FRIDAY, APR 16TH--CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

We had a great day in Cape Town. It was sunny and mid 70’s with hardly any wind. We boarded our tour bus at 8:15am for our “Cape Town and Table Mountain” 4 hour tour. We were advised that the winds were too high for the cable cars to operate up to Table Mountain so we would be going to Signal Hill instead. We had a very informative guide as we drove through Cape Town and past the new 68,000 seat stadium built for the World Cup soccer games taking place in South Africa from June 11th to July 11th. The games will be played in several other cities in South Africa in addition to just Cape Town. There has been lots of improvements and construction in preparation for these games. We continued up the coast to the east of the city. Stopping for some great views along the coast line and then continuing up Signal Hill for more views looking down on the city and our ship docked in the harbor. From here we headed back down and into the city where Allan, our guide, pointed out the important landmarks of this clean and beautiful place. Rebecca and I were very impressed with Cape Town and its people. There is over 46 million people living in South Africa’s 11 provinces (like our states). 80% is black and only 6 % is white and most of the whites live in Cape Town. SA has two other groups of people: “colored” (and they use this term), who are from black and white parents, and Indians. The Indians came from India to work as laborers. Ok, back to our tour! After seeing the downtown area we headed west on the coastal road to go to a hotel on the beach for tea, coffee, and a nice view looking back down the coast to the city. As we pulled up Allan said he had just been called and informed that the Table Mountain cable cars were operating now. Table Mountain is the most prominent landmark of Cape Town and a must do for tourists, so we did not stop at the hotel but headed for the mountain. You will see why when you see the photos I took from up there!! Table Mountain is 3100 feet high and the cable car ride is only 4 minutes long to get to the summit. WOW! What a view from up there. By the time we got off the mountain and bussed back to the ship it was 1pm, an hour later than scheduled. Unfortunately, Samantha, our safari travel agent from Cape Town, had given up waiting on us and had just left. I had invited her on the ship for lunch and a tour. I know she was disappointed and so were we. Rebecca had a Slim Fast Bar for her lunch and I ordered a BLT sandwich from room service. Dined out on balcony because it was so nice. We spent the afternoon walking in the very nice shopping mall about 100 yards from our ship. Rebecca found another necklace to buy. We sailed at 6pm and I went up on the upper deck for the sail out and to see the sunset. We have a new Captain now as Capt Dag left for his vacation. Our new Capt is Italian and we will meet him tonight as it is a formal dress night and the Captain’s Welcome Aboard cocktail party for everyone, but especially the passengers that just boarded. The night before we enjoyed dining in the Compass Rose with Toni & Brad from Florida. Last night we dined alone. We both ordered Cajun spiced grilled salmon. We have had a problem with the fish entrees here on the Voyager as they always overcook them. We ask for it grilled medium but once again it came out well done and dry. Sent it back and second order was also overcooked but somewhat better. After 3 months of dry fish I ask to speak with Paulo, the dining manger who is over all the restaurants. He is absolutely the best in the cruise business. He assured us the chef would be preparing fish the way we ordered it from now on. Don’t get me wrong, the food in all the restaurants here onboard is superb. The fish tastes wonderful but just overcooked. After dinner we were late arriving to the showroom where the ship’s singers and orchestra were doing the “Jazz Legends” show again. Love it!