(Today’s Chronicle can be found here).
Room service this morning at around 9 am. I think? Breakfasts are all very much starting to blend together into one tasty blob of deliciousness.
It also doesn’t help that swells continued to build in the night, reaching more than 4 metres. Neither my wife nor I slept particularly well.
Kids do eventually wake up and eat, and then are off to the final “Have your say” workshop with Jess, who had put together beatiful designs that combined their haikus with their favourite photos.
Here is my daughter’s:
And my son’s:
These turned out so well – huge thanks to Jess for running this series of workshops not once but twice during our 40 day voyage.
Then off to the art exhibition in Panorama, where all of the ship’s artists exhibit their work from this voyage – our daughter included. Everyone was so very supportive of her painting. I think we’ll need to invest in art classes once we get home…
This also gives us the chance to take photos of some of Yvonne’s beautiful paintings – with Yvonne’s permission, of course:
I didn’t ask the other guests if I could photograph their artwork so I’ve kept the focus on Yvonne. But it was a lovely chance for everyone to get together and admire one another’s work. There are some very talented artists aboard this ship!
Between rounds of laundry I also have the chance to play my first game of chess with my son since the voyage began. I initially take the advantage, but he quickly battles back. We have to end early so that we can go to lunch, but he narrowly beats me on points.
Off to La Terrazza again. I didn’t even remember to take pictures of my plate this time, let alone the buffet. Ah, well. I seem to recall that I had some spicy noodle and shrimp dish along with duck breast and pork loin. Very tasty.
The kids then did one last push on homework, as we know that we won’t be able to get to it for quite some time once the excursions kick off again. They’ve made very good progress during all of these sea days – both are almost caught up at this point.
My wife takes the kids for a brief round of interior-track-only walkies while I nap, and then we all head to Jess’s talk on Rhino Resurgence:
Jess describes some of the initial efforts to promote rhino conservation, including Operation Rhino which sought to move rhinos after procreation to diversify the gene pool. This program proved very successful, and has been recognized as one of Africa’s greatest conservation success stories.
She also discusses more modern options which involved geo-tagging more common herbivores as a kind of sensor network to detect poachers early on. Unfortunately, this program was later discontinued due to its cost.
Jess then floats a controversial notion, which is that of legalizing the trade in rhino horn provided that it’s obtained from the rhino safely and ethically. Most rhinos already have their horns removed in order to limit the incentive for poachers, and so it would be relatively straightforward to simply sell those removed horns to the markets directly, thereby cutting out the poachers.
She explains both sides of this argument, including the potential benefit of driving down the price of rhino horn and reducing poaching but also the risk that poachers could somehow pretend that an illegally-obtained horn was legally obtained. Jess has special insight into this debate as she previously worked in wildlife conservation in South Africa.
Given the limited success of options undertaken thus far I believe safe legalization deserves strong consideration, though I also think there’s value in other methods being considered such as injecting radioactive material into rhinos’ horns to make them unsafe for human consumption while also making them easier to detect at border crossings.
Overall it was an exceptional presentation that’s going to be of tremendous value to our kids as they continue with their schooling.
Off to trivia, where we are once more fortunate to have Philip and Louise – Administrator of Tristan da Cunha and his wife – join our team. My son correctly identifies the son of Apollo and Calliope (Orpheus), while I identify the powerhouse of the cell (the mitochondria). We again tie for first!
Then on to the day’s briefing, where we go over the plan for tomorrow:
The sea state is settling and the weather pleasant (20 celsius, give or take), so instead we focus on the logistics for going through South African customs and then heading off on our excursion. We’ll be using tenders tomorrow – as opposed to zodiacs, or being berthed – but we will only be a few minutes away.
Thankfully they arrange customs appointments by excursion, and we are fortunate to be heading off at 8:30 am to get our passports stamped and then immediately departuing on our game drive at the Thali Thali Game Reserve. This is our ‘bonus day’ in Saldanha to make up for our early departure from the Tristan group of islands. (The full list of all ‘bonus’ excursions was posted earlier.)
The only real change is that they are also setting up a shuttle bus to take passengers to the nearby Langebaan Beach. This trip is roughly 40 minutes each way by bus, so we’ll likely pass – but great that they’re offering this, particularly given the short notice.
Everyone will be spread across Saldanha Bay, so no recaps and briefing tomorrow – instead Jamie goes over the plan for the following day. My son and I are ambitiously attempting both the kayak trip of the West Coast National Park and the land visit to the West Coast Fossil Park later that afternoon.
Including the kayaking trip means a 7 am departure, though the expedition staff is thankfully able to confirm that our two excursions should not overlap time-wise.
No recaps tonight, so we head back to the room to get ready for dinner and the captain’s farewell. And we spot land!
The pilot boat approaches:
And soon Saldanha Bay comes into view:
It’s a glorious sight after almost 11 days on the open ocean. My wife and I order some canapes, pop a bottle of champagne, and just sit out on the verandah to soak it all in. It’s truly lovely.
But time marches on, and soon it’s time to head off to the captain’s farewell:
The captain notes that of the 35 million passengers who will take a cruise this year, only 3 cruise ships will make this particular itinerary from Cape to Cape! Even more impetus for us to reattempt a landing at Tristan da Cunha somewhere down the line.
Then future cruise manager Joshua auctions off this beautiful chart done by Yvonne:
It ends up going for $2,800 in a spirited bidding war between guests from New Jersey, Fort Lauderdale and Finland. Finland brings it home in the end. This is the most I’ve heard of a chart going for, but I’d be curious if any readers have heard of larger sums being paid… it’s to support the crew fund, so definitely a worthy cause.
We then head to dinner at the Grill. No new dishes tonight, so no new photos – though I have to say that the Silver Wind is cooking some truly exceptional steaks these days. (Not to mention the prawns, which are often a favourite of mine.) Some may miss Hot Rocks, but it was logistically challenging with two young children – I’m fine with this instead.
Then back to the room – we need our rest so we’re ready for landfall bright and early tomorrow morning, so sadly we will be missing tonight’s crew talent show. Maybe next time!
Congratulations on going Cape to Cape!!!🌟💥🏅
Nana