Cape Town Day 3 / Thu Mar 14

Today is our 3rd and final day in Cape Town. We took a full day private tour with Karin and Joe and had an amazing time!

We started by driving around Hout Bay which is a fishing village, then drove on the very winding Chapman's Peak road (super scenic but it's tucked in between the mountain and the water), past Camps Bay (a high end beach community near the 12 Apostles rock formations) and on to Table Mountain National Park. Once at the park, our first stop was at Boulders Beach - home to a large population of African Penguins.

Hout Bay

View of part of Hout Bay from Chapman's Peak drive

Chapman's Peak ... narrow and winding but beautiful views

If you look super close you'll see people on horseback riding along the beach

Who knew?

Penguins find a mate and they stay together for life. The one in the photo above is bringing nesting items for the female he's courting

Sitting on an egg

Next we decided to hike from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope. We were atop a ridge the whole time and it was a dramatic drop to the sea below. Photos don't do it justice.

Steps down to the beach.

All of us at the Cape of Good Hope

As we were leaving the Cape of Good Hope we saw male and female ostriches, baboons (some in heat) and a few Elands (world's largest antelope).

Female Ostrich

Male ostrich

Baboon in heat

eland

Then our driver took us to another area where a dead humpback whale had washed up. It had been there for several months so it was hard to see its shape although we did make out its jawbones.

Whale carcass - you can see its jaw bones

We had a late lunch at a cute local cafe then headed back to the ship. We were supposed to sail out at 7pm but the wind had picked up and the Cape Town harbor was closed. We eventually left around midnight when the winds usually die down.

Next stop - Namibia.

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Dakar, Senegal / Wed Mar 27

Today we docked in Dakar which is the capitol of Senegal. We took one of the ship's tours since we weren't sure what to expect safety wise. Surprisingly, the tour bus was pretty modern complete with air conditioning and our local tour guide's English was good. We spent about 4 hours going to some of the highlights of the city. We didn't always stop for photos and the windows of the bus were quite dirty so there aren't that many great photos to share. Dakar has many modern high rise buildings, well paved roads and a decent highway system yet there is so much poverty. People are set up almost everywhere selling their goods and piles of garbage are all around. On one corner we saw someone selling bed frames and in another area, selling refrigerators. There are modern cars on the road as well as horses, wagons and goats. You can see how developed the road system is in the city... We saw a number of small, colorful buses on the roads. T

Busselton / Tue Feb 19

We tendered in Busselton, Australia today. Busselton is best known for the the Busselton Jetty which was built in 1865. It's more than a mile long and is the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. At the end of the jetty is an underwater observatory. You can get to it by walking the length of the jetty or by taking the Jetty Train which looks like a Victorian locomotive but is powered by solar panels. We spent the day in Busselton with two other couples. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours then walked into town to explore. We met Walter who was quite the character. After that we had a snack at a local restaurant then took the train to the end of the jetty and toured the underwater observatory before walking back to the tender. Fun day!

Parting Thoughts and More ...

It didn’t take too long to re-enter our normal lives. Although I did miss having our linens changed daily, Larry was delighted to get back home so he could eat dinner wearing shorts (not long pants) ... which he couldn’t do on the ship. Because I get sea (and motion) sick I used the scopalomine patch on this cruise. Usually Bonine is enough but the cruise started in rough waters (crossing to Hawaii from LA) so I decided to use the patch. It worked really, really well with no side effects so I continued using it. When it was prescribed (by two different doctors) I asked each if using it for almost 3 months would be an issue and both said 'no.' Well, I should have done more research as it turns out you can get addicted and experience withdrawal .... and I did. I wasn't able to get off it until the 3rd time I tried and even then it took about 3 weeks to be free of all symptoms. After going online to find out how to withdraw, I saw that some people have much more trouble t

Opals and Romeos

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