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Cabo San Lucas to San Diego

April 25, 2023 – Tuesday – Sailing from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to San Diego, California, USA

2023 Panama Canal Cruise

I was exceedingly tired last night from the excursion, and later the big meal at Canaletto. I wake up this morning well rested and feeling much better. Since it’s only 7am, I go up to the Explorations Cafe for a cappuccino and a bottle of Perrier. Around 8:30am I go to the Main Dining room for breakfast – they have blitzes, which are quite good along with a second cappuccino.

There is nothing on the daily program that interests me until this evening, when the Boy Band Evolution are performing again, so I just chill out for most of the day. I pick up a new book from the library – Julia Child’s My Time in France, which is short enough for me to finish before we arrive in Vancouver. The crew have put a huge number of towel art animals around the Lido Pool this morning, so I have a look at the display and take some photos, posting to Facebook. See banner image above.

Dive In Impossible burger

I preorder a Dive In Impossible Burger with fries, and go back up to the Lido Pool to have my lunch with a Dos Equis beer – one of my favourite meals. Although the Lido Pool area can be noisy like today when they are playing canned music, eating in the Lido Market is even more stressful since there are so many people in there. When I return to my stateroom, a Delft tile from Holland America Line commemorating sailing 150 years is waiting for me.

My room steward lets me know that he is flying home tomorrow from San Diego, so I give him an additional gratuity for his excellent service. His partner is staying with the ship, so I will give him some cash later.

The Boy Band Evolution performance this evening is just as good as their last time in Main Stage. A group that is a real crowd pleaser!

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The Transkei & Coffee Bay

November 2, 2008 – Sunday – Drakensberg to Coffee Bay, Eastern Cape – the Wild Coast of South Africa

JoeTourist: Eastern Cape Province &emdash; A woman and her cow alongside the highway
A woman and her cow alongside the highway in Transkei Province

Southern Africa 2008

We drive through the Transkei Province on our way to Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast. Transkei is a former homeland area for blacks when apartheid was still in force in South Africa. Many black people continue to live in this region despite there being a chronic lack of water.

We travel through Mthatha aka Umtata, which is the provincial capital and home of South Africa’s most famous citizen, Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela no longer lives here, however some of his family continue to live in the region. He comes back to his hometown to celebrate his birthdays. He celebrated his 90th awhile ago, so he is getting to be quite old.

Update: Nelson Mandela died December 5, 2013 after suffering from a long illness, and was buried in his hometown of Qunu.

JoeTourist: Eastern Cape Province &emdash; View of the beach and the Indian Ocean from the hotel
View of the beach and the Indian Ocean from the hotel at Coffee Bay

It takes almost an hour to drive from the main highway just south of Umtata to the Ocean View Hotel at Coffee Bay. It’s like traveling to another country, since the coastline along the Indian Ocean is warm, wet, and tropical. I have a room with a view of the ocean. This is a nice hotel, but well off the beaten track.

I join the wake-boarders, taking my first dip in the Indian Ocean surf before dinner, and body surf for awhile, which is great fun! Coffee Bay is spectacular, with dramatic headlands at either end of a beautiful curved one kilometre long sandy beach. There is also an estuary at one end of the beach where a stream enters the ocean.

After dinner this evening, an African dance troupe comes in and does a similar floor show of Zulu singing and dancing as we saw at the Drakensberg Gardens with one difference – the young women are topless. Some of the men in our group go crazy, taking pictures and generally acting goofy. As I leave the dining room after dinner, the dance troupe are in the lobby counting the money they collected from us after the show. I compliment them on their dancing and singing, but take no photos or video.

November 3, 2008 – Monday – Coffee Bay to East London

We have a late 10:30am departure from Coffee Bay, which gives everyone time to have a leisurely breakfast. There are some surfers and wake boarders out this morning, as well as some porpoises just past the surf line. I have plenty of time to walk the full length of the beach before we depart.

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Drakensberg Mountains

November 1, 2008 – Saturday – Durban to the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa

Southern Africa 2008

We are up at 5am this morning so we can arrive in Underberg early enough for people to embark on a 4×4 expedition to Lesthoto, a mountainous land-locked nation within South Africa. I opt to skip this excursion, so I stay with the bus, and go for an early check-in at the Drakensberg Gardens Resort. We are warmly greeted at this nicely appointed and vast resort. They have their own 18 hole golf course, multiple dining rooms and bars, hiking trails, a pool, spa, and lots more to do. I have a nice lunch on the patio and then go back to my room and sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon to recover from all the early mornings on this tour. Later, I go for a hike along the river for an hour before dinner. It’s always good to have some down time away from the group when on such a long tour.

Drakensberg is a strikingly beautiful area of South Africa. The mountains are the main feature, however there are also some vast farms in this area. Most seem to be raising livestock – cattle or sheep.

This evening’s dinner is included in the tour and is served buffet style. I’m seated with the Dutch contingent this evening. Some of them speak good English, and they are always a lot of fun. We get along very well, as they buy me wine and I buy them beer. The staff of the resort performs a floor show of Zulu singing and dancing. They are quite good, so I take some video.

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Tripoli

2006 Total Solar Eclipse – Libya

March 25, 2006 – Saturday – It’s 6:30am when I wake up, and when I stick my head out the hotel window, I hear the Muslims being called to worship by chanting being broadcast from loudspeakers in minaret towers in the mosques around the city. Today we travel to the ancient Roman city of Sabratha, about 80km west of Tripoli.

March 26, 2006 – Sunday – Today we travel to the ancient Roman city of Leptis Magna, just over 100km east of Tripoli. There are lots of olive trees along the highways around Tripoli. Sheep are sometimes being grazed in the olive groves, and are always being watched by shepherds. I even spotted a sheep dog once!

This afternoon, I join three of our group for a walk through the Souk (market) in the Medina (old city). This evening, there is a Tuareg cultural display across the street from our hotel, so after dinner a few of us walk over to see the displays. The Tuarag women are very camera shy, so I put my camera away. Later in the evening there is Tuarag folkloric dancing and singing, and our little group end up being the guests of honour! Despite it being very dark, I take some video and hope for the best.

March 27, 2006 – Monday – This morning Fatid takes us on a walking tour of the Medina, which includes the Souk. I take several photos in the Souk today because it is less busy. I’m very careful to avoid taking photos of local people whose faces would be recognizable. The Tuarag women last night were shielding themselves from any cameras. I know Arabs do not like their photos to be taken, especially women.

"Joseph of Arabia" - Joe wearing Arab headgear: a Ghutra (fabric) and an Igal (rope)
“Joseph of Arabia” – Joe wearing Arab headgear: a Ghutra (fabric) and an Igal (rope)

On the way back to our hotel, we stop at the Safir Restaurant for lunch. One of the other Libyan tour guides joins our table, so I ask him what one litre of gas costs. He tells us most cars use diesel, which costs 0.15 Dinar/litre (about 0.09€/litre).

Later, Fatid helps me find some Arab headgear: a Ghutra (fabric) and an Igal (rope) to go with it in the men’s wear section of the Souk just before it closes. I now have a “Lawrence of Arabia” head cover to wear when we get to the desert, so I will probably use it during the eclipse observations to ward off the expected hot temperatures.

We are told that Libya has about 40 years of oil supply left, and coincidentally, they also have about 40 years of water supply left. Our bottled water comes from the Great Manmade River – a water supply system that pipes water from aquifers found deep under the Sahara to the coastal cities in a huge network of aqueducts.

After lunch, we go to the airport to catch our flight to Benghazi, our jumping off point to see the Total Solar Eclipse from the eclipse camp south of Jalu, in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

March 31, 2006 – Friday – After breakfast this morning we walk through Tripoli to see the Jamahiriya Museum, which houses many of the originals of the statues we saw copies of earlier at Sabratha and Leptis Magna. There is a 5 Dinar camera charge at the Museum (10 Dinars for video), which we encountered at all historical sites in Libya. It would have been valuable to have an English-speaking guide, since all the informational signs were in Arabic.

Our time in Libya ends today with a flight to Rome aboard Alitalia airline.