Cape Town, South Africa

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The ship moved last night without us noticing. Clay was up first. I didn't wake up until he got out of the shower. We weren't in any hurry today. We had 1 pm Robben Island tickets so didn't have to be anywhere before 12:30 pm. Clay was eager to get ashore though so we arrived at the V&A Waterfront about 10 am as the stores in the mall were opening. He wanted to get Rand from the first port so when he saw an ATM in the cruise terminal that was his first stop. He sent me to get information from the desks around the terminal. I learned to follow the yellow painted line through and around buildings to get to the V&A clock tower. (Actually it was better to follow the signs as the line ended outside the port.) It was probably a shorter time to walk than to take the shuttle leaving every 1/2 hour. The shuttle drops at the far distant end of the waterfront mall though and we stayed at this end. I saw a sign for Aquila Private Game Reserve by one of the desks. We'd checked with them online yesterday about an early morning game drive for the 14th (day of departure) but they wouldn't provide transportation RT Cape Town for that tour. I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained and went and asked. The young woman knew Aquila wouldn't sell it with transfers but she thought she could arrange a private car and driver. She asked us our plans today and coordinated to meet her in her office by the clock tower. We paid 3500 Rand to her agency for the private RT transfer. That's $244 USD for a 2 hour trip each way and he waits while we have a 3 hour game drive. We'll be picked up outside the cruise terminal at 5 am on the 14th and expect to be returned by 2pm for 4pm all aboard. She told us we'd pay Aquila on arrival on Thursday morning. It is 2540 Rand for the 2 of us for a boxed Continental breakfast and a 3-hour 7am departure game drive. Fingers crossed for elephants at least on what we assume will be our last game drive.

We walked part of the waterfront mall. It seems changed with more big chain stores. There was still plenty of SA souvenirs and products. Clay wanted to eat at Der Anker because they had raw oysters and food for me plus a flight of beers. I think he was disappointed in the beers. The food was good. We sat outside by the water watching the resident fur seals. We had a bonus surprise of catching the cannon fire noon on Signal Hill.

Robben Island on our own was good. We paid about $50 USD for both of us to ferry over and back and tour the island and prison. Crystal charged $189 pp for the same with a transfer to the ferry terminal as far as I could tell. We picked a good day for it. It was cool and overcast so not too hot and the seas were calm today. We never did see a clear Table Mountain so I don't know whether the cable cars ran all day or not.

Today is the last day of segment 3 of the 2019 world cruise. Tomorrow begins segment 4. So the Reflections tonight for tomorrow is both a farewell and a hello. It says the reason for the 4 day guest laundry closure is Cape Town's severe drought. We thought Serenity was producing its own fresh water supply. Who knew? Departure time in Dakar, Senegal on 3/27 has changed from 11 pm to 6 pm due to our bunkering (fueling) schedules. We are again reminded we have to be all aboard by 4pm to clear Immigration Inspection to depart Cape Town. Departure was originally scheduled at 7 pm. For the 1st time since LA, we are required to attend a mandatory muster drill on 3/14 at 5:15 pm. Finally, some mileage stats for this segment. We sailed 6137.5 nm or 7058.1 land miles since leaving Perth. It is a long way across the Indian Ocean.

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