Another sea day followed our departure from East London. The sea remained rough and few passengers and crew were to be seen in the public areas of the ship. The crew even drained the pool and hot tubs to prevent water from sloshing all over the deck. I spent some time selecting pictures and writing this blog.
I attended another cooking demonstration and saw a few minutes of a lecture about the history of South Africa. The lecturer tossed off so many names and incidents that it was hard to follow his point. I gather that the Dutch, British and various native peoples all fought each other in various combinations for about 200 years with the British ultimately triumphing.
Michael and I watched the silver Wind make circles outside Cape Town harbor ten days previously. This time there was no difficulty. We arrived a bit early if anything. The port authorities in Cape Town have finally implemented the changes to where cruise ships may dock. We docked at the Duncan Dock area midway between the Victoria and Alfred Harbor and the far away dry dock area we had left from at the beginning of the cruise segment. It seemed strange to walk out of the unfamiliar dockside onto a very familiar street. Cape Town was fair and sunny with little wind.
Michael and I had not taken the cable car to the top of Table Mountain on our previous visit because it had been very windy. We thought it a good day to try again. Rather than take a taxi half way up the mountain to the lower end of the tram, we took the red city tour bus a second time. Our plan was to ride the cable car and then get off at some of the other stops the bus makes. The narrated tour did mean more to me the second time around. I took lots of picture of city sights including District 6, an empty space from which non-whites had controversially been evicted and the ground cleared toward the end of the Apartheid years. The narrator pointed out city hall where Nelson Mandela spoke calling for unity and freedom on his release from prison.
When we reached the stop for the cable car ride we found that, even though the weather was beautiful, the tram was not running. We saw the cars occasionally going up and down without passengers. They stopped for long periods. The attendants had no information on when service would resume. My guess is that there was a maintenance problem. Therefore, we stayed on the bus until the Camps Bay stop where we got out and walked along the beautiful crystal white sand beach.
We got off the sightseeing bus as it reached the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront shopping district. I bought a necklace at the craft mart. We attempted to exchange our remaining South African Rands for U.S. dollars but were rebuffed by the bank teller in the nearby bank. No exchanges without a passport! Why, I have no idea. Our passports were on board the Silver Wind safely locked in the Purser's office. It seemed like a good idea to return to the ship and watch the provisioning.
Loading the ship's stores ran late. Our departure was delayed an hour and a half as dockworkers and ship's crew loaded pallets and boxes of produce, wine, toilet paper and other items a ship needs on a long voyage. Even the ship's officers were involved in passing wine boxes hand to hand up the gangway. Finally, the fresh seafood and the last pallet of onions were stowed and we were ready to leave.
Michael and I looked at each other and grinned. We were starting another cruise!
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Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639
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