Since we were not scheduled to arrive to Walvis Bay, Namibia until noontime, we think many folks slept in this morning. While visiting with a couple that come early to the Pinnacle Grill like us, we learned that a lady had passed away the day before the ship arrived to Cape Town. Apparently, she had a heart attack and lived on deck five. According to her roommate, she was going to be leaving in Cape Town as it was the end of another segment. That was all our breakfast buddies knew. Very sad, but these things happen almost every Grand Voyage.
Our cute waitress, Carla, had gone home two days ago, and her replacement was a Pinnacle Grill waitress, Yulia, who we met a few years ago. She remembered us from the breakfast time in another Pinnacle Grill on another ship.
We heard that one of the shops onboard was selling nice t-shirts with the Panama Canal on them in various designs for $5 each. What a bargain. So we checked it out and purchased four of them as well as a GWV 2025 t-shirt, even getting the 15% Mariner discount. Can't beat that.
It was nice to have the morning to catch up online. We could hear the foghorn going off with the heavy fog we have encountered the closer we got to the shoreline. What is scary is when we heard other foghorns blasting near us. Going outside, we could not see a ship anywhere near us. We did begin to see buoys marking the channel with gulls flying overhead. We also spotted a large Cape fur seal near one of the buoys. When we got closer to the harbor, a string of cormorants came flying our way. In fact, there were several strings of these birds numbering in the hundreds. Not sure where they went, but we never saw them again.
There were some ship tours here today that included The Living Namib Desert for $700 for 4 ½ hours. Once again a plane must have been involved. A dolphin and seal safari was $230 for 4 hours while a desert 4x4 adventure was $630 for 4 ¾ hours. Sandwich Harbor was $600 for 4 ½ hours. Also highly priced. Finally, Swakopmund was $270 for 5 hours with a snack…no lunch.
The Captain got the ship docked starboard by 11:20am, but the local officials were not there yet. We had a mandatory customs and immigrations check, but only if you were going ashore. If you stayed on the ship, you did not need to attend. There was still no action by 12:20pm. That's when Kimberly announced for everyone to be patient, and please do not line up in the hallway outside the upper dining room. The guests would be called by deck beginning with deck one. We think the tour groups would be shuffled off in between the deck numbers. Finally the inspection began before 12:30pm beginning with deck one then followed by the early tour groups. Our group number six was called before 1:30pm and the officials were very nice as they stamped our passports. Colored stickers were added to our room keys, showing we attended this event.
The first thing we ran into was a throng of tour guides offering cheap excursions. No thanks worked just fine. We immediately headed for the gate where the trucks come and go. Unknown to us, all of the walkers were re-directed to a side fence and through a gate. This brought us closer to the lagoon, but also right into the ¼ mile long group of vendors selling their treasures. Most all of them were selling the same things like wood-carved animals, bowls, baskets, and all types of trinkets and beaded jewelry. Things we already have at home. We said we would look on our way back, which we did. And as usual, there were a handful of women half naked wanting to pose for photos for a price of course. Somehow that seemed disrespectful for us to take pictures, and for them to be half naked. And it was funny that I was approached, which I informed them I had no camera, which was not a lie. If our memory serves us correctly, these vendors come from a tribe that live in the desert, not from Walvis Bay.
We followed the coastline past the small waterfront with some seafood restaurants, a small market, and commercial buildings. Then we came out where The Raft is located which would be our lunch venue. This was the beginning of the lagoon hike along the Esplanade walkway. We were disappointed to see that the tide was up and there were no flamingoes near the shoreline at all. This was the first time that we visited here with the high tide. When the tide goes out, it leaves shallow waters for the flamingoes to forage. They will come close to the walkway and seeing them close-up was a treat. Usually they are here in the thousands, but not today. The wind had come up enough to send small waves over the sandy shoreline, an indication the tide was still rising.
It was then that one of us spotted what appeared to be a flock of flamingoes at the furthest point of the lagoon. We would have to walk all the way to the sand dunes to see if one of us was correct. We estimated this was a two-plus mile walk one way. But we had to try it, or else we would never know if the birds were there. One of us bet the white color we were seeing were the waves breaking on the sandy banks. Who was right? Time would tell…..
It's a good thing the city had put many wooden benches along this lagoon. It did help to make this hike easier. The locals walking this lagoon were quite friendly, mostly moms with their little kids and some folks walking dogs. We did make it all of the way to the sand dunes at the far point, and guess what? There was indeed a small flock of 50 or so of the greater flamingoes, the largest of the five varieties of these tall and elegant birds. They have a pale pink plumage with black flight feathers. They feed with their bills underwater and strain out the insects, shrimps, and microscopic plants. Their pink color will vary from bird to bird, depending on the substances in their food. The greater flamingoes are highly sociable and tend to feed in groups like the one we saw today. Shortly before we arrived to this point, half of the birds flew off. Then we were afraid that the rest would leave, and we had walked all this way for just scenery and exercise. So, the one of us that said the white dots in the distance were flamingoes was correct. (He usually is right.) Even though the birds were not near the bank feeding, we did manage to get some good pictures of them.
We turned back by 3pm. Did we mention that the weather was very different today with the presence of fog? The temperature was a cool 68 degrees with a crisp breeze. The sun was still intense when the fog cleared, but strong enough to give you a bad sunburn. A high number sunscreen is a must.
As we walked along the lagoon, we spotted 12-inch fish jumping here and there. Not sure what type of fish they were, we do recall seeing the Cape fur seals working these waters on past visits. Then a really strange thing happened while we were walking back on the same trail, something we have never seen before. Suddenly there were itty bitty flies all over the walkway. They became so thick, they swarmed under our feet moving ahead of us carried by the wind. No kidding….at one point they came as high as our knees, especially where the waves were washing over the trail where we were walking. We could not walk fast enough to escape this sudden horde of insects. We were in between the lagoon and a row of houses with picket fences with no place to go but forward. Lucky for us, they did not come as high as our faces, and thank goodness, they were not biting. Now the strange thing is that we saw none of these on our way to the far point. Go figure….. As we rounded the end of the lagoon on the way to the restaurant, they thinned out, but were not gone completely.
Finally, we arrived back to The Raft, a unique restaurant that is built out over the lagoon. It is connected to shore by a wood plank bridge. When we passed by this restaurant earlier, it appeared to be closed. That would have been a huge disappointment if it wasn't open, since we would not go anywhere else. There wasn't time to do much else, because all aboard was at 6:30pm. Going inside, we did find some customers there then we remembered it was 4pm, and not lunch time, but early dinner time. The nice greeter seated us at a window table for two overlooking the lagoon. Not a surprise, the outside windows had several of those tiny flies all over them. We asked her what these insects were , and she said they call them "mozzies" and they hatch out certain times of the year, then disappear.
We enjoyed our lunch of a Hawaiian pizza with Hansa draft beers. Both the pizza and the beer tasted great. We added one dessert of a warm chocolate brownie with nuts with vanilla ice cream on the side, drizzled with a fudge sauce. While we were there relaxing, we watched two kite surfers flying back and forth in the lagoon. They had on wet suits, indicating that the water was cold. One of the fellows looked new to the sport, as he kept messing up and falling. It looks like it takes a lot of strength and skill to operate the kite and the board.
Prior to ordering food, we had inquired if they took American Express cards. The answer was yes, which we knew since we have always used that card here. Well, after several attempts at running the card with the strip and the chip, it would not work. We only had the one credit card with us. So lucky for us, they took US dollars, but at a slightly lower rate to cover the fee for exchanging it at the bank. When all was said and done, our meal ended up costing us $22 USD. What a deal. Food and beverage prices in South Africa are so much more affordable than where we live. Can you imagine paying $1.65 USD for a 500cl (large) beer? One can of beer on the ship is almost $8.00 plus an 18% gratuity.
It was time to move onward as daylight was burning. We slowly passed by the local vendors, who were in the process of picking up for the day. Honestly there was nothing that caught our eye, except for the few topless ladies that dropped their blankets for us to take pictures for a price of course. If anything, we may have snapped a picture of their faces…nothing more.
Finally we arrived to the gangway by 5:30pm where we still had to be seen by the customs officials in the Rolling Stone Lounge. All aboard was 6:30pm as we said, which was the latest time to go through customs. Our passports were stamped, and we got the sticker on our room keys showing we had completed their requirements. We would not be allowed off of the ship now. We knew we had missed the performance of the Bernhard Nordkamp Centre Children's Choir at 4pm. We figured they would record this event and show it on our TV's by tomorrow. This center is a learning program for 170 kids every afternoon after school classes end. Classes range from 1st through 7th grades focusing on reading, writing, and math. It is also a safe haven with food served along with fun activities. Donations from guests and also from HAL were presented to the leader of the group today. Then when we went online, we discovered that a guest had already sent a video of this performance to Facebook, so we did see it after all.
At 6:15pm, Captain Frank came on with his daily talk. He said we had 6 days at sea to arrive to Cape Verde on April 4th. He verified that the weather would remain much the same as today with low clouds and morning fog. The winds would be light and the sea swells low at 5 feet. The high of the day might reach 72 degrees. That was fine and dandy with us.
Although we were not all that hungry for dinner, we ordered the BBQ spring rolls, a Caesar salad, and a tasty bowl of hot tomato soup. Our entrees were sweet and sour shrimp with a bed of rice. No dessert for either of us. The biggest treat had to be the clocks going back one hour. Long time friends, Ginni and Rich had joined the ship in Cape Town. Ginni came over to say hi before dinner began. Sure was nice to see they made it onboard and will be sailing back to Ft. Lauderdale.
And because the ship was still bunkering fuel, we did not leave the port until well after 10pm. The Zuiderdam slipped silently out of the harbor, and sailed northwest in the thick fog on our way towards Cape Verde. Six days at sea will be wonderful.
Bill & Mary Ann
