Mumbai April 16th

Today is our second day on the Arabian Sea after visiting Mumbai. Tomorrow we will arrive in Muscat, Oman.

After our first glimpse of India, in Chennai, we expected more of the same in Mombai. We did see a lot of the same conditions we saw in Chennai, but we took with us, a much more positive image of India after our visit to Mumbai.

We opted for a ship’s tour which took us a short distance by bus to the downtown waterfront harbor area, in front of the Gateway to India Arch, and across the street from the famous Taj Mahal Hotel. From there, we boarded a small ferry boat for a one hour ride to Elephanta Island, about 11KM off shore.

Boarding the boat was an adventure in itself, as all the various boats are tied up together, so it was necessary for us to pass through three other rocking and rolling boats before finally boarding ours. Once on board, it was a pleasant ride through the Mumbai harbor, looking back on the city skyline, and passing various ships tied up in the harbor.

Elephanta Island is the location of the Elephanta Caves, a World Heritage Monument, which were carved out of the mountain side by Hindus in the 7th Century as a homage to the Hindu God Shiva. It took thousands of workers more than two hundred years to complete the caves and the monuments inside. A very impressive sight today, even though many of the monuments inside the cave were damaged or destroyed by the conquering Portuguese soldiers who used the monuments for target practice.

Our ride back from Elephanta was highlighted by the adventure of trying to get our boat tied up to another in order for all of us to debark. Several boats arrived at the harbor at the same time, all honking horns and jockeying for position to be the first to tie up to the raft of boats already there. Unfortunately our captain was not the most aggressive, so time after time, just when we thought we’d be the next to tie up, another boat would push in front of us. Finally, after suffering the ultimate humiliation of being called “chicken” by one of his own crew members, our captain nosed his boat between two others, and was able to tie up. After traversing several boats, we finally reached shore, some 35 minutes after entering the docking fray. Very comical. All in all, a good day in Mumbai, and a much more favorable impression of India.

Last night was one of our formal nights, and we had the pleasure to be seated with three other couples, with our Captain, Stephano Ravera. We had known that we would be dining with one of the ship’s officers, but had no idea it would be the Captain. It was a really special occasion, with the Captain charming the ladies, and impressing the gentlemen by paying for the wine. A very nice evening.