Back at Sea

For the next two days, we’ll be sailing northeast along the east coast of Africa. As the day progressed we crossed the Tropic of Cancer and the temperature started to drop. It was interesting that the air temperature was only 20 degrees due to a nice northerly wind, but the ocean temperature, despite its depth of over 4000 metres, was still 30 degrees. In an effort to keep the passengers occupied, the crew ran something they called Neptune’s Carnival, which apparently is a tradition on a “Crossing” cruise. The pool deck was transformed into a carnival with activities ranging from “Tie the knot” –easy if you’re a sailor or a Boy Scout; to “Break the other guy’s egg” which involved gyration of the hips with an egg suspended between the legs;

to “Sommelier Race” where people raced from Sommelier to Sommelier, each time getting their tastevin filled with water which they then had to use to fill a glass to a winning level; to “Fish Pond” where the hot tub was transformed into a fish tank;

to “Sponge Toss” where you tried to nail the General Manager on the bullseye with a wet sponge;

to “Get the Pen in the bottle” with a pen suspended behind you which you have to drop into a bottle and this isn’t easy on this moving ship;

to - and this was an easy one so I did it – “Name that Destination” and I won.

This evening there was an Oceania Club cocktail party in the lounge, that was intended as a small thank you to those having sailed with Oceania before. We know now, however, that with only 3 cruises to our credit that we are very low on the seniority list in this club.

Back on Terra Firma – Cape Verde

Those three days at sea went pretty quickly. We were kept busy with activities and also enjoyed relaxing by the pool and on our veranda. But we arrived this morning at Cape Verde that is a series of ten islands 450 km off the coast of Africa. We were actually on one of the smaller islands called Sao Vicente. These islands are very bleak and not necessarily suitable for habitation, but the Portuguese were here before Columbus found America and they didn’t relinquish control of the islands until 1975. In drought conditions like they had here in the 1950’s when they had no rain for 5 years, this place would have been like the desert regions of Africa today, with large percentages of the population dieing of starvation. Desalination plants have given this country stability and with that, irrigation to a protected valley area that is their principle farmland. The people remain very poor, but conditions are improving, especially with tourism becoming a dominant factor in the economy.

As we left our ship moored in the Porto Grand harbour, our Oceania tour began today in the main city of Sao Vicente called Mindelo. An ancient fort overlooks the town.

We visited a market with fairly limited offerings and walked about a couple of squares surrounded by unremarkable buildings.

The primary construction here is a cinder block box, often without exterior finishing and roofless on the top floor. Despite that, there is still that Portuguese coloured façade influence in the old town.

Then we drove to the top of the highest mountain in Sao Vicente, called Monte Grande.

This was an interesting drive on cobble stone one-lane roads, switch backing up the mountainside. The views at the top were quite rewarding, but Dawn was less than impressed with the drive.

On terraces near the top, they were farming corn on just about the worst farmland I have ever seen.

The drive down took us to the Praia Grande beach, which is beautiful to look at but extremely dangerous and in fact forbidden, for swimmers. We assume that danger was related to rip currents, but in fact could have more to do with maritime denizens. We didn’t actually get a definitive answer on this.

Then we drove back to Mindelo via their agricultural valley. Things certainly look more promising here, but this is a very small area.

This island of volcanic origin came across as an authentic African colony. They are just beginning to embrace tourism and they made a point of telling us not to give beggars anything, so they could be conditioned to not expect handouts. We finished the tour with a look at their useable beach and despite the fact that it is barely spring, people were in the ocean. This was a reminder that we are still in the tropics. We were told that they occasionally have bad sand storms originating from the Sahara Desert and this reminded us how closely connected they are to the African continent.

At lunch we met more Canadians, these ones from Kitchener. It’s a small world after all. It was nice to get some real walking in today, verses the track, but with two more days at sea coming up we’ll be back to the track. Hopefully today gave those not feeling too well an opportunity for recovery. The weather today was perfect, not too hot, not too cold.

En Route to Porto Grande, Cape Verde

Today we entered our third full day at sea. We actually saw one other ship. As our course is taking us more north than east, we are already 13 degrees north of the equator and it was actually a little cooler. This made not mind being in the sun so much, so we sat around the pool for a while and got a little burnt. There is no way we’re ever going to be as mahogany coloured as most people around the pool. Don’t they know that the sun is bad for you?

In the last two days, we have also lost two hours with two time changes. As a result, each day has gone a little quicker. It’s also gotten rid of those crazy early 5:30 sunrises. We went to our first teatime this afternoon. It was called a Tea Dansant and featured our twelve-piece orchestra.

You could literally eat nonstop on this ship, which is not a good thing. As with all the food on board, presentation was everything! There were greeting cakes

ice sculptures

an amazing assortment of sweets, which makes you wonder how many people on board are diabetic

and very creative bread sculptures.

As we now have longer days, we spent the remainder of this one sitting on our veranda.

We finished off the day in another of the specialty restaurants, Toscana, this one featuring Italian cuisine. I always have a difficult time figuring out how to order in Italian restaurants. Will I be able to make it through the door if I order one item from each section on the menu? Well, we ordered sensibly and dined tonight with the Walter & Carol from Windsor and Americans David & Betty.

Sailing, sailing over the ocean blue

As we continue on our north-easterly path to Cape Verde, the seas have remained relatively calm, but there are some aboard who are not doing well with the motion. Since there are no waves to speak of, it’s safe to say that those people aren’t well suited to this kind of cruise. The question is, “How do you know that before you sign up?” I guess everyone has to find their own answer to that question. Today we have laughed a lot. We went to a cooking demonstration with the chief chef who is from France and the chef of Toscana, the Italian specialty restaurant on board. The French chef is quite a character and as he prepared his ratatouille he would ask questions to the audience, with correct answers rewarded with a glass of wine.

We learned that on this cruise, the four galleys will use 1 ton of sugar, 5000 lbs of flour and 2000 dozen eggs. This is not a large ship, so I cannot imagine the storage facility required for those staples on the larger ships. At a question and answer session with the Captain we learned some more statistics, like theses facts. The ship uses 20 000 gallons of diesel fuel and 100 000 gallons of water daily. Most of this water is desalinized on board. The Captain also said that if confronted by pirates, he would first make them a good breakfast. At noon there was a wine sale – my favourite. Because this ship is becoming the Columbus 2 when we reach Barcelona and will no longer be a part of the Oceania fleet, selling more stuff on board means having to move less off.

After lunch we went to a lecture given by the magician on board on Magic for Grandparents. He was equally hilarious and we came away with some nice tricks, which I can’t tell you.

So far we have not set eyes on another vessel. It’s lonely out here, but there’s lots happening on the ship.

From Polliwog to Shellback

Last night we had dinner beside an experienced couple from Philadelphia, married 64 years. They had been on fifty cruises, twelve of which were with Oceania. Clearly we’ve got a ways to go! This morning we awoke for the first time to overcast skies. That meant we could go to the fitness centre but our track walking kept getting interrupted by showers. With all of this ocean and not another ship in sight, I think it must be autopilot time for the Captain.

We figured that once we headed out to sea that the one self-serve laundry facility on board would be taxed, so we snuck in last evening before the hordes to do a couple of washes. Good plan, since today, the laundry was crazy busy. Especially on “At Sea” days the ship is very good about offering a very of activities to keep the guests out of trouble. There are generally four to six lectures during the day, varying in content depending on where we are. We attended our first today by the Fitness Centre guy on reducing belly fat. We didn’t really learn anything new, but it’s good to hear the same message again to refocus one’s healthy endeavours. The highlight of the day was a Crossing the Equator ceremony. Harkening back to seafaring traditions, all sailors who cross the equator must be initiated into The Ancient Order of the Deep. Those who had never crossed the line before were referred to as Polliwogs and once the initiation ceremony was completed, the wogs became known as Trusty Shellbacks.

Our ceremony occurred at noon on the pool deck hosted by King Neptune and Queen Neptuna. Clearly, Neptune had a close relationship with Santa, because he was wearing the same outfit.

Each Polliwog onboard was invited to an initiation that involved kissing a fish – a fairly large, nasty looking tuna, I might add – and then be baptized with some kind of pinkish fluid.

Considering that people were prepared to subject themselves to what could be considered a minor form of humiliation, the length of the line waiting for a dousing was embarrassing. Well, we ARE at sea and people are obviously bored.

During the ceremony, we slipped across the equator, which is truly a sight to behold.

Without daylight savings time here, the days begin at 5:30 and finish at the same time. The ocean remained calm and waveless for the remainder of the day and the sun simply disappeared without a sunset. The lack of sunsets is due to the fact that the sun is so high in the sky that when it sets, it simply disappears quickly without fanfare.

Natal

As we sailed into the harbour of Natal - which means Christmas in Portuguese - this morning, we quickly discovered that there is no harbour here, but rather the River Potengi where we found ourselves to be the only cruise ship at dock.

Natal is another large Brazilian city, slightly under one million people. If we have learned nothing else on this trip, it’s that Brazilians love their beaches and I would have to say that Natal may have the best beaches yet – no sharks here. The natural coral reefs also provide a nice shelter from the Trade Winds and the pounding surf.

Today, we rode at the front of a modern bus with all seats on the second floor. The views were excellent from our vantage point, but this was not an easy vehicle to maneuver the narrow streets and I’m glad I wasn’t doing the driving.

The Trade winds I mentioned earlier do a nice job of moving the sand around, as we experienced sand covered roads and sidewalks. There are also kilometers of dunes surrounding the city.

One prominent landmark is the large suspension bridge we sailed under coming up the river. Our bus crossed it a couple of times just to allow us to appreciate the view.

One of our photo stops included some refreshing coconut water. Dawn’s kind of starting to like these things, but we’ll never find them this fresh at home.

Our last stop today was at a tourism shop set up in a former prison that still sported its bars and cell numbers. The quality of shopping was pretty good here with the dominant item for sale being lace table clothes and dresses and pottery ladies in traditional dress.

We left port at 3:00 p.m. today and headed towards Africa. The sundeck was a happening place as most guests gathered for the last look at land for the next three days. There were lots of boats along the shore of the river, some operational shrimp boats and others derelict.

With a last look at the fort protecting the entrance to the river, we sailed back under the Newton Navarro suspension bridge and out into the ocean.

Whether or not I blog for the next three days will be determined by what’s going on onboard. We are crossing the equator at noon tomorrow, so that’s noteworthy, but I think I’ll be a little light on photos.