Thur 19th Dec. Sea day
Thank goodness for sea days. Sleep ins. Air conditioning and other wonderful things The ship must have headed pretty well due south last night. We set out clocks back an hour before bed. Wonderful. Only problem was that we were still out near the time zone so it was daylight at ….. wait for it – 4.04am. Yay.
Richard’s Bay
Where to begin???
A very pretty sail on to Port Richard’s, South Africa past many beautiful beaches. It’s a very deep harbour so is hugely important.
When we arrived in port we slipped into a lovely berth – next to the coal loading facility. The air was filthy. Black soot landing on everything and choking the air. Lucky we all had masks.
We had a ship tour booked for 12.15. Out to St Lucia wetlands. Home of crocs and hippos. Yay.
And the added bonus was that being that it was first land fall in our final country we would be rushed through immigration to get going on our ship trip.
But alas. NCL do not seem to be able to organize anything. Anywhere. For any reason.
And next times someone complaints about royal
Making us line up through the dinning room to do immigration I shall pop.
First they did the suites Then deck 11 for the club rooms.
Then some tours. But not our tour which was the longest one they offered. They did some of the shorter tours first.
They did immigration on deck 13. We of course had to line up when our group was called. But no where to line up inside. It was outside. So the line stretched down one side of the pool deck and around. Not just in the heat and humidity. But in the coal dust.
30 minutes we stood there in heat and soot.
But I did eventually get through immigration at 1.45. Then down to the theatre to wait for all the people on our tour to clear immigration.
We were on the buses and off we went to St Lucia Wetlands. At 2pm!
A few km from the port we past the edge of a wetland with the coolest ever road sign.
“Caution. Hippos crossing.”
Many people jumped into a taxi and came to see these hippos.
Not is. We were going to see the good ones!!
But no-one rang the wetlands elope to say we were two hours late. So when we arrived we had NO BOOKING.
And many ship people had organized private tours. They jumped into a taxi or private drivers and went out and were able to book tickets. When we arrived they had sold all the tickets to the private tours. So no boat trip for us.
We sat on the dock at the wetlands for 1 hr and 55 minutes “while they sorted it out”.
But nothing to sort out. We were loaded back onto the bus for the drive home.
And to make it even better NCL sells every seat in the bus so we were all squashed in.
Back to the ship without a day out. It was now 6pm so nothing we could do. Except drink cocktails and analyze the skills or lack there of, of Norwegian Cruise Line.
Fun day in Richard’s Bay.
We did see a few things out the bus window. Thousands and thousands of acres of plantation eucalyptus.
Many villages and settlements
It was a Saturday so lots of picnics and church goers. Many street stalls
So many goats. And rubbish.
We learned a Zulu man can have as many wives as he wants. Provided he could afford the 11 cow price for her and could afford to build her her own hut.
Sunday 18th Dec. At Sea.
Another relaxing day. We played a new trivia game. My kind of trivia where you got to scream the answers out. Much fun.
And of course got to watch Argentina win the World Cup. Yay.
Mon 19th Dec. Gqeberha, South Africa.
First sylablle is a click. (Previously know as Port Elizabeth. Now the Port is called that but the town has reverted to it’s traditional name).
We were meant to dock at 7am. But in true NCL form it changed to 7.30.
But …. and of course there is a but…… we pulled into the dock at 7.45 right next to a train unloading cars. After ‘discussion’ we were sent to the proper dock. Another 30 minutes of forward and backward to the correct dock.
The crusie director made a few announcement. The first welcoming us to Mossel Bay. Pity that was the next day… or was it with this lot?
We were doing a priviate tour today. Yay no mess ups by these guys. All of our group was waiting at the designated spot at the correct time. Which happened to be perfectly handy for when we were allowed to line up.
We got out at 8.30am and walked across the industrial dock (yep) to our transfer bus that was waiting to take us to Raggy Charters. Our tour was out through Algoa Bay (know as the Bottle Nosed Dolphin capital of the world) to St Crox island, a breeding ground for African Penguins.
While we were waiting for another group to arrive we sat at the dock watching giant stingrays gliding around where the fisherpeople clean their fish. 1.2m across.
We boarded our comfortable catamaran for the most amazing four hour trip.
As we headed out of the bay past beautiful resort type places, golden beaches and golf courses we came across a mob of around 200 Bottle Nose Dolphins.
Wow. Unbelievable. Dozens at a time surfing through big waves. All around us. Amazing.
They stayed with us for about 30 minutes. We told the skipper he could go back now as nothing would beat that.
But more did happen – a few Hammerhead sharks. African Fur Seal with gigantic ears, Penguins, large jelly fish and many bird later we arrived at the islands.
The birds were great – Cape Gannet, White Breated Cormorants. Oyster Catchers.
Some of the islands were so pretty. Orange rock, green weed, guano, and black cormorants. And then St Corx island covered in cute African penguins. These guys used to be called Jackass Penguins, but they changed that. They are small but very chunky, with course heads and piggy pink eyes. So cute.
The island used to be covered with penguins, but after they started harvesting the guano they were nearly wiped out. Climate change has really hurt them. They are recovering slowly now. We spent ages watching them.
The young were growing their adult coats and looked so mangy. Soft fuzz falling off them all over. Some of the adults were malting as well. They cannot swim when this was happening and get really skinny.
As we headed back another huge mob of dolphins “mugged” us. This one was the breeding group. Lots of babies, some only a few days old.
The males were showing off and leaping. One was cheering after breeding and flew into the air with his penis hanging out.
We really had to head back but then …….we saw an elusive Brydes Whale. Very shy and solitary and rare to see. How exciting.
Back at the dock we went to a super pub and ate the best seafood. My tempura prawns were gloriuos and cost about $7AU. Beers were $2.
Wow. What a day.
Tues 20th December. Mossel Bay
Our last excursion day. Another ship tour. this one was a drive up through the stunning mountain passes.
Turns out that is what it was. A drive! We hopped into the bus and drove for more than 90 min. it was raining up in the mountains so we didn’t see much. We were meant to stop at various photos stops but I guess our totally weirs tour leader didn’t want to.
We drove through the Ostrich Capital as we were told many times but didn’t get to stop to see the ostriches.
The tour leader was a coloured lady but raised as an Africans and was quite racist.
She would talk about the indigenous people and how ”THEY were living on OUR land”.
She didn’t even have a script to talk off, she just prattled on and on about bothering relevant like her zip lining experience. Nothing about the country we were driving through apart from the fact that it was “breathtaking, the most beautiful land ever”.
When people asked questions she would say things like ”thats a good question” . No answers were forth coming.
It was weird. When people started asking if we were going to stop she told us she liked to keep things a surprise. We stopped in a small town at some wonderful old hotel build by some wonderful Africans man. ”be back in 45 minutes”.
We went to a coffee shop and were about to order order when we saw others from the bus going inside the hotel.
In there we were meant to be having food and coffee, but she forgot to tell anyone but the people at the front of the bus. Guess it was a surprise.
Then we hoped into the bus and drive back. we made it back to the ship with 3 minutes before all aboard.
So thats it for Norwegian Jade. Tomorrow is “get off my ship day”.
Back to internet that works and activities planned by us, not these clowns. Hahaha
Wed 21st Dec. Cape Town. Get off my ship day!
We were due to dock at 7am. So we arrived at 8. We were doing walk off with our own luggage so didn’t have to put it out the night before.
They do luggage differently on Norwegian. They give tag, then collect all the luggage and put it into the cages. But, and remember there is always a but with Norwegian, they didn’t sort it out by groups. So when the dock workers went to unload the cages all the groups were mixed up. They couldn’t start calling any groups until all the cages were unpacked.
Of course Norwegian got on the PA saying that the dock workers were very slow and were only moving luggage on hand carts not in the cages. And it was held up because of the tide! Liars.
We got out and walked over to the taxi area. And that was another fun thing. Semis backing up towards people. A truck with a cherry picker was lowering the basket among all the people. Funny.
But we did get a taxi and headed off to our hotel. The Taj of Cape Town. Wow. Stunning.
But no time to enjoy. It was dump the gear and head up Table Mountain. The weather was glorious. The sky was blue and clear. Not a common thing on Table Mountain – but I am two for two with perfect weather. Two visits here and great weather both times.
Amazing up there.
Then Concierge time in the hotel lounge and dinner. Yep. Cape Town is pretty good.
Thursday 22nd Dec. Cape Town.
After a lovely sleep in our giant beds in our giants rooms, Kayanne and I started the day off with a glorious Thai massage.
We lashed out and caught an Uber. $4 each way.
The 90 min massage was $50 each.
After a cocktail, because why not, we met up with the gang and headed off on our tour down to the Cape.
Private tour with a guy in a nice van.
The coast was glorious. The geology was amazing. The lower layer was rock hard granite capped with many different layers of sandstone. Chocolate. Brown etc.
The hills rise straight up out of the water and the road is carved on top of the granite.
Rock falls are a massive problem so many cliff are netted with the giant rings like mithral armour from Lord of the Rings. It’s a stretchy netting and every Wednesday the road is closed for a few hours while they clear the nets.
The beaches were bright white sand with turquoise water. Some of them had many people enjoying the beach. But no swimmers. The water is straight up from Antarctica. Freezing cold.
We then entered South West Cape National park.
Amazing landscape. Flat, wind swept and ruggard .
We saw :
Ostrich
Baboons
Eagle
Skink
Cape Fur seals.
We went to the lighthouse above the point and Raina, the fool, walked up.
Amazing though.
The drive around the bottom of the Cape was equally stunning. Giant granite boulders polished like glass by the seas.
As we drove up the western side of the Cape we did see a few people swimming. The water was protected and warmer on that side.
Boulder Beach was the next stop. And extremely pretty beach with a rich long term population.
In the 90’s a pair of African Penguins (previously Jackass due to their bray) moved into the beach. They liked is so their friends moved in and the rest is history. All the people who hated it have since moved, the others have converted their front rooms to ice cream shops etc. the whole beach area has become a Nat Park with payments, rangers, great boardwalks and all. It’s fantastic. I guess unless you live there with the thousands of visitors a day.
As for the beach, it was stunning. The actual boulders were insanely pretty. Again giant frantic blocks polished smoothie. Thousands of penguins. So good.
Some heading in from sea. Other heading out. Other were Digging burrows, Sitting on eggs, Mating, Laying eggs, Waiting for parents to return with food etc etc.
Fantastic.
Back up the coast, pass one of the prisons Mandela was in and back to the hotel. Just in time to rush into the lounge and pour ourselves a few drinks before they shut. Made it by about one minute.
Damn. Awesome day.
Fri 23rd December. Cape Town
Christmas Eves Eve.
Did a loop on the hop on hop bus. As we headed off the sea mist came in and Table Mountain and all the others disappeared under their ‘table cloth’.
“When does history begin. Is it when colonialism arrived?” was one of the first things we hard on the commentary.
At Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens I walked up to the top and did the “Boomslang” tree top walk. Named after the snake. It’s a board walk through the trees then paths underneath. Fantastic – with amazing views to Table Mountain. Once you left the board walk there were no direction so I followed gravity. Lovely gardens.
We went through one on the richest residential area, Hout Bay, also has one of the big settlements up against it. Huge houses with stables and dressage arenas and thousands of people living in shacks next door.
The wine region was extremely pretty. The oldest winery in South Africa was there.
The beach towns were amazing. Camps Bay was the super rich area – Millionaire Row. Giant houses over looking the stunning beaches.
Clifton was amazing super steep with the road cut through it. House and units with 10 levels ran down to the beach.
All the roofs were flat and car parks. A car park costs a much as a hours somewhere else. So valuable that many of the lots had a guard in a box – for maybe 10 park.
On the high side of the road the buildings towered up. Many had personal inclinations / lifts running up the cliff wall.
The trees along the coastline showed what the winds were like.
We then went and had a late lunch at the VnA Waterfront (Victoria and Albert). Then back for higher tea and off to the lounge.
Going to a new page now. Click on the safari link.
Safari