A day at sea is what we needed to complete our packing for our overland safari. Following a detailed list, it took longer than we thought to reduce what we actually needed to meet the 44 pound limit on the checked luggage. Of course, we could both bring that much, but one bag was just enough. With just a few last minutes things to stash, we will be ready to go early tomorrow morning.
After breakfast, we picked up our passports by 9:30am. It is easy how they are distributed now….deck by deck. So much quicker and no lines. One job done, but more to go later. After our warm and humid walk, we stopped by the officer's rooms and talked to Maja and Henk. They explained what would happen tomorrow with the immigration officials, and how the face-to-face check will operate. Since we are guests with independent overland arrangements, our group A will go first to see them on deck 3 in the dining room. We learned later that our "fancy" breakfast will have to be downstairs instead. The remainder of the tour folks will be called afterwards, ending with those who are not on tours going last. Maja reassured us that this procedure should be way better than yesterday's check in Maputo. Sounded like things got tense to say the least. We also made a stop in Shiv's office to say goodbye to the best head of housekeeping ever. He and his staff have made this trip really comfortable, as always.
Before we knew it, lunchtime had arrived. There was another brunch in the dining room at 11am, but we did not attend. Barb, Heo and Greg went, but they said the numbers of guests have been going down. We ordered room service chicken noodle soup, which we will miss for 6 days. Sharing a BBQ pulled pork sandwich was plenty. We still have a few Tim Tams left, and always end the meal with one each.
Trying to look up the shore excursions for Durban to Cape Town proved futile. The Navigator app was not working online, and the TV came up empty saying there was a problem with the program. It seems that their system has been plagued since day one, especially with the sound interruptions. Don't know if it will ever be fixed. Then later in the afternoon, we all received the pre-filled out Arrival Forms for South Africa. Upon reading the details, we discovered that both of our birthdays were totally incorrect. Thinking it just happened to us, we went down to the front desk with passports in hand, to have the dates corrected. Well, we were not alone as there was a line 10 deep already there asking the same question. We were advised to scratch out the incorrect dates, and write in the correct ones. Then we had to sign it underneath. Sure hope this works. After dinner, we had a note saying there was a "merge error" and were given instructions on how to manually write it in. How in the world did that happen? And we can bet that many of the passengers never even check the forms before they go to the procedure tomorrow.
There were only six of us at dinner as Susie was absent…..not feeling well, she stayed home. There were some usual appetizers, but some new ones as well. We had a big chuckle over the non-descriptive names some of these items are given. Such as what is bisi-risi? That came with the chicken Kiev. Turned out to be a sticky rice with peas. The cobia fish with salsa was one entrée we recognized. We did notice that a few of the chefs were making stops at some of the tables, but they never made it to our side. Maybe they can explain some of the entrée descriptions in plain language someday.
Hoping to turn in early this evening, we set the alarm clock for 5am. We need to be first in line for the officials at 7:15am.
Bill & Mary Ann
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