Day 124 Southampton, England

Thursday 10th may 2108

Home Again.

Berthed in Southampton.  Total mileage from Southampton to Southampton 40,897 Nautical Miles (near enough anyway).

Early start, breakfast and away to our meeting room, disembarkation already under way, so straight off the ship, found and collected luggage and away to find the car.  Pretty much just where we left it, apparently it started first time - after four months! - only needed a quick wash to remove the seagull’s deposits and it was good to go.

Short visit for morning coffee etc. and it was away up the motorway to get home.

Days 121 to 123 at Sea

Monday 7th May to Wednesday 9th May

Monday

First of three sea days.

Cooler and cloudier today.

More packing.

Frankie Valli tribute group on in the theatre, “Walk Like a Man”, very good.

Big Quiz this evening, a new format more like regular multi-round quizzes, a successful idea.

Tuesday

Second day even cooler and overcast.  Both the weather and the mood!

Luckily day not all misery, we won the music trivia against our main rivals - very satisfying.  Our music team then went to formal afternoon tea together.

Later a bottle of wine shared with friends.  Tonight joined up for dinner with our general trivia team.

Wednesday

Third day, still overcast, very depressing. Day of lasts and goodbyes.  Redeemed our winning stamps for prizes.

Corridor filling up with cases as everyone completes their packing.  Packing being the worst job imaginable, at least we don’t have to be careful not to get stuff creased.  That’s lucky because there seems to be much more stuff now than we brought with us.

Another glass of wine with other friends.

Day 120 Funchal, Madeira

Sunday 6th May

Belonging to Portugal, Funchal, capital of Madeira, has an abundance of natural delights with a picturesque backdrop of imposing mountains and deep valleys. The island is famed for its scenic splendours, stunning cliff top waterfalls, verdant pine forests, and of course the famed Madeira wine.

Just arriving in Funchal this morning as the alarm woke us.

Today’s trip for me is a ride on a RIB to view the whales and dolphins.  Last chance to make up for the lack of wildlife on the rest of the trip!  Short ride in a mini-bus to get to the marina to board our RIB.  Soon away to meet our first pod of dolphins only just outside the harbour.  A large pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins, they were quite happy to ignore us and just swim around.  

The agreed rules don’t allow boats to stay too long with one group so we were soon off to our next sighting.  This was a scattered group of Common Dolphins, a much smaller species, only about 1.2 metre instead of the 3 metre bottle-nosed.  These are a much more playful and inquisitive species, choosing to swim to pass close to and under our boat.  

All too soon time to move on, a short stop to view a small loggerhead turtle

and then on to another pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins on the way back to the harbour.  No whales today, not really the right time of year.

Time for a coffee before catching the shuttle bus into town.  A local flower market and festival on today, Mothers Day here, lots of stalls and displays.  Time for a Gelato and to walk around the parks and gardens to enjoy the spring flowers, particularly the Jacaranda Trees, a great favourite of ours.

Back to the ship, and time to make a start on the packing, first case packed, our most hated task but small doses of pain makes it easier.

Sailaway in the late afternoon, spotted a few dolphins as we left, none very close to the ship.

Day 119 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Island

Saturday 5th May

Belonging to Spain, Tenerife is the largest of the seven the Canary Islands and is regarded as one of the most beautiful. The island has been sculpted by successive volcanic eruptions throughout its history and is surrounded by a variety of landscapes. A major feature of the island is the 3718m high Mount Teide.

Tenerife only featured a few times in history, two events of note were, in 1788 HMV Bounty under the command of Captain Bligh visited to repair his ship and to reprovision with food and 863 gallons of wine before continuing to Tahiti to collect Breadfruit after which the most famous English mutiny occurred, another was when Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked Santa Cruz on 24th July 1797 and during this action he lost his right arm.

Woke this morning just as we were sailing into the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  Weather rather cloudy and quite a lot cooler at first.

Soon warmed up and gave us clear views of the mountains.  No trip for us today so easy start and then caught the shuttle bus into town.

Not a great deal going on or to keep us there so just enjoyed a walk round.  Lots of flowering trees all around the streets and squares.

Plenty of historic buildings squeezed in between the more modern additions.  Mostly sporting scaffolding and some with extra decoration.

Just outside the port an interesting shell roof over the opera house adds something to the usual crop of containers and cranes.

Back to the ship in time for formal afternoon tea, been meaning to take part for ages and actually got there today.  Waiters all in their white uniforms and gloves, very smart.  Tea and food just the same as in the buffet except it’s served to you and the cream for  the scones is the real thing.

Enjoyed great views of the hilly country as we sailed away.

Dinner tonight in the Alternative dining room, this time Aztec, Mexican menu, delicious.

Days 111 to 118 at Sea

Friday 27th April to 4th May

First of eight days at sea, now heading north on the homeward leg, next stop Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Saturday 28th April

Day at Sea

Managed to fit in the wine tasting today, just enough time between quizzes.

Tonight Mexican theme in the Lido, favourites!

Sunday 29th April

Still heading North, fairly cloudy today, still hot though.

Crossed the Greenwich Meridian today, back in the West half of the globe again.

This evening, at last, they have managed to organise a star gazing event to take advantage of the dark skies.  All the lights on the Lido Pool deck turned off.  Such a shame it is a full moon tonight, so it’s light enough to read your newspaper even without any artificial light! 

So stars not really that good, the Third Officer gave a bit of a talk about what could be seen of the Southern Constellations, didn’t really make much of a job of it and his audience drifted off none the better for the talk.  Pity they didn’t arrange regular sessions of lights off rather than just one so near the end of the possible opportunities.

Monday 30th April

Today another Crossing the Line Ceremony as we will cross the Equator later, our fourth and last crossing on this voyage.

Everything starting to feel like it’s the last time so many things will occur, all getting much too near the end now.

Tuesday 1st May

Weather still very hot and sunny here in the tropics.  After our morning trivia we wandered into the queens room to view Queen Elizabeth Chef’s Top Hat Culinary Competition, divided in to Chefs Signature Dish, Fruit and Vegetable Masterpiece, Chefs Signature Dessert and Pastry Masterpiece, with some excellent chocolate truffles to try out!

Some of the entries

One of the prize winners

Actually managed to see some passing whales today, looked like Pilot Whales, quite a large pod.  There have been amazingly few sightings of whales and dolphins on the voyage despite us being in what should be the right spot at the right time.

Dinner this evening in the Alternative dining room, Smokehouse menu, American menu, very very good, ate much too much.

Wednesday 2nd May

Another day at sea, actually spotted a ship today, one more amazing fact we are realising just how much ocean there is where you don’t see any land, shipping or wildlife, even seabirds!  

Thursday 3rd May

Days noticeably lengthening, seems like we have been in areas where day length close to 12 hour days for months. 

Weather still good.  Time each day to enjoy the sun while it lasts in between all our other activities which seem to fill each day without any great effort.

Friday 4th May

Last sea day of this part of the voyage.  A couple more ships passing today, must be getting nearer civilisation now.  After our music trivia we had a quick look around the World Voyage Charity Country Fayre, managed to avoid buying any extra items to bring home.

 Captain Inger Klein Thorhaug at the fair

Met up to share our bottle of Pol Aker this afternoon, we won it at the silliest quiz we took part in, so our quiz team had a drop each, its got to be used up.

Here’s a list of possible afternoon activities available today from 12.00 to 6.00pm.  you may guess we didn’t join in them all:

Captains Navigational Announcement

Insights Lecture by Captain Rick Reynolds

Piano Entertainer Robin Rose

Slot Tournament

Live Music around the Lido Pool

Social Bridge, Whist and Chess

Paddle Tennis Tournament

Each day there is a movie in the Theatre - today it was ‘The Tribes of Palaos Verdes’

World Voyage Charity Country Fare

Duplicate Bridge Tournament

Guess the Melody Trivia

Social Bowls

Snowball Jackpot Bingo

Afternoon Tea with the Jewellers

Adobe Photoshop Elements: Layers

Social Needlework and Knitting

Social Deck Quoits

Queens Room Afternoon Tea

Meet the Speakers

Afternoon Trivia

Basic Portuguese Language Class

Shuffleboard Tournament

Friends of Bill W

Ballroom Dance Class: Beginners Jive

Friends of Dorothy LGBT

Jewish Sabbath Service

Harpist Lara Szabo

And then from 6:00pm to Late

Harpist Lara Szabo

Recorded Ballroom & Latin Music

Variety Showtime - Mark Shortland

Eos String Quartet

Piano Enterainer Clarolyn Maier

Recorded Ballroom & Latin Dance Music

Sequence Dancing

Wipeout Trivia

English Premier League

Live Music with Synergy

Piano Entertainer Robin Rose

Ballroom & Latin Dance Music with Live Orchestra

Battle of the Sexes

Music from the Movies

Late Night Disco

Day 110 Walvis Bay, Namibia

Thursday 27th April

In a curious blend of ocean and desert, Walvis Bay in Namibia, is the gateway to the town of Swakopmund, a German colonial town on the desert coast.  Walvis Bay is one of Africa's hidden jewels, set between the golden dunes of the Namib Desert and the cold currents of the Atlantic Ocean.

Namibia is sparsely populated, there being just 1.7 persons per square kilometre compared with 241 in the UK and 745 in Bangladesh.

In 1990 South West Africa gained independence becoming Namibia, however Walvis Bay remained under South African sovereignty until 1994.

Today berthed in Walvis Bay, Namibia.  An interesting view from the ship,  all along the coast just one big commercial port, immediately inland the town, all low rise and fairly indistinct with desert and sand-dunes behind.

Lovely sunny day, no trip today so a chance for a nice easy start.

Set off ashore to catch the shuttle bus.  Long drive through the port, then a short drive through the town.  The town appears to be made up of mostly pleasant homes and wide roads, all well spread out.

Bus drop off at the newly built Dunes Mall, right on the edge of town, a less than interesting place, just a shopping mall that could be anywhere in the world.  So a short visit, then back on the shuttle.  Assisted in a minor passenger revolt and managed to convince the driver to make an unscheduled stop at the lagoon so we could get off to view the wildlife.

A wonderful spot, much more interesting than the rest of the town, a pleasant walk along the esplanade nicely laid out with some very nice homes with views across to the sea and lagoon.

Enjoyed the Flamingos, a bit pale but some pink showing, maybe not the huge flocks we had hoped for but plenty and close in to the shore.  Also lots of White Pelicans with the bonus of Bottle-nosed Dolphins swimming in the deeper water just beyond the shallows where the birds were, all very close in.

After a while enjoying the spectacle walked back to the ship, the whole town very quiet and all felt very safe with no sign of any dodgy characters hanging around.  Longish walk but not too bad.

The docks seemed decidedly lacking in any serious security, so wandered through going past all sorts of cargo, containers and some huge blocks of white marble destined for somewhere in the world.

Enjoyed the ship for the afternoon, getting rather windy, the dunes now obscured with blown sand.  The wind delayed our departure for a couple of hours, the ship just couldn’t get away from the dock,  eventually we left and the ship then had to deal with a very narrow passage out to the sea through the sandbanks.

Day 109 at Sea

Wednesday 26th April

Weather quite pleasant but the wind a bit cool today.

Time for a break from shore visits to recharge the batteries before our next call.

Usual pursuits to fill our time.

Day 108 CapeTown (Day 2), South Africa

Tuesday 25th  April

Much better looking start today.  Lower levels of table Mountain clear and some breaks in the cloud cover with actual sun showing through.

Not too much rush to get started today, to give the weather time to improve.  With the combination of early on-board time to get through immigration process and the town being close on hand and easy to visit meant any ideas of a long trip was just not practical.

After breakfast took the shuttle to the Victoria and Alfred shops and waterfront.  First job was to take the harbour cruise around the Victoria and Alfred  Basins, lots of pleasure boats, fishing boats with a liberal helping of Fur Seals and Cormorants to entertain us.

Time for coffee and then some souvenir shopping.  Shopping area decorated with very colourful Rhinos, including one in reference to Rhino Horn poaching!

Weather really nice now, just right to just sit out and enjoy, and all the time the “tablecloth” on Table Mountain was melting away.

Oh for more time so we could get up to the cable car, still maybe next time we are here!

Time to walk back to the ship before the deadline.  Couldn’t really call this two days in the port, this one just too short.

In the late afternoon the cloud cleared completely from the mountains, just in time for the sailaway.

Sailaway a bit cool and breezy and the sea a bit choppy but good views of Robben Island.  Nelson Mandela was held here for many years, certainly didn’t look a very welcoming or comfortable place to be