Namibia

Luderitz 3/17

A wonderful Saint Patrick’s day! A group of us walked around luderitz for the day. It was a very small port, but we enjoyed the German styled architecture, the dirt streets, and the good company.

We met a local on the top of a hill we had climbed and he offered to show us the best restaurant in town (there were only like 5 total restaurants in the town anyway). Everyone had some kind of seafood platter, and I got brave and had a spicy sushi roll (for anyone who knows me they will be VERY proud of me for that). Isaac (the local) talked to us about the town, and what it was like growing up here.

The dollar travels very far here, so I got an alcoholic milkshake and a spicy sushi roll for $8usd.

Once back on the ship we celebrated Saint Patrick’s day with a pub crawl they had on the ship! Featuring green drinks, games, and bar tricks from the bartenders at all four stops. It was a fun time! During one of the games there were 5 gold coins and shamrocks hidden throughout the room and whoever found them received a free bottle of champagne. Shauna and I each found one!!!

There was a volunteer game at the last stop involving balloons. 6 people had to keep the balloons connected to each other through their bellies and backs and race to the finish line. It was girls against guys and girls won! So we got a free drink voucher out of the deal! A night of winning.

Somehow by the end of the night I acquired a green hat, a green bead bracket, and a green light up shamrock necklace… I was all decked out. And, don’t forget the green tongue from all the drinks.

3/13

Going back in time a bit, all of this is reminding me of the fair that the ship put on. Everyone collected tickets, and the person with the most tickets won a prize. Myself, along with most everyone else, gave their tickets to the young group of sisters on the ship, so they ended up winning. The surprise prize was a stuffed animal, all African animals, so it ended up working great! (Imagine if it were a bottle of wine!)

They had games like cornhole, splat the rat, and ring toss.

Spencer dressed up as a clown and that was great!

Walvis Bay 3/18

Our new found friend Andrew has been to this port before, and did a lot of research to find the perfect day! We started the morning off by doing a boat tour. Our guide Walter started the day off by pulling a jellyfish out of the water and letting us touch it… Little did I know what else was in store for us!

Not long after a seal jumped INTO the boat. We had some fish to feed him, and we were able to get pictures of, and with, him. He stayed for a good bit and it was a lot of fun. I even got to feed him! Kept my hands and everything. As soon as they see the fish, they take it, no hesitation, no matter what’s in their way.

What’s interesting is they always eat the fish head first, if it’s not head first they’ll move it around in their mouth until it is… similar to the pelican.

After we bid farewell to the seal, we were then greeted with a pelican! Unlike the seal, they don’t attack the fish right away, so we were able to get some fun pictures.

After this we stopped by an abandoned boat, that is now home to a bunch of cormorants that turned it into their own giant nest. We idled for a bit to watch them and got to see a mama feeding her babies

Next stop we went to pelican point. Which was an interesting name for a place that’s home to about 300,000 seals! We watched this seal colony for about 40 minutes. They were swimming, jumping, laying in the sand… so many of them! There were a lot of pups too!

On our way back we were treated with an adorable picnic lunch. We were served fresh oysters, which walvis bay is known for. They’re unique here because they were originally imported from another country with a warmer water climate. The water here (Atlantic) only gets to about 18 Celsius, but this cooler temperature allows for the oysters to be more meaty and, according to our guide Walter, tastier.

I don’t like seafood or anything in the realm of seafood, including shellfish. But. The ambiance of being in walvis bay, Namibia on a boat tour with a group of fun people? I had to try them. I tried one! And… not so bad! Pretty good actually. In fact, I ended up having 4 of them!

We also had 2 bottles of champagne and some other light snacks as we made our way to the second tour- sand dunes!

Our sand dune tour was incredible. We hopped in a nice Toyota and it was to the races! Pictures simply don’t do it justice. This area had over 700 kilometers of sand dunes.

We also saw “strawberry chickens” (flamingos).

When we made it back to the ship we went through immigration and received yet another stamp in our passport! Yay!

It was also Bob and Janettes 56th wedding anniversary, and the Dance Band agreed to play their song to slow dance to at the sail away party. And I promised them I’d be there to capture the moment. I got a nice video and plenty of pictures for them to remember their special day and moment.

In all, Namibia was an incredible time… but, shauna and I were quickly greeted with food poisoning on this night! We suspect it to be from the oysters. But, we found out dozens of other guests also have food poisoning. So, we were banished to isolate in our room for 24 hours. But, at least we had a beautiful view of the sunset from our cabin.

Cheers,

Tay