DAY 91- DAY EIGHTY THREE ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

This is an array of photos taken at the Safari with our Point and Shoot Camera.  These are some animals that we saw from the patio of our room.

Getting ready for a game drive.

Our wonderful guide and driver Sam.

  This is an animal that we saw from the patio of our room.

These are a few photos of our room.  Wish we would have had our wide lens with us which we could have used with one of the Nikon cameras we had for the Safari.

All of the rooms had glass around them for views but they all had curtains or in many cases shudders.

There was a bath tub and there also was a separate shower.

Separate Shower.  Each room including the shower had views of the outside.

Everything was pretty much inclusive including the bar set up which we never used.

  Some additional animals that we saw from the patio of our room.

Each of us standing on our patio and there was one animal close by that you can see in the second and third of these three photos.

This was a snack that we had before our first Game Drive in the afternoon.

Views of additional animals from our patio.

Leroy in the front who works in the Shore Excursion Department.  They stayed at a different lodge at Phinda.  From time to time we would see others guests from Crystal Cruises in their respective 4x4's.  Once in a while there was no driver/guide nor the person scouting the animals as they were out in the bush trying to find tracks or the actual animal themselves.  This was a case of that.

On the last drive we stopped for refreshments and snacks.  

Some photos from the nighttime barbecue.   The chefs were from both lodges including the man on the right who was the chef at the other lodge.

Soup on left and some of the side vegetables.

Fish with the white sauce.  Fish was like a cod.  There was also beef fillets and some type of sausage made from local meat.

A nice large salad served family style at our table.  We did break one of our rules and had salad throughout our stay.

Last evening we dined at Silk Road with our good friend Ileen and a guest of hers.  The guest is someone who specializes in photography and will go on Safaris or a variety of other tours as both a guide and photographer.  He also used to work at Pindha so we really learned a lot from him about Safaris and also about areas of photography that we had questions about, especially his views on some specific cameras Keith was asking him about.    Keith took a night off from photography so we did not photograph any of the items we had at Silk Road.

As usual, the food was great as was the service provided by Waiter Anthony and the rest of the waitstaff and the ambience is always wonderful.  Ilene and James didn't have any of the sushi/sashimi so we ordered our own platter.  Anne Marie stuck with the sushi and Keith ate a little sushi but mainly sashimi.  The women had Lobster for their entree, James the steak, and Keith the hot soba noodles with soup and some scallops.  Fruit plates for Keith and Ileen and a soufflé for James and a small bowl of ice cream for Anne Marie.  Afterwards, Ileen walked James around the ship.  It is so very nice to be able to invite visitors to the ship as long as you have submitted the appropriate paperwork ahead of time and gotten it approved.

There were several visitors on board.  We do want to note that several members of the crew are from South Africa so in some cases they had visitors on board and in other cases when their jobs were completed for the evening they visited family and/or friends.

We missed the local show that was brought on board last evening since we were at a later than normal dinner.  We heard it was outstanding.

We slept very well last evening while the Serenity was docked in port.

As usual Keith was up early and began his day with a workout at the Fitness Center.  After he went to the Lido Cafe and brought coffee back to the room for Anne Marie we walked for one hour on the ship.  We had breakfast earlier than usual as we did the day before so that we could go into Cape Town.

We had such a great time on the City Tour Hop On Hop Off Bus that today we decided to take the other line, which has less emphasis on the city and more emphasis on the sites of the Peninsula.  It was a wonderful way to take in the shear beauty of this area.  The coastline of South Africa is truly amazing.  During the tour we saw some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen in all our travels around the world.  The weather was also fantastic and like yesterday we sat at the top of the double decker bus.

We have enjoyed the coast in other ways such as while flying from Durban to Port Elizabeth, as we sailed from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and today as we road around the Peninsula.  We have been very blessed to see so much beauty that our world has to offer.  It is all there to see. 

After we did the tour, we then walked around the Wharf area for a while before we returned to the Serenity.  We had lunch on board the ship at the Lido Cafe and Cruise Director Rick Spath joined us.   In the afternoon, we exercised, then went through the mandatory face to face departure immigration inspection and then attended the lifeboat drill before dinner.  Crystal Cruises requires that each guest go through the lifeboat drill not only when they have first embarked the ship but also at least once per month, no matter how long they have been on the ship.  We think this is very wise with safety at sea being the number one priority.

Some views before we got onto the hop on hop off bus.

Table Top Mountain.

These are photos that Keith took while we were on the bus.  There were a few small clouds on the mountain which as they become larger are known as the table cloth.

While there is lots of beauty and we passed many beautiful homes a reminder that many people struggle was of one of the Shanty Towns.

All in all it was a wonderful day.

This evening we are back in the Crystal Dining Room for the first of three consecutive nights.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……..

"It is most enjoyable to return to places that we have been to before on prior visits such as Cape Town because it provides the opportunity to go back and revisit areas that one once to see again, while providing the opportunity to visit areas for the very first time."

Keith & Anne Marie