Well, today’s the day. We’re sitting in our room, all of our earthly possessions have been taken away, and we’re waiting for our group to be called to leave the ship. Any of you who have cruised before know the feeling, but for those of you who haven’t cruised, it’s a little like being thrown out into the cold, from your home. Not a good feeling!
We were up very early yesterday morning for our arrival into Cape Town harbor. Unfortunately, when we looked outside, the skies were cloudy, it was very windy, and the rain was coming down. Table Mountain was totally obscured by a foggy mist, and the shoreline was barely visible. We were about an hour late in docking due to winds approaching 45 Knots. The harbor in Cape Town has a very narrow inlet, and not a lot of room to maneuver once inside. We had three tugs, pushing and pulling to keep the wind from blowing us across the harbor. A very interesting docking.
Once docked, we quickly debarked for our scheduled 11:00 departure to Robben Island. It’s a short walk through the beautiful Victoria and Albert (V&A) Waterfront from the ship to the pier from which the boat to Robben Island leaves. However, by the time we got there, soaked by the rain, we found that all tours to the island had been canceled for the day due to the inclement weather. We’re hoping to reschedule for tomorrow or Sunday, but the forecast is not too promising.
We spent most of the day touring the V&A, stopping for lunch at Mitchell’s Brewery. Today after checking into our hotel, we’re meeting our friends from Switzerland, who are just starting their cruise today, at a Belgian pub called Den Anker. It will be fun to see them again.
Tomorrow we plan to do the Hop on-Hop off Bus tour around the Table Mountain area. Hopefully the weather will clear, as it did for a short while yesterday, so that we will be able to take the cable car to the top of the mountain. Tomorrow night we plan to eat at an Italian restaurant at the V&A, recommended by our friends Bill & Shirl in Boston. Assuming that we will have internet access at the hotel, we’re hoping to update the blog before we leave Cape Town. If not, we’ll try to provide an update from Dublin, assuming that the Iceland volcano calms down and we’re able to get there. More later.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi guys - yes it is a bittersweet feeling for sure...but you have lots of adventures still to come. Sounds like the weather was the same as what we had in November! We couldn't get up to Table Mtn because it was too windy, and our tour to Robben Island was canceled while we were in line to board the ferry! It looked OK to us, but I guess there is a bad current. Please give our very best virtual hugs and kisses to Alex & Lorraine. Hope you enjoy the restaurants. We'll be in Dublin in August, so looking forward to your recommendations. Miss you guys!!
ReplyDeleteShirl & Bill