DURBAN TO CAPETOWN (DAY 1)
28 November 2006- Tuesday
Day at Sea
Weather holding up nicely with brilliant sun and the days are getting longer the further south we go (it's their summer). We are in the Mozambique Current which carries warm water from the equator south along the east coast of Africa and gives Durban a semi tropical climate. Sir Jonathan gives his swan song- Napoleon- England's Prisoner. Usual dramatic music and nice slides. It all looks very familiar to me because his talk came from a book I brought along by the same title. Oh well, repetition is a great way to learn. After his lecture met the rest of the safari bunch from Kenya for lunch- Ron and Ann are leaving in Cape Town as they took a week long safari in Tanzania (Ngorogoro crater and Serengeti) before we met them in Nairobi. Email addresses exchanged.
There's all sorts of activities going on- like Bingo, Trivia, Bridge, ping pong,etc. but I elect to get smarter by going to a global warming lecture. Announcemnet made that the computer ate her slides and her husband, the linguist, is going to talk on the English language. Turned out not to be too bad. English may be on the way to the first world language, but may get a run for the money by Chinese and Spanish. Found out that there are really 6 spoken Chinese languages but they are unified as they all are written the same way.
Tonight is the farewell dinner for about 600 of the 700 passengers aboard as they get off in Capetown- so it's suit and tie again- alot have tuxedos and dinner jackets. Main dish is prime rib and the usual baked Alaska desert. Entertainment is the Joke Boy again-(I thought he had his final set a couple of nights ago- old stuff). Then the 4 guys and gals do a program of very lively rock and roll. Followed by a parade across the stage of the cooks, bottle washers, cabin attendants, crew, etc. I think they said there were over 350 crew members on board.
The seas have picked up again and it's occasionally rocky aboard. All day we could see the coastline of Africa on the starboard side. Now we have headed west to go around the Cape of Good Hope. This is where the Indian and the South Atlantic Oceans meet and can be stormy. Captain told us early in the cruise that he has a lot of responsibility so he was turning the responsibilty for the weather over to the passengers. When asked what the weather would be like going around the Cape, all he said was "well, it won't get any better." There seem to be rollers, but no white caps so I guess we're lucky. Also no burp bags on the railings.
Halfway through the Lost episodes and this will be the latest I've stayed awake on this cruise. 11pm.
Day at Sea
Weather holding up nicely with brilliant sun and the days are getting longer the further south we go (it's their summer). We are in the Mozambique Current which carries warm water from the equator south along the east coast of Africa and gives Durban a semi tropical climate. Sir Jonathan gives his swan song- Napoleon- England's Prisoner. Usual dramatic music and nice slides. It all looks very familiar to me because his talk came from a book I brought along by the same title. Oh well, repetition is a great way to learn. After his lecture met the rest of the safari bunch from Kenya for lunch- Ron and Ann are leaving in Cape Town as they took a week long safari in Tanzania (Ngorogoro crater and Serengeti) before we met them in Nairobi. Email addresses exchanged.
There's all sorts of activities going on- like Bingo, Trivia, Bridge, ping pong,etc. but I elect to get smarter by going to a global warming lecture. Announcemnet made that the computer ate her slides and her husband, the linguist, is going to talk on the English language. Turned out not to be too bad. English may be on the way to the first world language, but may get a run for the money by Chinese and Spanish. Found out that there are really 6 spoken Chinese languages but they are unified as they all are written the same way.
Tonight is the farewell dinner for about 600 of the 700 passengers aboard as they get off in Capetown- so it's suit and tie again- alot have tuxedos and dinner jackets. Main dish is prime rib and the usual baked Alaska desert. Entertainment is the Joke Boy again-(I thought he had his final set a couple of nights ago- old stuff). Then the 4 guys and gals do a program of very lively rock and roll. Followed by a parade across the stage of the cooks, bottle washers, cabin attendants, crew, etc. I think they said there were over 350 crew members on board.
The seas have picked up again and it's occasionally rocky aboard. All day we could see the coastline of Africa on the starboard side. Now we have headed west to go around the Cape of Good Hope. This is where the Indian and the South Atlantic Oceans meet and can be stormy. Captain told us early in the cruise that he has a lot of responsibility so he was turning the responsibilty for the weather over to the passengers. When asked what the weather would be like going around the Cape, all he said was "well, it won't get any better." There seem to be rollers, but no white caps so I guess we're lucky. Also no burp bags on the railings.
Halfway through the Lost episodes and this will be the latest I've stayed awake on this cruise. 11pm.
Labels: Nairobi to Rio 2006
posted by DT at 11:34 AM
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