Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

April 17 and 18, 2023

When we were here in 2015, I wrote that I thought it was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen.  It is still a very beautiful place.  We docked in Mahe on April 17 at 2 PM and stayed there until 4:30 AM on April 18 when the ship moved to La Digue and was at anchor there for the day.  I don’t quite know why they do it that way, but it was the same last visit.

Mahe is the largest island of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Victoria is the capital.  It was originally  largely a plantation owned by the Frichot family.  In 1977 France-Albert Rene staged a coup and forced all the Frichots out of Seychelles and into prison.  Some were held in jails for several months and then told to leave Seychelles for their own safety upon release.

We had a wonderful opportunity to have lunch with our guest pianist, Panos Karan.  Our friends Marilyn and Charlie invited us to join him and them.  He is a remarkable talent and also heads a group called Keys of Change which supports young musicians and has created music schools around the world.  (keysofchange.org) It was good to hear about his work.  What he was most interested in is Adam’s marathon experiences.  He has always wanted to run Boston and New York but hasn’t done it yet.  He is leaving the ship tomorrow and will run the London Marathon on Sunday.  Not surprisingly, with all the delicious food available on the dining room lunch menu, he had a huge bowl of pasta with Bolognese sauce!

Our tour today was a coral cruise to Sainte Anne Marine National Park.  We boarded a very large catamaran, Le Cerf, and sailed out to the marine park.  They call it a coral cruise but sadly, most of the coral is dead due to overheating and climate change.  Once at the park, half of the group boarded a semi submersible boat where we saw mostly sergeant major fish (they are the black and white striped ones).

After both groups were back on the catamaran we spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling.  The water was quite cloudy due to early monsoon rains and my underwater pictures are not too good, but it was a pleasant time and the water was very warm.

On the way back to the dock, the crew entertained us with singing and dancing. Oh to be 20 again and as agile as they are.

The huge house on the hill belongs to the Sheik of Abu Dhabi.

We asked the crew who owned the huge yacht – they said: “a Russian guy”.

Good thing we changed our Polo restaurant reservation to 7:30 because we didn’t get back until 6:30.

Here’s a shot of how hit and miss these storms are.

Lovely sky!

After dinner, there was a deck party because the ship was docked.  They are always a good time – and our attention was mostly on the Boston Marathon app since we were tracking our son, Adam, who was running.  He finished at the same time as the deck party (we are currently 8 hours ahead of Boston time) and our friends were all cheering for him as we shared his progress and finish.

Congratulations, Adam!!

Day 2 (Adam’s 40th birthday!)

We started out after breakfast for our tour – Coco Island snorkeling adventure.  We weren’t sure when we would have another snorkeling opportunity so booked it for both days here in these lovely islands.  La Digue is the third most populated island of the Seychelles and the fourth largest by land area.  The first inhabitants arrived from France in 1798.  The people here are mostly Catholic.

We had the same catamaran as yesterday – they followed us here – but some different and equally terrific crew.  The coral here is also mostly dead and it is said that the French colonists manufactured coral lime and are responsible for the decline of the coral reefs.  Here the water was much clearer and we saw many fish and a friendly sea turtle.  The pictures are still not great, but they give you an idea of the underwater views.  Those fish move fast!

We had a long time for snorkeling, then sailed around the beautiful islands before returning to dock to board our tender back to the ship in time for lunch.  But first we did get a chance to FaceTime with Adam for his birthday.  Internet is still spotty but better than the past few days.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the spa deck and in the thermal pool.  Very relaxing. We were invited for dinner with Cella, the Oceania Club ambassador and Dottie, our incoming cruise director.  Joining us were Dennis and Cle – we know them from previous cruises.

Our entertainer tonight was Becky Porter who does an Adele show and she sounds pretty much like Adele.  We both enjoyed her singing and her off beat sense of humor.  Looking forward to her next show when she will do her own favorites.

We have three days at sea in the Indian Ocean and then the Arabian Sea before our next port of Salalah, Oman, on Saturday.

April 15, 2023

We stayed in port a few extra hours last night due to a medical emergency on board, but we still made it to Nosy Be on time. Nosy Be is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar and is the largest and busiest tourist resort. Nosy Be means “ big island” in the Malagasy language. The French colonized the island from 1840 founding an outpost named Hell-Ville (from French Admiral de Hell).

Here are a few photos from our approach to our tendering spot.

Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island. The population of Nosy Be is about 110,000.

The Insignia lounge, where we go to wait for either tender tickets or our tour tickets, was as busy as I have ever seen it, and our tour was one of the last to be called, about 45 minutes late. It is complicated on a tendering day because there are only a limited number of seats in the lifeboats (used for tendering) and the destinations team needs to also coordinate with the tour companies on shore to be sure they are ready for us.

Happily, our tour was picked up in the boat we would take to get to our destination, the Lokobe Natural Reserve. That meant that we didn’t have to take the tender ashore to get in another boat. There were three guides on the boat with us and they split us into three groups when we arrived at the reserve. Out guide was Marcellin, and there were also local people on shore that helped with guiding us on our hike through the rain forest.

The tour description didn’t say that there would be a “wet” landing onto the beach before hiking through the forest, so we had to take off our shoes and socks to wade through the water. I do have the right water shoes but they were on the ship. Then, there was another small water channel which we had to go onto a smaller boat to cross. The group after us was very crowded on that small boat and we thought it might tip over. I don’t know if anyone got a video, but I did get this picture.

It was good that we had guides because many of the creatures we saw were very well camouflaged. We saw chameleons, lemurs and snakes and we probably missed as many as we saw!

The lemurs stayed in the trees. When we were here 8 years ago, we went to a lemur area where we could feed them and they came right on your shoulders. This was a natural reserve and rain forest so the lemurs stayed well away from us. There are about 20 species of lemur. They are less active during the day. Their diet consists of mostly fruit.

We saw many chameleons. The birds are the main threat for them so they have many methods of avoiding detection. Their colors change to blend in with their surroundings and they may look like the bark of a tree with the head pointing down like the one we saw. Their eyes rotate 360 degrees in their heads so they are good at detection, but with their eyes wide open, it is easier for birds to see them. If they point down, the birds cannot easily see their eyes! Some were so small that we would have missed them entirely.

The snakes here are mostly nocturnal. There are more than 80 species of snakes here but none are poisonous. Marcellin said that the only really dangerous ones are sea snakes and we won’t be doing any swimming!

The ones we saw were this black snake and this boa constrictor. The black one was not moving but when it heard us, the boa moved slowly. Boas can reach 22 feet long. I have these pictures of the snakes but we couldn’t see how long the boa really was.

The lemurs were up in the trees so you don’t see them well in my pictures – mostly you just see the tails. I did get this shot of one in a tree trunk.

There is a tree that has sap like a sort of rubber that they can use on their boats. We saw many of the wooden canoe like boats and also the sailboats on our trip to Lokota.

The hike was challenging at times, pretty muddy (it’s a rain forest after all), but we did well and learned so much about Madagascar and its beauty.

At the end of the hike, we arrived at a different beach where local women welcomed us with singing and dancing. They gave anyone who tipped them a necklace made of flowers. And we always tip them.

There were also lots of adorable children. The facepainting that the women do is a tradition. Some just use the white powder to protect from the sun and others are more ornate.

The local people prepared some fruit and snacks for us and there was beer and soft drinks. They had the type of tablecloths that I bought last time along with many craft items.

We added to our mask collection with this one featuring lemurs and chameleons.

On our way back from the tour we saw this downpour under one of the large clouds.

And back at the ship We saw this entrepreneur selling fruit to our friends before they got out of the tender.

It was a hot and steamy humid day so we had a very late lunch when we returned (3:30) and relaxed in our room in the late afternoon. We watched “A Man Called Otto”. I had read the book it was based on – “A Man Called Ove” and enjoyed it. We both liked the movie and the lead performance by Tom Hanks.

We had a snack for dinner and I went to the evening show which was Panos Karan, an amazing pianist, who played classical music from around the world. We both attended his first show. He ended this one with the entire “Rhapsody in Blue.” Really wonderful.

April 11, 2023

When we sailed into the harbor, we saw this former building first! It is an indication of how dilapidated some of the city is, but there are still many interesting and attractive things to see here.

We were met by our guide, Hendy, for our 3 hour walking tour. The weather was cloudy, but no signs of rain, and the clouds kept the weather cooler than we might have expected.

We visited the Maputo Railway Station first. The building was named the third most beautiful train station in the world by Time magazine in 2015. There are pictures of the ten most beautiful hanging in the station. First is Gare du Nord in Paris, second is St Pancras in London and the only one from the US is Union Station in Los Angeles at number 8. It was rumored that Gustav Eiffel, the architect of Eiffel tower fame designed the station, but that isn’t true, it was an associate of his.

We walked through the city and were encountered everywhere by very persistant vendors. In many cities they leave you alone when you say no, here they kept following and begging for a sale. Sometimes Hendy had to ask them to leave.

We walked through the red light district. Hendy says that many of the uneducated women take up prostitution to make money for their families. It is not legal, but the authorities mostly look the other way. We saw a few working women on the sidewalks. Some of the original buildings are still in operation here as hotels, clubs and restaurants.

We spent time in the Maputo fortress which looks old but was only constructed in 1940 on the site of the old original fort.

The museum here was interesting. Artists did figures of the history of Maputo which are all carved from wood. It is both interesting and beautiful. The Portuguese ruled the country for 500 years and it was only in 1975 that Mozambique gained independence and Maputo became the national capital. Before that time, children had to be renamed – from their African name to a Portuguese/English name. So they were known as one name at home with their families and and by another at school. Portuguese is still the official language here.

There are lots of colorful murals and buildings in the city.

There are also statues of dignitaries. The man on the horse was a Portuguese ruler and after independence, the people wanted the statue destroyed, but as a compromise, it was moved from the square to the fort. Now the statue of the much loved hero, political leader Samoras Moises Michel, is in the square.

We walked to the Tunduru botanical gardens which was small but a nice respite from the city streets. Thousands of fruit bats live in the trees here, but I couldn’t get a good picture. You could only see their wings moving, there were so many. The fruit bats are out during the day and the ones that eat inects come out at night. There are also almond trees in the gardens.

The Catholic cathedral was our next stop. It looks clean and modern.

We also walked through the Central market. Hair extensions are very popular among African women and there are many stands selling all types of extensions and wigs. Cashews are a big product here and we tasted many samples.

City Hall is a metal building which was designed by Eiffel and brought to the city in pieces to be reconstructed on the site.

We enjoyed Hendy who provided a wealth of information about the country and the city. He didn’t shy away from the more sad political situation and corruption which occurs throughout west Africa, and he answered every question with thoughtful insight.

April 10, 2023

After an afternoon of travel – Kasane to Johannesburg and Johannesburg to Durbin, we arrived back on the ship last night, unpacked and had a quick bite to eat. When we arrived back at 7:50 PM (predicted 7:45 so very impressive timing) there was a huge thunderstorm with lots of lightning.

On Monday, we arrived in Richard’s Bay and had a tour to the St. Lucia Wetlands Nature Reserve. Most of these cities in South Africa offered one day safari drives and there were lots of people out on overland trips for several days.

Richard’s Bay is situated on a lagoon of the Mhlatuze River which makes it the country’s second largest harbor. It also has the deepest natural harbor on the Africa continent.

Our guide was Emanuel and he was very proud of his Zulu heritage. He told us a lot about the country on our one hour trip to the river. the. population of this area of South Africa is 11.5 million and about 80% are Christian, largely due to the influence of missionaries over the years. Many people still practice the local religions secretly. Unemployment is high, it was as high as 40%, now it is more like 31%. A huge export is eucalyptus wood. In fact we saw miles of trees during the bus ride – all planted there – they are not natural to the area,they were first planted here in 1870. We also saw many avocado trees. Along the road, you see lots of small structures where people sell the products that they grow on their own land to make some money as there are no jobs for them.

The social structure is interesting. Polygamy is widely practiced here. In order for a man to take a wife, he must provide a dowry of 11 cows. If the woman is not a virgin, it is 10 cows. If she has children, subtract some more cows.

There is a stipend for children that the family gets until the child reaches 18. Emanuel said this is both good and bad. It does help with child poverty, but now the teen pregnancy rate is high because young people want to have children for the money. There is a development project which provides housing in townships for those in need.

Many homes have what they call “holy huts” in which the families pray for fulfillment of their needs and wishes.

Once we reached the river, we boarded the boat for the 2 hour trip. The boat captain provided us with information about the river, the water tables and the threats to the environment. For example, the water level is falling and the river water is not brackish enough from the sea so all of the mangroves have died.

After 5 days on safari, this trip turned out to be basically a nice boat ride. The most fun part was having an Australian family on board with us. They had a 1 year old girl, Olympia, and she was a delight as were her cousins – in the 10 year old range.

We saw some birds and several hippos. It was exciting for those who had never seen them, but after our many hippo sightings, this was very underwhelming. We learned on safari and again here that hippos live 40-50 years and can hold their breath for 6 minutes under water.

St. Lucia is South Africa’s third largest park and is a world heritage site due to the 5 ecosystems here – swamps, beaches, wetlands, woodlands and coastal forests.

After the boat trip, I looked at the craft shop but did not purchase anything. Many of the items are the same in every port and I only bought from the shops at the safari or actual shops, not street vendors. Much of the merchandise at those is mass produced in China.

There were some interesting art pieces and a mosaic walkway – and a hippo skull on display in the boat.

Tomorrow we will be in Maputo, Mozambique. We will do a walking tour with several friends. I looked at my post from 8 years ago, and it seems that we will visit pretty much the same places. We will see how much has changed.