DAY 113---SAILING IN THE MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL (DAY 2)

 

        Missed the noon position photo so here we are at 2:30pm.  It is partly cloudy and 78 degrees now.  Still feeling some ship movement due to the wind and swells.

LAST EVENING

        There are 9 out of only 12 Commodores on board the ship.  They had a photo session with them in their Commodore jackets prior to tonight's "Top Tier" cocktail party.  As you may remember Commodore status is for those with over 2,000 nights on Regent's ships.  The 3 female production cast singer then performed for us.

                                                                            Claudia

                                                                           Grabriella

                                                                             Paige

                                                                       Paige again

                                                                    My usual merlot.

                                                               Crab cake is always good.

        Yes, I put our lemon pepper on Rebecca's filet and my ribeye before the chef cooked them.  Again perfectly cooked, medium rare.  Onion ring, baked potato, and creamed spinach.

                                 Liked this red velvet cheese cake last time so had it again.

TODAY

        I hit the treadmill early at 8:10 this morning.  Rebecca jumped on the one I was on as I got off.  After showering I went down to Reception to make sure they had the list of those going with us on our safari.  Had to make sure the ship knows we all will be off from May 2nd to May 5th so they are not looking for us when the ship sails out of Richards Bay.  

        I then had a chat with Odul, the Executive Concierge, to ask about what we should expect upon arrival in Richards Bay.  The ship is to be docked by 9:30 on 2nd but she said South African immigration will be coming on board to do a face-to-face clearance procedure.  Odul said there are approximately 60 people, including us, who will be departing the ship for various safaris and this group will be processed first.  She said not to expect to be off the ship for 45 minutes to an hour after docking.

        It is Sunday here and they are having a Sunday brunch from 10am to 1pm in Compass Rose.  I went down just before 10 to take some photos of it.  It looked really good but we will probably go up to La Veranda for lunch.  Too much tempting food at the buffet.

                               Ice carving of an "R" but I was on the wrong side.  OOPS!

                              Love the carving of an elephant since we will be in Africa soon.

                                                          Carving station for baked ham

                                         Head sommelier, Budi, is photo bombing this photo.

                                                                     Eggs benedict

SAFARI INFO

        Since today is a sea day I thought I would give you a heads up and some info about the safari we will be going on when we arrive in Richards Bay, South Africa, in two days on May 2nd.  We used a travel agency in Cape Town, Rhino Africa Agency, as we did in 2010 to book this safari.  This time I selected the "andBeyond Phinda Rock Lodge" for our safari experience mainly because it only has 6 suites and looks to be very unique.  I have filled the lodge with all friends--8 of us coming off the ship and 2 flying in from Dallas to meet us at the lodge.  Jane & Melissa have been in Cape Town for a few days now touring there.

        The 8 of us on the ship will be having a pre-safari cocktail party tomorrow evening.  Joan & Charlie Davis have graciously offered their "Master Suite" for the party.  I will brief them on the plan for our clearing immigration and departing the ship the next morning. Hopefully we are off the ship and on our way by 10:30am.  A van and driver will be awaiting us on the pier for the 2 1/2 hour drive to the lodge.

        Here is a photo of my computer screen of where we will be going.  You will probably have to click on it to enlarge it.  We will be getting off the ship in Richards Bay (center of photo).  The lodge is at top.  On May 5th we will transported via a van again down to the airport in Durban (bottom of photo).  Our flight is at 2pm to Cape Town where we will be transported from the airport there back to the ship.  We should be on board again by 6pm.

Here is a link to the Rock Lodge that you can cut & paste to your browser : https://www.andbeyond.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Lodge-Brochure-Phinda-Rock-Lodge.pdf

        The lodge is all-inclusive including booze.  There are game drives mornings and evenings.  It has wifi but not sure how good it is.  I will have LOTS of animal photos to be uploaded.  Cushal, our internet mgr, says ships have been having internet satellite issues at Cape Town dock so not sure how my blogs will be down there.  There may be too many photos to put on the blog as I took nearly 3,000 in 2010.  I can put them all in a Google Photos album but you will need to have a free Google account to see them.  Let you know how it goes.

        I had packed my bag for the safari a few weeks ago.  We are taking our carry-on bags and are allowed 46 lbs per bag for our flight back.  I repacked my bag this afternoon and weighed it.  It weighs only 24 lbs but full.  I also have a back pack for my laptop and camera.  Safaris are not fashion shows!

Rebecca is packing now.

        Our interdenominational church service will be at 5:15.  Following it will be cocktail hour before dinner in Compass Rose.

        Will certainly be going to tonight's show at 9:30.  It is the second and last show for "Just John & Paul".  They are the Beatles sounding duo.

        We are scheduled to be docked at Maputo, Mozambique, tomorrow at 9am.

DAY 112---SAILING IN THE MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL

 

        At noon we are in the channel off the coast of Mozambique, Africa.  It is windy day causing the ship to move about some today.  It is mostly sunny and 81 degrees.

Background Info:

        The Mozambique Channel is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the southeastern African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique.  The channel is 1100 miles long and 260 across at its narrowest point.  The maximum depth is nearly 11,000 feet.

LAST EVENING

        Sun setting as we sail out from Mayotte.  The pilot boat is approaching to pick up the pilot guiding us out.

         Yummy black mussels for our appetizer.  I had 3 orders.  OINK!  Well, they are small!!!  The pan fried sea bream was not nearly as good this time.

                          Listening to Ross after dinner until the theater door open at 9pm.

Here are some photos taken during "Broadway in Concert".  This is Gabriella Kitson from the UK.

     Our personal favorite female singer, Page Kosik from Canada.  She is a good dancer also.

L to R:  Stephen Sexton from the UK, Cameron Vance from the US, and Joseph Kuba from the US.

                                            In the center is Claudia Miesner from the US.

                                                      Cameron is a TCU in Ft Worth grad.

TODAY

                            It is a little rougher today in the channel.  Still not too bad however.

        The fitness center is on our deck but at front of the ship.  Our suite basically midship.  It's days like today that you can tell the difference in location on the ship.  I had to hold onto the treadmill today as it is a little rougher forward.  This is why we always try to book the lowest passenger deck and midship.

        In the afternoon we watched Terry Bishop's taped lecture about the WWI war in East Africa--British against Germany.  It has smoothed out some this afternoon.

        Well, on to this evening.  There is a special variety show at 6pm in the theater for the top tier Seven Seas Society members which we will be attending.  We will take our drinks from the suite to the show.  I have the only bottles of Makers Mark bourbon on the ship because I got them in Miami before the cruise.  It keep them in the suite as do not want any questions.  Woodford Reserve bourbon is served in the bars.  It's actually more expensive but I prefer the taste of MM.

        Right after the show we will head to Prime 7 as we have a 6:30 reservation there.  We will probably be a little late due to the show.

        Tonight's 9:30 show in the theater is featuring the comedy magician, Danny Buckler.  It is his second and last show.  We did not go to his first and probably not go to this one either.

        During the night our clocks will be set back another hour so we will have some extra sleep.  Tomorrow will be another day at sea.        
        

DAY 111---MAYOTTE ISLAND IN THE COMOROS

 

        We are visiting the Comoros island of Mayotte today.  Our first time here.  There were some showers around as we sailed to our anchorage this morning.  At noon it is still overcast but now rain.  84 degrees with 73% humidity but did not seem that hot since sun was not beating down.

Historical/Background Info:

        This is another new destination for us.  Mayotte consists of a main island, Grande Terre, and a smaller island, Petite Terre.  They are located between Madagascar and Africa about 150 miles off the north coast of Mozambique.  These small islands have a high density population with 300,000.  They must sleep on top of each other!  Of course, French is spoken here.  At the 2017 census, 10% of the dwellings had no electricity, 29% had no running water, and 54% had no inside toilets.  Mayotte is primarily a volcanic island.  Researching this place was very confusing.  Not sure what why we are stopping here.

LAST EVENING

       View from our suite as we enjoy a cocktail just prior to sailing.  Some rain in distance.

        I had some tomato soup to start with then we both had an iceberg wedge salad with a bacon dressing.  The dressing has always been good before but not this time.  Rebecca did eat some of her salad but I passed.

        I had to try the local grouper cooked in a bag.  One bite was enough so I then ordered the roasted turkey.

                      So then we both had the turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and peas.

                       This lemon tart was very good but I only ate half of it.  Dieting!!

        This Beatles duo were fantastic.  Sounded like the Beatles and they were VERY good instrumentalists.

        They kept wanting the audience to dance.  Well, the last number many did dance.

TODAY

        Some photos as we sailed in.  Yesterday evening during the Captain's departure PA he said they had to be very careful approaching the anchorage as there were lots of reefs and coral beds around the island.  The pilot would board 2 hours early to advise Captain Abhi during the sail in.

                                                  Showers over the town this morning early.

        After finishing my treadmill hour I changed and headed down to board a tender for a short visit to town.  The tender pier is at the town of Mamoudzou.  

     I wanted to sit up on the top but it was not open today.  So I sat in the very front of the tender.

                                                Just off the tender and walking off the pier.

                                                      Looking back now at the tender.

                         This group of women and kids greeted up with a little dance and song.

          There was a huge market building just off the pier.  Several aisles with about everything.

                                                               Several stalls with shoes.

        I took this to show the lady in red & white garb.  Note that her face is painted as was quite a few other women.

                                          There was also this huge vegetable and fruit market.

                                                               This is the market.

I decided not to cross the road and go into town.  I didn't need anything and everything in French.

     There were many of these car/truck/passenger ferries going back and forth between islands.

                                       Tried to get our ship in the photo of an unusual tree.

      

                                                           One of the many ferries.

        So I was just off the ship for an hour but at least I can say I was on Mayotte.  It didn't take long to figure out that the people here are very poor with high unemployment.  Will be interesting to hear what people on tours say.

        I have to mention that yesterday afternoon we watched a very good movie, "The Catcher Was A Spy".  We would recommend it.

        This afternoon Rebecca is doing her finger nails while I am working on the blog and other computer things.  I also got my Cannon EOS camera out to charge the battery, review the operating manual, and refresh in my mind how to download the photos from the camera to my laptop.  I have been using my cell phone to take photos for a couple years.  I want to also use the Cannon with telephoto lens when on our safari in a few days.

        We will be heading down to the Mariner Lounge this evening as I want to have a martini during cocktail hour.

        We will be having dinner in Compass Rose.  We both enjoyed the pan-fried fresh sea bream the last time it was on the menu.  Tonight's show is "Broadway in Concert" a production cast show.  We have seen it multiple times but will go again.  This cast is great!

        At 4pm we will be sailing again.  We'll have the next two days at sea before docking in Maputo, Mozambique, on Monday.