OUR WINTER CRUISE: DAYS 19 and 20

At Sea

Monday 19 November

The weather wasn't very nice today. When we went in the deck at the stern after breakfast it was cloudy, cold and a touch of rain about. We went into the disco lounge and spent the morning there reading and playing cards. Most other people were spending their morning under cover in the lounge and it was quite crowded. There were the usual hardy souls, the smokers, that braved the elements.

After lunch it brightened up  and the sun was actually shining. We found it still uncomfortable on deck with a cold wind blowing. We stayed inside until 4pm when we went to the theatre for the final lecture of the tour, today it was the history of South Africa. It was good but I was beginning to feel,queasy yet again. I hadn't been eating a lot lately and kept my lunches to just a small helping and an apple to follow, so it wasn't from over eating. Once the lecture was over we went down to the cabin and I lay down on the bed. 

I still didn't feel very good after an hour and decided not to bother with any dinner tonight and I just stayed in bed. Moira was busy with the packing, this being our last day. Our rucksacks had to be left outside the cabin tonight for transfer to shore as soon as we docked in the morning. Moira went for dinner, she was feeling fine but when she got back also went to bed. In the morning when we waken we should be approaching South Africa and Cape Town. The end of the cruise for us, hopefully I will feel better once my feet are on dry land again.

SOUTH AFRICA and CAPE TOWN

Tuesday 20 November 

I was still feeling a bit off even after I had my shower but we would be landed soon. We finished packing our hand luggage and headed up for breakfast making sure we had everything as that was the last we would use the cabin.

We were approaching Cape Town as we sat down to have breakfast, but it was very cloudy and misty, certainly not sunny South Africa. Table Mountain was shrouded in mist and when I popped out on deck to take some photographs it was beginning to rain. We left the buffet and went up to the disco lounge to watch the docking and wait for our time to disembark. Nearly all the crew were in the lounge, at first we thought they were getting paid but they were waiting for customs and immigration to stamp their passports.

A choral welcome to Cape Town

We were to assemble in the theatre for our time to leave. It was on the news letter as 10:30am but it ended up another hour before we proceeded to the immigration tables. Moira tried her phone to call Hertz car hire to ask them to come and pick us up but couldn't get through, a lady in the queue kindly lent her phone and Moira arranged for a pick up at 12:30pm. We imagined that it would take at least half an hour to clear immigration, customs and then find our rucksacks, so it was surprising when we found ourselves on the dock with half an hour to wait for the guy from Hertz. In the end it was nearly 45 minutes standing around,and we were at the point of giving up and taking a taxi, when he appeared. While we were waiting Moira had found an ATM and we now had a good supply of Rands.

The Hertz office was in the city centre and it would have been a fair way to walk. Also when we left the ship the rain had cleared and the sun began to shine but not for long, it was now raining quite heavily. The car we got was a Chevrolet Spark, which used to be the Daewoo Matiz, the type we travelled round Australia in and were very happy with. They supplied us with a map of Cape Town and while Moira drove I navigated. We reached our time share flat, Inverness Holiday Club, in Sea Point without any problem.

We were a day late in arriving for the flat  so they was no delay in waiting for them to complete the cleaning etc of the room which is normally the case, they just handed over the keys and we were straight in. After dumping our luggage the next job was a cup of coffee and an hour to relax. Later in the afternoon the weather had improved and we went out to do some shopping. At Pick-n-Pay we stocked up with food for the week we would be here and from a cell phone shop Moira got SIM cards for our phones and loaded data on one to use for the Internet. The prices at the supermarket were a lot higher than the last time we were in SA and on average the same as the UK, but the cost for the Internet time is very much higher, £15 for 1GB.

THe shore at Sea Point

Before dinner we went for a walk to the sea front and along a nice esplanade. The sky was now blue and the Lion's Head peak that stands behind Sea Point was crystal clear. Looking back towards the docks we couldn't see the Opera and assumed she had sailed. When we were disembarking people were arriving for the next cruise leaving that same day, a four day trip to Durban. I said to Moira that if we had known we could have just continued even with my sea sickness. We walked for about half an hour then came back along the road below the Lion's Head and Rump mountains. I was looking for a path that would lead to the top from this side but couldn't see anything.

Once back at the flat Moira got cracking with the dinner and we had a delicious chicken curry. The food on board the Opera was all right but there is nothing to beat home cooking and your favourite dishes. The only problem now was the washing up and it was back to that old routine. It had been a long day and we were both tired so it was off to bed early. The beds were comfortable and we both slept well.

The Lion's Head behind our hotel