Richard's Bay / Thu Mar 7

Today we docked in Richard's Bay, South Africa. It's located on the southeast corner of Africa just north of Durban.

We and another couple signed up for one of the ship's tours called 'Marine Mammals Boat Cruise.' It was described as 'taking a leisurely two hour cruise off the coast of South Africa' with the possibility of seeing dolphins, sharks, whales and sea turtles.

We arrived at the harbor as planned and boarded the boat.

George and Larry

As we left the harbor to get to the coast, our boat stopped and the captain told us he had to wait for a larger ship to come in before we could go out - so we sat for about 10 min, going nowhere in a circle before heading out.

Once we started for the coast things got rocky. It was very windy and the water was rough. The boat was going at high speed, bouncing all over and everyone was getting whipped with salt water from all sides. It was pretty scary. One older gentleman was screaming and one lady was crouched on the floor trying not to get soaked. It seemed more like a ride at Disneyland than a leisurely cruise.

Larry and I and the other couple were in the front so we got hit with water from all sides and we had nothing to hang on to. The seats were soaking and we were slipping all around. Finally we got word that we were heading back to shore. That was quite the relief for everyone as none of us could imagine two more hours getting slammed with waves. Needless to say, we got a full refund.

We all got soaked!

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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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