We were successful in sleeping in later this morning, but still not too late to make the dining room. At 9:30am sharp, they will close the doors, and suggest that you either go to the Lido buffet breakfast or order room service. While reading the dinner menu that is always posted near the entrance, we heard two ladies who arrived late, ask to be seated. They were gently turned away. Since we had come at 9am, our waiters had a table ready for us. Within minutes, they arrived with orange juice, coffee, and sweet rolls. We do know that the minute we finish our meal, they will be getting the tables ready for lunch, and will be off for a few hours.
It was much cooler today, but the sun was out and there was no fog or rain. What we did have were white caps and swells that made the ship continue to roll. Walking was difficult at best.
We came back to the room by 11am, and used the last of our original 1100 minute internet plan. Attempting to purchase another plan, we ran into problems when the name and password did not match. We had been told we had to start over to register, but that was not correct. With some help from Emily, the librarian, we figured it out and got going once again. We ended up working non-stop all afternoon, only stopping for a few walks before dinner.
Around the ship, not a whole lot was happening today. Did we mention that the watercolor teachers have left the ship due to illness? One of them ended up in the hospital in the Seychelles, we believe. The plan was to get better, then fly to Durban. But since they did not get better, they flew home instead. So watercolors is non-hosted now.
The new guest speaker, Dan Benedict, talked about stargazing on the Amsterdam. He discussed the possibility of seeing the stars, planets, and other celestial sights we might see during this trip. Later in the morning, a brewmaster Jorg created a special brew with local African ingredients using roosbos tea and maguni wild orange. Sounds really different. Another speaker was John Palmisano who presented a series on marine animals. So far his talks have been the best.
At dinner tonight, we discovered that most all of us had been working on photos like us. Remember the old days when we had rolls of film? There were few options as to when you developed those rolls. Usually it was when you got home. Who would have ever thought we would have the capability of taking 500 or more photos daily, then download them to a computer for instant satisfaction, or not, depending on what kind of photographer one is.
Looking forward to Walvis Bay and pizza. At least we should have plenty of time to enjoy it.
In reading the previous posts, we forgot to follow up on the story about shining a flashlight in the eyes of the animals. It's the big ones and the carnivores where you run into trouble. Joseph described it well on one of our bushwalks. He told us a true story about an unfortunate accident with a lion and a giraffe at night. The tracker was shining the light from his front seat on the road, as he always does when it gets dark. The ranger spotted a giraffe on the road in the distance, and had the tracker put the light on him. Unknown to the ranger, a lion was stalking the giraffe, who was blinded by the light. When the lion charged the giraffe, the giraffe headed straight for the light, landing on the tracker, killing him. The giraffe landed on top of the vehicle, causing more injuries. That is why you do not shine the light in their eyes.
