Sunday, 30 April 2017
Mindelo, Cape Verde
The last seven days have been spent at sea but at least it has been mostly hot and sunny (sometimes too hot!). We've had mainly calm seas but haven't seen much sea life other than one pod of dolphins.
There is always a variety of entertainment on board so you can generally find something to keep you occupied. We've also had a crew sports day, another Crossing the Line ceremony and the crew talent show. Not all of the insight talks are worth seeing but those by Malcolm Nelson on customs and drug smuggling were both interesting and amusing so the theatre was pretty packed each time.
We've met up with a number of fellow guests on different occasions for drinks including a lovely couple, Mandy & Guil who embarked at Cape Town. Mandy is the cousin of Julie who with husband Tony were our dining companions on a previous sector and we had arranged to get together. Really good company.
Whilst we were in Japan there was a variety of Japanese food on the menu and since leaving Cape Town we have tried local food from there including King Clip, Springbok and Warthog!
On a much sadder note we received news of the death of a good friend. RIP Roland.
Mindelo, St Vincent, Cape Verde
Mindelo is a port city on the island of St Vincent in Cape Verde. The city is home to 93% of the entire island's population. A settlement in Mindelo was founded in 1795 by the Portuguese which is evident in the architecture and colour of their buildings.
There isn't a lot to see here but we really needed to reach terra firma somewhere after seven days at sea. Not all countries on the west coast of Africa would be very appealing and the ship's review of Mindelo was hardly inspiring so a lot of guests just stayed onboard. It is quite picturesque though with one white sand beach and clear blue sea but sadly no facilities.
We took the shuttle bus into the town but arriving on a Sunday meant the majority of shops were closed. We had a walk around and found a bar/restaurant, the Nautilus, that became quite popular with the ship's passengers and crew. Probably because it had free wifi and cheap drinks! It was quite warm in the sun but became breezy and cooler in the afternoon.
We now have two days at sea before our arrival in Tenerife.
There is always a variety of entertainment on board so you can generally find something to keep you occupied. We've also had a crew sports day, another Crossing the Line ceremony and the crew talent show. Not all of the insight talks are worth seeing but those by Malcolm Nelson on customs and drug smuggling were both interesting and amusing so the theatre was pretty packed each time.
We've met up with a number of fellow guests on different occasions for drinks including a lovely couple, Mandy & Guil who embarked at Cape Town. Mandy is the cousin of Julie who with husband Tony were our dining companions on a previous sector and we had arranged to get together. Really good company.
Whilst we were in Japan there was a variety of Japanese food on the menu and since leaving Cape Town we have tried local food from there including King Clip, Springbok and Warthog!
On a much sadder note we received news of the death of a good friend. RIP Roland.
Mindelo, St Vincent, Cape Verde
Mindelo is a port city on the island of St Vincent in Cape Verde. The city is home to 93% of the entire island's population. A settlement in Mindelo was founded in 1795 by the Portuguese which is evident in the architecture and colour of their buildings.
There isn't a lot to see here but we really needed to reach terra firma somewhere after seven days at sea. Not all countries on the west coast of Africa would be very appealing and the ship's review of Mindelo was hardly inspiring so a lot of guests just stayed onboard. It is quite picturesque though with one white sand beach and clear blue sea but sadly no facilities.
We took the shuttle bus into the town but arriving on a Sunday meant the majority of shops were closed. We had a walk around and found a bar/restaurant, the Nautilus, that became quite popular with the ship's passengers and crew. Probably because it had free wifi and cheap drinks! It was quite warm in the sun but became breezy and cooler in the afternoon.
We now have two days at sea before our arrival in Tenerife.
Monday, 24 April 2017
Sunday, 23 April 2017
Walvis Bay, Namibia
Namibia is one of the largest countries in sub-Saharan Africa and also one of the least populated. It is roughly four times the size of the UK with a population of 1.6 million.
Walvis Bay is situated at a wide lagoon halfway down the coast of Namibia. It came into existence because it is the only sheltered, deep water port on an otherwise dangerous coast. The aptly named Skeleton Coast is littered with shipwrecks. The Namib Desert along the coast is possibly the oldest desert in the world with the Kalahari Desert in the eastern part of the country.
A hot sunny day greeted us here. Didn't fancy any of the trips so just caught the shuttle bus along to the waterfront. There is nothing much to see beyond the Bay apart from desert and the many jellyfish in the sea. There were a few shops and restaurants so we had a walk around before stopping at a little restaurant overlooking the sea. We had a couple of drinks and were given free wine. For some reason both South Africa and Namibia are very free with their wines but we're not complaining! The staff were really hospitable and we were joined by another two couples from the ship and had quite a fun time.
We now have seven days at sea until we reach Cape Verde.
Walvis Bay is situated at a wide lagoon halfway down the coast of Namibia. It came into existence because it is the only sheltered, deep water port on an otherwise dangerous coast. The aptly named Skeleton Coast is littered with shipwrecks. The Namib Desert along the coast is possibly the oldest desert in the world with the Kalahari Desert in the eastern part of the country.
A hot sunny day greeted us here. Didn't fancy any of the trips so just caught the shuttle bus along to the waterfront. There is nothing much to see beyond the Bay apart from desert and the many jellyfish in the sea. There were a few shops and restaurants so we had a walk around before stopping at a little restaurant overlooking the sea. We had a couple of drinks and were given free wine. For some reason both South Africa and Namibia are very free with their wines but we're not complaining! The staff were really hospitable and we were joined by another two couples from the ship and had quite a fun time.
We now have seven days at sea until we reach Cape Verde.
Saturday, 22 April 2017
Robben Island
Robben Island is situated in Table Bay 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town. The name is Dutch for "seal island." Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide. It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient erosion event.
After a failed uprising at Grahamstown in 1819, the fifth of the Xhosa Wars, the British colonial government sentenced African leader Makanda Nxele to life imprisonment on the island. He drowned on the shores of Table Bay after escaping the prison.
The island was also used as a leper colony and animal quarantine station. Starting in 1845 lepers from the Hemel-en-Aarde (heaven and earth) leper colony were moved to Robben Island on a voluntary basis and the lepers were free to leave the island if they so wished. After the introduction of the Leprosy Repression Act in May 1892 admission was no longer voluntary and the movement of the lepers was restricted. Prior to 1892 an average of about 25 lepers a year were admitted to Robben Island, but in 1892 that number rose to 338 and in 1893 a further 250 were admitted.
During the Second World War the island was fortified and guns were installed as part of the defences for Cape Town.
From 1961, Robben Island was used by the South African government as a prison for political prisoners and convicted criminals. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid.
With the end of apartheid the island was declared a living museum and in 1999 was declared a World Heritage Site.
The Robben Island ferry starts from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront And takes about 35 minutes to reach the island. Many of the guides are former prisoners. The guide for our tour was a former political prisoner who was confined there for four years in the late 1980's. He showed us around the prison and the cell where Nelson Mandela was kept in solitary confinement. He told of the torture he suffered at the hands of the guards although this cannot be corroborated.
We spoke to one of Nelson Mandela's guards, Christo Brand, who later became a good friend of Mandela.
When Nelson Mandela, as President, returned to visit Robben Island all dignitaries and ex inmates collected a stone and placed them in a pile which is still there today as a memorial.
After a failed uprising at Grahamstown in 1819, the fifth of the Xhosa Wars, the British colonial government sentenced African leader Makanda Nxele to life imprisonment on the island. He drowned on the shores of Table Bay after escaping the prison.
The island was also used as a leper colony and animal quarantine station. Starting in 1845 lepers from the Hemel-en-Aarde (heaven and earth) leper colony were moved to Robben Island on a voluntary basis and the lepers were free to leave the island if they so wished. After the introduction of the Leprosy Repression Act in May 1892 admission was no longer voluntary and the movement of the lepers was restricted. Prior to 1892 an average of about 25 lepers a year were admitted to Robben Island, but in 1892 that number rose to 338 and in 1893 a further 250 were admitted.
During the Second World War the island was fortified and guns were installed as part of the defences for Cape Town.
From 1961, Robben Island was used by the South African government as a prison for political prisoners and convicted criminals. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid.
With the end of apartheid the island was declared a living museum and in 1999 was declared a World Heritage Site.
The Robben Island ferry starts from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront And takes about 35 minutes to reach the island. Many of the guides are former prisoners. The guide for our tour was a former political prisoner who was confined there for four years in the late 1980's. He showed us around the prison and the cell where Nelson Mandela was kept in solitary confinement. He told of the torture he suffered at the hands of the guards although this cannot be corroborated.
We spoke to one of Nelson Mandela's guards, Christo Brand, who later became a good friend of Mandela.
When Nelson Mandela, as President, returned to visit Robben Island all dignitaries and ex inmates collected a stone and placed them in a pile which is still there today as a memorial.
Friday, 21 April 2017
Cape Town
Apologies for long blog but such a lot to cover.
Situated on the Atlantic shore of the Cape Peninsula and nestling at the foot of Table Mountain, Cape Town remains the 'Mother City' for South Africans.
The Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. Within five years their ships began to anchor in Table Bay to collect fresh water on their way to the Far East. A Dutch ship 'The Haarlem' foundered in the Bay in 1647 and the shipwrecked sailors began to grow vegetables and barter with the local Hottentots people for meat. They took back such glowing reports that the Dutch East India Company set up a permanent station in 1652. By 1795, the British had realised the strategic importance of the Cape and finally took control in 1814. The Afrikaners became increasingly dissatisfied with the British and by the time diamonds and gold were discovered around Kimberley in the 1870's a bitter feud had led to the Boer War.
The 20th century has witnessed many turbulent times in Cape Town. The stigma of Apartheid was finally laid to rest and Nelson Mandela became the country's first black president after spending 27 years in prison, much of that time on Robben Island.
Afrikaans is the most widely spoken language in Cape Town followed by Xhosa and English.
The National Park has 2,200 different kinds of plants which is more than found in New Zealand and the UK
An early start today as we have a long tour of the Cape. This was our itinerary:
Chapman's Peak. A mountain on the western side of the Cape Peninsula opposite Hout Bay. The western flank of the mountain falls sharply for hundreds of metres into the Atlantic Ocean. The drive is on a spectacular road, known as Chapman's Peak Drive, which hugs the near-vertical face of the mountain from Hout Bay to Noordhoek. It was hacked out of the face of the mountain between 1915 and 1922, and at that time was regarded as a major feat of engineering. Chapman's Peak Drive was closed in the 1990s, after a rockfall caused a death and subsequent lawsuit. It subsequently reopened after being re-engineered to protect motorists from falling rocks. The road was again closed for a number of months in 2008 "as a result of risk areas identified on the mountain above the road", but has since been reopened indefinitely.
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula. It was thought that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, based on the belief that the Cape was the dividing point between that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the southernmost point of Africa is the Cape of Agaulhas about 90 miles away. The currents of the two oceans meet at the point where the warm-water meets the cold water and turns back on itself at a point about 0.75 miles east of the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve has a wealth of indigenous flora and fauna.
Cape Point is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula which is a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres. A funicular railway takeos you up to the peak for spectacular views.
We had lunch here at the Two Oceans Restaurant.
Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, some over 540 million years old, from which the name originated. It is located near Simon's Town and has a colony of African penguins which settled there in 1982. From just two breeding pairs the penguin colony has grown to about 3,000 birds in recent years.
Groot Constantia is the oldest wine estate in South Africa and provincial heritage site in the suburb of Constantia. In 1969 the manor house became part of the South African Cultural History Museum, and in 1993 the estate passed into the ownership of the Groot Constantia Trust. We had a wine tasting here. Two whites and three reds. Our verdict (we were in agreement here)
Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon - nope!
Sauvignon Blanc - an easy drinking white
Pinotage - extremely tasty
Shiraz - not keen
Gouverneurs Reserve - very palatable and the most expensive
We were going to purchase a few bottles but not sure if we would get them home safely!
Table Mountain
The main feature of Table Mountain is the level plateau approximately 2 miles from side to side, edged by impressive cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devil's Peak to the east and by Lion's Head to the west, forms a dramatic backdrop to Cape Town.
It is 1,086 metres above sea level, and about 19 metres higher than the cable station at the western end of the plateau.
The flat top of the mountain is often covered by orographic clouds, formed when a south-easterly wind is directed up the mountain's slopes into colder air, where the moisture condenses to form the so-called "table cloth" of cloud. Legend attributes this phenomenon to a smoking contest between the Devil and a local pirate called Van Hunks.
We were very lucky to have such a clear day.
The Table Mountain Cableway takes passengers from the lower cable station on Tafelberg Road, about 302 m above sea level, to the plateau at the top of the mountain, at 1067 m.
Construction of the cableway was first started in 1926, and the cableway was officially opened in 1929. In 1997, the cableway was extensively upgraded, and new cars were introduced carrying 65 instead of 25 passengers. The new cars give a faster journey to the summit, and rotate through 360 degrees during the ascent or descent, giving a panoramic view over the city.
We had a fantastic day with so much to see and such beautiful weather. There were magnificent views of everything but my photography in bright sunshine leaves a lot to be desired! It was just a shame that we couldn't have spent more time at each place to really appreciate and capture the scenery.
We arrived back just after 6.30pm and the coach to take us for dinner was leaving at 7.15pm so it was all a bit of a rush to get ready.
Our World voyage gala dinner was held in the evening at The Market Hall, Grand West, a huge casino and entertainment complex. A local choir entertained us before dinner and we had a band to dance to afterwards. We were sitting with friends so had good company and a very enjoyable evening.
Tuesday, 18 April 2017
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