Travelin' Road Show

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Tuesday May 13 - Thur May 15th ... At sea

Tuesday May 13 - Thur May 15th ... At sea

King Neptune and his court

Passengers participating

These three days at sea were as relaxing and fun as sea days can be. We read, relaxed, swam, ate to excess and generally became totally 'chilled out' .... Wonderful. Janice managed to have a wonderful massage in the spa... Love bamboo massages. One other event was the 'crossing the equator ceremony'. Apparently, a sailor who has never crossed the equator is a Polliwog, who becomes a more trusted and respected Shellback, after crossing and becoming 'initiated' which in this case involved much jello, cold spaghetti, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and any other messy stuff that could be flung at the inductees! Derek and Janice were both glad that they did not volunteer to represent the other passengers during this ceremony... Many ruined t-shirts that day!!

Off to the Buffet

Buffet lunch at sea

Beautiful day at the Panorama buffet

Happy and relaxed

Other moments of note included a small fire ... the whole ship went quiet when the alarm went off and the captain came on and said 'attention.. this is not a drill'... talk about getting the sudden and devoted attention of over 600 people. It was a 'first stage' response alarm... so basically only the crew had to panic... LOL... we all just sat quietly, each with our own thoughts of who's ides was it to go on this cruise. All was well and disaster averted... we were sideswiped again the next day with an note in our room saying that because of recent reports of pirate activity off the coast of Guinea (waters which were were to enter the next day) we were asked to participate in 'pirate drill'. Needless to say Janice has switched from watching for whales and dolphins to vigilantly scanning the horizon for pirates, imagination running wild!! Derek of course just yanks off his shirt and falls asleep in the shade, totally unconcerned of the dangers... LOL. Pirate drill by the way involves going to your room, staying away from windows and waiting for instructions!! Not in the least bit exciting. I thought it would be cool to have the crew dressed in outlandish clothes, screaming and prancing around with plastic AK47s and parrots, kidnapping passengers while limping on wooden legs... but no such luck... just a boring walk to the cabin!!! No imagination these people!!!

Monday, May 12, 2014

May 12th at sea Chefs Table

Monday May 12th - at sea - Chef's table and opera!

Chef Eric and Maitre D Carlos

Raw Ahi Tuna Salad

Pate de foi gras with Balsamic reduction

Monday is our first of four at sea days. Breakfast in the Panorama Buffet, which, for those who have experienced cruise life, will appreciate, is lavish ...... Anything your heart desires .. from fresh fruit, to every possible kind of pastry or breads, cold meats and cheese and cooked foods of endless variety. The weather is warming as we head north and today marks the first of 4 solid days at sea... not everyone's cup of tea, but we are looking forward to the forced relaxation. We got some laundry done, attended a lecture about the next port , Cotonou and another lecture about endangered wildlife from a very well prepared presenter. We'll catch her lectures as they are informative and well presented. The highlight of the day is that we had booked to attend the 'Chef's Table' for dinner. Once again we got gussied up. This is a premium, not cheap, dinner prepared especially for a dozen paying guest by the chef himself and served by the Maitre D'. What an extravagance and what an affair. Four successive Hors d'eovres served in the galley, with fabulous champagne served by chef and maitre d' we had Ahi tuna served in a martini glass, lobster tail (prepared with a reduction of Bacardi and coke), goose liver pate with a balsamic reduction , and a light pastry with Gouda and semi-dried cherry tomato.

Mini-Quiche country style

Lobster Panko

NEXT!!

The main dinner was served in the steak house and was truly a gastronomic affair... asparagus risotto with langoustine and lobster claw, raspberry sorbet with peppercorns and grey goose vodka, and then the main course... veal chop, chateaubriand and a jumbo scampi, followed by dessert of a white chocolate mousse pyramid with raspberry coulis inside and berries infused with a white liqueur... all courses served with wine pairings... decadent to the ultimate degree. We then headed to the evening show to see British Soprano, Annette Wardell. We were dubious at first, but were literally blown away by her performance... It is 2 years today since we lost our dear friend Dave, and we we both had a hard time holding back the tears when she sang Danny Boy and Time To Say goodbye... We listened to some live music at the bar and toasted with an Irish Whiskey before heading to our cabin to phone our friend Diane.

Langoustine with risotto

The menu

Strawberry/black pepper ice

Getting ready for the main course

Veal/filet/prawn trio

Pinenut caramel torte

Drambui parfait

Treats with coffee

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Sunday May 11 - Mother's Day- Walvis Bay Namibia

Sunday May 11 - Mother's Day- Walvis Bay Namibia

Boarding our craft for bay cruise

Welcome committee

After a fairly rough night, we woke to dense fog, as the captain backed the ship into its berth at Walvis Bay. This port is the major port for supplies coming into and cargo leaving many of the West African countries. The dock area is not so attractive, but as we discovered on our tour, it is surrounded by beautiful and varied landscapes.

We started our day with a room service breakfast to save time getting ready for our trip ashore.

Jelly anyone?

And we're off... foggy but fun

One of the boats.. we were on the back

Hitch-hiker... middle of nowhere!!

Can I come onboard... NO!!

We had chosen a bay cruise to see the wild life in the area, and were a little disappointed in the dense fog, thinking it would be a major let down. A quick transfer to a number of small boats, we were loaded on across narrow planks to board and off we went into the fog. I think we were all wondering what the heck we were doing there!!! We were treated to a couple of glasses of local sherry to warm us up. After about five minutes of progress into the bay, the boat's operator shut down the engines in an area where we could see a number of wild seal swimming and leaping when suddenly a huge seal leaped up onto the back of the boat (where Derek and I had chosen to sit... ) of course everyone jumped with shock as the seal made its way to the front of the boat, wetting all the seats we had just vacated ... the operator (guide) gave the seal a few fish as a treat and gave is some information about the Cape Seal, before shooing him off the boat.. she quickly wiped down the seat and told us to hang on tight as she booted the throttle, full force with a few more seal in hot pursuit trying to get on board.... hilarious and fun. We continued through the fog and soon came to appreciate the unique experience as we saw a flock of hundreds of Cape Cormorants crossing in front of us through the mist only a foot or so above the water... it was an eerie sight and sound, one that was unique and awesome. We headed further out to a 17000 sq ft platform, known as Bird Island, owned by Wilfried Groenewald a man with vision, who somehow wanted to give the seabirds a place to land and groom themselves, but who also saw the value in.... bird poop ... yes ... tons of it... methodically collected and shipped out to be used as fertilizer and in...... ugghh.... makeup... !!!!

Maybe no-one will notice me here!!

Hitch-hiker avoidance technique!!

Further on we came to a lagoon where literally thousands of seals were basking on the very sandy and beautiful shore, and hundreds in the water, putting on quite a show of aquatic gymnastics... Pelicans were also swimming by the boat. As we headed back the fog was burnt off and we stopped in the sun. Numerous appetizers on trays were brought out, the middle of the boat was converted to table, with table cloth and champagne glass holders. We enjoyed the appetizers, the champagne and especially the huge local raw oysters.... what a treat, Oysters and champagne close the shore of West Africa.

Cormorants - through the fog! - Eerie!

After returning to the ship, we decided a nap was in order, before we had to attend Namibia exit processing... our passports will be quite full of stamps after this trip!

Shower and dinner at 8 and show at 10... a comedian/magician... who was actually quite funny.

Overall a lovely Mother's Day.

Bird Island... Poop Factory!!! only picture I have.

Seal Island!

Forgotten what this was... Anyone?

Appys before fresh Oysters

Another Party-crasher on the front

Happy Mothers Day!!!!!!!!

Returning to ship

Windswept and Happy

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Fri May 9th - Sat May 10th - Sea Day and Luderitz, Namibia

May 9th - At sea
Our first real day At Sea day brought us massive swells and people waddling around as if they had downed a few too many drinks... pretty rough seas. We just lazed around and headed to watch an afternoon movie (The Book Thief)... we got all gussied up for the first formal night. Switching to the 8 o'clock dinner seating, seemed to be much better... more time to enjoy the day and then have a pre-dinner cocktail before heading to dinner... lovely meal and great wait staff (Janos and Marta)

May 10th - Luderitz, Namibia - Kolmannskuppe

Early morning- first sight of Namibian coast

Coming in to harbor

Pilot guiding us through

Our first port of call - Luderitz Namibia

Walled graveyard in desert

Like a moonscape

We woke to blue skies and a view of Luderitz, Namibia, as we backed the ship into dock. We had breakfast on our balcony. After immigration clearance which took an hour, we headed off to Kolmannskuppe... a ghost town from the diamond era.(1908- 1928) While there are still diamonds in the area, bigger finds further afield resulted in this town being deserted in the mid 1900's ... it is quite eerie to see the homes and Main Street being taken over by the desert sands. We tried to imagine such extreme wealth where all water was brought in by rail sufficient to support a town of 1,300 people complete with ice making factory, butchery and bakery. Much of the tile work and machinery came direct from Germany ...delivery 9-12 weeks! The biggest house was owned by the shop keeper!!!! Life in this pure, arid desert was certainly not easy.

We had a quick walk through the town on the way to the ship ...it is very dry and dusty, makes Arizona seem like the wetlands. On board for a light lunch and spent the afternoon updating the blog after watching the sail away.