7/4/2016 Cape Town Day 2

As we were 5 hours late getting off the ship due to that aforementioned administrative issue, we went straight to the V&A Waterfront and enjoyed a lovely evening meal outside, returning back to our cabin quite late.

We are sad to say that our dining mates Chris and Keith leave the ship today, and we have said our goodbyes at 8 this morning, but not forever. They live close so we will meet again, I'm sure. It has been such a pleasure dining together every night so far. It will be very different without them.

Well I have to report that the weather forecast was very wrong, in a really good way.  We went out with our jackets on just after breakfast for our excursion to Robben Island, only to find the temperature rising above 30C with clear blue skies. We were taken to the Waterfornt to catch the ferry over to the island, only about 15 minutes away on not too rough seas. The excursion, once on Robben Island was really wonderful with two great guides. The first guide was on the bus on the island and it was his job to describe the history, geography, flora and fauna.  During the drive around the island we managed to see penguins, springboks, seals, tortoises and various indigenous birds. The other guide was a former prison inmate who showed us around the prison, and also gave us a bit of ANC history and an insight into life in the prison. Oh my, some people have been through such horrors just because of their race, and where and when they were born Khachik even asked him for a photo! I think his name was Xhoto.

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The second instalment of Nelson Mandela's story continued here in the prison (it was only a month ago since I visited Soweto with Lisa, and learned the first instalment), but now I have a real sense of walking in his footsteps.

Then it was time to leave the island, on a little ferry and head back to the ship.  Our afternoon was pretty restful, but once again we went by free shuttle bus to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront for our evening meal in the City Grill, and an opportunity for Khachik to try springbok and biltong.

Whoops, too late for ship's entertainment. Night all xx

6/4/2016 Cape Town, sunshine and appetite back!

Thank goodness that storm has passed! We have felt hungry and eaten heartily this morning.   Last night during the storm we tried our best to behave normally (and not give in or lie down). We went to the theatre where Vince Earl "did a turn" as a comedian and cabaret singer, reminiscent of the working men's clubs I frequented in the 1970's whilst supporting  a couple of semi-professional rock bands. It was generally tolerable, but tarnished by quite a lot of outdated and offensive terminology and jokes about "the wife". All that unfortunately and embarrassingly belonged to decades ago in places like the Embassy Club. I tried hard to cut him a bit of slack because he must be in his 70's, although I appreciate that that's a poor excuse for racism and sexism. He probably cut his teeth on THAT Bernard Manning type of stuff. Also he was rolling about the stage with the stormy weather, so that can't be easy. On the plus side he told a couple of jokes about flatulence, some doctor/patient scenarios, and ageing which still managed to make me laugh. He definitely ought not to sing Willy Nelson and Elvis though, that's an absolute.  I would suggest retirement, asap.

Today is the extra day in Cape Town, because we were unable to dock in Port Elizabeth. We sailed in to Cape Town around 10 a.m. with the skies bright blue, and a flat sea. Table Mountain looks absolutely brilliant.  Several beautiful mobile phone pictures will soon be  available. As soon as immigration is done we are shuttling to the V&A Waterfront where we will potter and wander, and enjoy a bit of rest and relaxation, possibly with the assistance of a hop on hop off bus, but nothing too taxing.  Tomorrow and Friday we are still here, and these two days were already scheduled and we have with excursions booked for Table Mountain and Robben Island.



We are located at 33 degrees south and 18 degrees east today, temperature 20C.  That feels UK-normal for late spring to early summer, and very agreeable it is too.

At 11:30 there seemed to be a bit of a delay with immigration.  I couldn't say what or why, just that the announcements suggested it would be a long delay, and from our cabin balcony we could see hundreds of people coming back onto the ship, having failed to make it through immigration at all. I think it might be a good idea to paint table mountain while we wait.

Update:By 12 midday and our tannoy announcement suggested there'd been an administrative "issue" that hadn't been handled or communicated properly between the Port Elizabeth agent, the ship and immigration here in Cape Town. Ho hum. We might not be getting off until tea time. I am very happy we took our time this morning and have just been waiting quietly away from the understandable frustration and anger.  Instead we've been able to take in the views, do the crossword and watch a dcumentary about Emperor penguins on the telly.  I will post this now, and hopefully get the pictures uploaded when we get off the ship later and access decent wi-fi. So bye until later xx