a car and driver who took us to Tabletop Mountain where the view of the ocean and city is breathtaking!  The beauty of the wine country is also quite stunning and the people are all friendly and helpful. 

 

On our second day, we were invited by Mike and Linda to join them for lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the harbour.  The temperature soared to 40.7C or 105F which made the cold white wine a necessity.  The last photo shows Catherine (Singapore), Mike & Linda (California) and of course Peter and Pru who came aboard that day. 

 

On our final day in port, we headed off to the Green Square Market and wandered around looking for some African trinkets for the grandchildren which I hope they'll like.  I also managed to finally send them some postcards.  I've been a bit lazy in that department.

 

Pru's brother, who lives in Capetown half the year, came aboard for lunch and it was very nice to meet him.  The afternoon flew by and suddenly we were reminded that sailing time was 6 p.m. so we headed off to our cabin to change for a sail away party on the pool deck.  We got there just as we were pulling away from the dock and were shocked to see that the view was completely hidden by thick, dense fog!  An amazing change in just a few minutes. The Captain told us later that ten minutes after we left, the harbour was closed again so we were quite lucky to get out. 

 

Yesterday we learned that we would be making an unscheduled stop in Port Elizabeth to pick up three containers filled with meat and fresh vegetables.  Because of the two day port closure in Capetown, they had to be re-routed so we pulled into Port Elizabeth at about 7 p.m. and left again at 10:30 p.m.  That was a rather expensive pickup but with more than $300,000.00 worth of supplies at risk, it had to be done.  No passengers were allowed to disembark and we all carried on with dinner and the usual late night partying.  Ken organized a "Greet the Meat" party and I'm sure the local dockworkers were amused by all these guys in tuxedos saluting and cheering as they unloaded the stuff.  Sujith and his crew enjoyed it!

 

Today we are in Richards Bay but just until 1:30 p.m.  It's really a drop off for many who are going on safari for a couple of days.  We will be leaving the ship in Durban tomorrow morning for our visit to the Phinda Private Game Reserve.  Check it out at www.andbeyond.com .  The accommodations look great and we are looking forward to it. 

 

I will write again after we get back and hopefully I'll have some good pictures to share.  We have been taking our malaria pills for a couple of days now and must remember to pack our bug spray.  It should be good fun.

 

We'll spend a quiet day at the pool resting up for our big adventure tomorrow morning. 

 

Keep well and keep in touch. 

 

D & K