After three days at sea, we finally docked and were able to walk on land.. Africa! Heart of Zulu land! We are so far from home it just blows me away. We had huge storms in the last 20 hours or so. Our glass and mirror-like ocean turned ugly with wind, white caps, waves and rain slicing the air sideways.
I went to bed, my usual routine, and wanted the covers over my head. The ship was rocking, creeking, slamming and shaking. The walls seemed to want to burst open at the seams. We would hit a wave and the bow of the ship went up ... then the bow would crash back down and then everything would creak and rattle. Even in bed, you were not safe. We heard that the restaurant on 11 lost all its bottles, dishes, and wine. Red wine pooled on the floors up there. No dinner, just movies for me. The pilot from Richards Bay was delivered via helicopter and a sling seat to our pool deck rather then risk coming in by boat to guide us in. It was a great feeling to wake up to a safe dock after all the drama of the very scary seas.
We are in Richards Bay right now. I love South Africa. Roads were easy traveling. The dock area reminded me of the good 'ol USA and Gary, Indiana. While here we decided to participate in a water safari. Near St. Lucia is a World Heritage site where they take you on a boat and float you down the river to see wild life in their natural surroundings. We had a perfect day. It was a bit cloudy, a gentle wind, and about 80 degrees. We doused outselves with insect repellent and sunscreen. We saw tons of hippos and their babies, crocs, wild birds and monkeys. I tell ya, those monkeys are FAST. I bearly caught the little guy on film as you can see in the photo above. (top right) I really wanted the hippos to come closer to the boat so I could get a picture of one with his mouth open but that never happened. They must have just eaten and were being lazy in the cool river. We did not go into town as today is Sunday and all the stores closed at 3 PM. Instead, we did laundry and packed for our Safari tomorrow. Most people on the ship took an 11 hour safari tour to Hluhluwe. We are doing a safari overland . We will leave the ship early tomorrow. By doing an overland we will see more and do more 'safari stuff" which includes participating in evening safaris, before dawn safaris, and having sunset cocktails overlooking the expanse of Kruger National Park. This is when animals are more likely to be up and about. Saving our energy seemed like a good idea.
Tomorrow, Monday, we dock in Durban and fly to Kruger National Park. We will meet up with the ship in Cape Town. I hired a private driver for two days in Cape Town. It will be nice to get away from the cruisers and see as much of Cape Town as we can during our short stay there.
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