There Was No Yesterday

Well, yes there was a yesterday (Tuesday, February 09), but it did not warrant posting anything.  It would take far more writing talent than I possess to make packing our bags, transiting from the Victoria & Alfred Hotel to Oceania’s INSIGNIA and unpacking our bags an interesting story.  I take solace in the knowledge that an engaging story would likely involve the bus running over a bag, a lost passport, no record of our reservation or some similar adverse occurrence.  Albeit at my reader’s expense, I am most grateful that Pam & I had no such calamity. 

While the transfer process was literally nothing to write home about, before boarding we did have the pleasure of meeting a nice couple from Washington State who were regulars aboard Oceania ships.  Janet and Harley helped us get oriented and imparted some valuable experiential knowledge.  At dinner we ate with Linda and Michael from a small village in New Forest, England.  Pam & I had stayed in New Forest a few years back.  From that connection, the conversation branched out into other areas, most notably a mutual love of boating.

Today (Wednesday, February 10) continued with little worth reporting until approximately 6:00 PM.  We walked from the ship to the V&A Waterfront and back during the morning. At 5:15, we had a lifeboat drill.  The latter was hands-down the most comprehensive one we had ever attended. 

At 6:00, the lines were taken in and the ship began maneuvering away from the berth. 

Just before departing the ship’s captain had mentioned, by way of explaining the likelihood of regular blasts on the ship’s horn, that there was some fog in the harbor.  From our port (left) side stateroom with the ship docked port side to the pier, all we had been seeing was blue sky and sun with unlimited visibility.  Going on deck and moving to the other side of the ship, we had quite a different view.

The fog was rapidly invading the harbor as we were making our way out, so before long Cape Town had completely disappeared astern.  My anticipated offshore shot of the sun setting on the city framed by Table Mountain was not going to happen. 

We proceeded outbound in dense fog with the ship’s sea horn indeed sounding a long blast at regular intervals.  On the plus side, other than gentle roll, the seas were calm.

At dinner we ate with a couple from Munich, Germany.  While not a gathering of bi-linguals, between their quite good ability to communication in English and our sporadic ability to communicate in German, we muddled through in fine fashion having an enjoyable time.

Looking ahead, there will probably be no tomorrow, not in the prophetic end-of-the-world way, but rather it being a sea day, I do not anticipate having anything worth contributing as a post to this blog.