Cape Town, South Africa!

Cape Town… Where do I begin? I had an amazing time and definitely a place I would return to and recommend to anyone who is remotely interested in visiting. My plans changed a bit as we headed into, or tried to dock into, Cape Town because of the weather conditions. Cape Town has seen abnormal weather conditions as of late. The winds are unusually strong lately and because of the ocean waters we were unable to port the day we were supposed to dock. Because of the rocky waters, the ship was unable to enter the harbor because the entry way for the ship was too narrow for a safe sail into the docking pier. Instead, we circled around the harbor for a day, which was beautiful at first. We saw a variety of sea lions and dolphins circling the ship and from a distance you can see Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill… but after a couple hours the beauty of the view and the feelings of excitement dissipated into anxiousness and the itch to get on to land sunk in. However, the students and shipboard community were more patient than expected. Finally we were able to sail in the next morning and got ready to disembark. For this port, the immigration and customs needed to do face to face passport checks which all the LLCs were mandated to assist. It was a smooth process but still delayed our venture into the marina a little longer which ultimately resulted my safari trip to be cancelled. Although it was cancelled I was able to find another one on my own which turned out to be better because I got to physically play with Cheetahs! I saw all the game that I expected to see on the new safari and had great accommodations which I could not be upset about. Although we lost one day in Cape Town I was determined to make the most of it.

So what did I do? The first day was all about recon. I walked around the pier area and took in the sights. The docking area looked like San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and Santa Monica Pier put together. A really nice mall greeted us as we walked into the town and you can find your usual mall stores like Body Shop, Polo, Louis Vuitton, and G-Star! The only sad thing was the G-Star store was low on inventory because they liquidate all the goods before getting new shipment… I don’t think I have ever seen so many XXL sizes in G-Star. After some window shopping I joined some folks to check out the tourist attractions, which included Table Mountain. I can’t fully explain it but it was one of the most majestic things I have seen… it is one of the amazing natural wonders South Africa has to offer. The actual site is a mountain that gets covered by the “tablecloth” or cloud covers in the evening and the clouds flow down the mountain like a waterfall. Many people hike it but due to limited time I decided to take the cable car up to the mountain to expedite the time and energy it would have taken to do a 7 hour hike – which I was supposed to do the first day, if we had gotten in on time… But the hiking can wait until Mauritius (our next stop) and the Great Wall in China. Once up there we were able to soak in the beautiful sights of the city. On one end of the mountain you can see an area, similar to any ritzy beach town, called Camps Bay and over the other side you can see all of Cape Town proper. I was in awe for about an hour as I just watched the clouds pass through me and flow over down the mountain. I visited Table Mountain with Faith, Mark, Julia, Marsha, and Bill – a great mixture of staff members from Semester at Sea. Prior to the visit we stopped by the local grocery store, called Pic N’ Pay, and picked up a few bottles of wine, cheese, bread, and other snacks. It was definitely a great experience that I will never forget. After Table Mountain we got freshened up to go to dinner. We found a local Portuguese restaurant with great meat and chose to stay there for drinks and just hang out.

After dinner, I returned to the ship to figure out new details for a Safari. Anne, one of our shipboard psychologists came up to me to ask if I was still interested in going to a safari and that they had one more spot for me if I wanted to join. So I said, why not!? And went with 5 others, 2 lifelong learners (who are adult passengers on the ship), Keith our Community Resource Officer and his wife , Liz, and Anne. The Community Resource Officer is like our own Public Safety Officer but with a Student Affairs philosophy on maintaining policy on board. He works in tandem with the shipboard security to manage all issues. We went to a game reserve called Inverdoorn which was also a cheetah rehabilitation center which made it better than I expected… and on top of that the accommodations and food were top notch. At first I was worried because they said we had a “Chalet” room which I didn’t know what to expect, but once we got there it turns out to be a small luxury cabin with beds that resembled the heavenly beds from the Marriott and outstanding food. After we checked in and settled into the chalet we were off on a sunset safari to look for some cool animals. We saw most of the Big 5 except Elephants… they told us elephants were the only animals not in the reserve because they were too hard to care for and the environment at Inverdoorn would not sustain an elephant’s lifestyle. There was one more sunrise safari the next morning and then we headed back to the ship. I think it was a perfect change of plans since it also gave me more time in Cape Town where the previous Safari would have taken 3 days out of my 5 in South Africa.

Some other highlights included the dining in Cape Town. South Africa does not have a local cuisine, well… it could be Cape Malay food but all the locals stated that the international cuisine is what they are known for and they were right. I had great Sushi, KFC, and Asian/Italian Fusion. And yeah, I said KFC. My favorite 2 places were The Grand Beach Café and Willoughby’s. The Grand was a cool spot that resembled a beach front restaurant and had couches on the sand for drinks after dinner and Willoughby’s was a seafood restaurant the specialized in sushi which was the best sushi I had in a while. All thanks to Rhoda Kaladie, our interport lecturer who joined us from Takoradi to Cape Town. Rhoda is an amazing woman who I will also talk about a little later, but her and our interport student, Candice were great people I forged a good relationship with and I know I will be in touch with them in the future. We also checked out the night scene which was interesting since we went out on Sunday and Monday, but nonetheless it was fun.

I also visited the Spier Winery and Estate where they also have a Cheetah Conservatory and Birds of Prey Exhibition. I got to pet another cheetah, which wasn’t as cool as when I got to play with them at Inverdoorn but still cool nonetheless. I also got to have birds, like owls, fly to me and land on my hand. It was a hoot – no pun. LOL! We also got to taste wine from their private winery collection which is also a funny story. So… many of these students have never been wine tasting… many saw it as a quick way to get a buzz. As the guide taught us about the wines he poured a glass for everyone to smell, analyze, and taste. Once done, he opened another bottle and before he could start I asked for the bucket to pour the rest of the wine in my glass out to prepare for the new tasting. As I asked the guide looked at me a bit confused so I asked again for the bucket. He quickly walked to the other room to fetch a bucket and told me that we were the first group (and last visiting by the way) that requested a bucket because everyone else always finished their glasses. Mind you, I know you can finish the wine, which is fine (I suppose), but we were tasting a handful of wines and he was pouring full glasses for us. Anyway… so after I pour my leftover wine into the bucket I look around to the 20-or-so other students and as they stare at me I tell them they can also pour out their leftover wine… not surprisingly there is not a drop left in any of their glasses. Let me put this into context… between the first and second wine, there was 5 minutes… so basically they all downed their wine and wasn’t “tasting” it. Well… if you know me, sometimes I just say what’s on my mind… so I guess I accidently said out loud… “Oh, that’s just trashy”…. This clearly made an impact on the students because after that almost every student had wine to pour into the bucket. Hey, at least I taught them that wine tasting is not a reason to get drunk but to appreciate what they are drinking. I may not have the best track record of being a drinker that savors the flavor of liquor but come on now… it was 11am. All in all, it was a beautiful winery and a good time to play with animals and then have some wine… I am pretty thankful it was in that order because I am not sure what would have happened if we had drank the wine first and then went to play with cheetahs and predator birds.

Before our last dinner at Willoughby’s Rhoda called me to let me know that she was willing to pick a few us up to take us to the top of Signal Hill, another viewpoint area that overlooks Cape Town. It was truly a sight to see Cape Town at night. I have to say that even though our trip was cut short by a day or so I think I had a great time and the time missed is giving me more reason to come back and check things out.

So Rhoda is a former member of the South African Parliament and focused her work on human rights issues. She was an amazing person with a rich history. She has had experience in working with various political figures and oversees her own NGO in South Africa. She has a great track record and has a vivacious personality that only makes you want to love her even more. I was very lucky to have connected with her on a more personal level since I was the trip leader that got to pick her up in Accra, Ghana and bring her back to Takoradi so she could board the ship and sail with us to Cape Town. For further explanation, we pick up an interport lecturer and student from each port who lives the following port we will be sailing to and their responsibility is to present various workshops to provide information on the ports we are about to sail into. The ride from Accra to Takoradi was 6 hours, so we have plenty of bonding time and Rhoda and I hit it off immediately. She is spunky and casual and unlike anyone you would assume to be from parliament. She quickly deconstructed my assumption of political figures. She is also very grassroots oriented and also carries quick wit and brutal honestly… something I truly admire. I think I miss Cape Town more because of her and Candice, the interport student, since they were so accommodating, warm, and fun to be around. Candice is also very spunky with a really relaxed vibe to her. She is charming and is relatable which was great as students were able to approach her for a variety of information.

As hard as it was to leave Cape Town, I am grateful to have had the experience I did and it only prompts me to want to come back, which I will. Now that I have people I know here and a lay of the land it will be fun to return with some friends and really take a bigger bite out of Cape Town. I missed a few things I really wanted to do but couldn't due to time including visiting a Township in Cape Town... when you are driving around you can see the huge disparity among the rich and poor as well as how that get stratified with race and other elements of society. Also a fascinating aspect that I learned from Rhoda is the racial dynamics and oppression that occurs with students at universities. It would be an interesting study or phenomenon to examine when it comes to what academic freedom, race, and education looks like in Cape Town.

Right now we are headed to Port Louis, Mauritius and the ship life is back to a great start. I don’t really talk much about ship life but it is definitely like a college campus – with the exception that we are contained to a vessel and you see the same people all the time. I think I have gotten used to the ship as my home primarily because when I return to my cabin I feel the same sense of comfort I did when I would come back to my apartment after a long day out or at work. Last night we were sailing past Madagascar while we held a Square Dancing event on the pool deck. Although the waters were pretty rough and the ship was being tossed back and forth we had a good time. I never would have thought I would enjoy square dancing but it was pretty hilarious and fun to learn and watch others stumble around. I guess that’s what the voyage is about as well. Making the most of what you have and maximizing the time you have and trying random things. After I headed to Brittany, our photographer’s, room for some chill time to celebrate Adam, our videographer’s, birthday. I purchased some nice South African wines that I might take with me to share. Rhoda also surprised me while we were leaving and gave me great wine to take with me so I might take that. Anyway… a bit more about ship life… I resisted the urge to get a hamburger at the grill upstairs since I knew I would get hooked but I decided to hangout with some folks and gave into the temptation. I got a burger. You see, the grill upstairs has food you can purchase, including burgers, pizza, breakfast wraps, etc. I tried to avoid it but after having one… I think I will make it a habit to stray from the dining hall a few times to grab something different.

So, I guess you can tell that I am feeling really at ease and in a rhythm now… work is going well on board and I am increasingly feeling a strong connected community with my students and the other staff here. The people on board, especially the entire administrative team of staff are amazing and I am usually right with these gut feelings but there is definitely a presence and team unity that is special here. Now I am understanding why people fall in love with this experience… all the ups and downs, twists and turns (literally)… the magic among the staff and students is tremendous. I continually have daydreams of how to get back on to another voyage… but really… I should be soaking in this moment. I cant believe we are almost halfway done with the voyage. Time flies by faster than you want… so I need to make sure that I am truly stopping to smell the roses.

Oh, and pictures coming soon! Have to get a few more from students who went on the Safari with me who had wayyy better cameras than me...