Nomad on the Sea

We crossed the equator on April 11th. The crew then held a Neptune Ceremony for the new crew members. The judge read the charges against them and the Captain and his officers decided whether the guilty were to be smeared with the glob of the day and throne into the pool. Most were thrown in. Some had to let the glob cake-in. Then everyone was thrown in! The passengers were not allowed to participated because of legal concerns.     …

We sailed to Ascension Island one day early  because we were going to divert from the West Africa Coasts of The Gambia and Senegal due to the Ebola epidemic that was spreading in those two countries. The island was discovered in the 1501, not inhabited until the British used it as an outpost while Napoleon was exiled on St Helena. The US built a runway on the island during WW II  as a staging area for the African campaign. Then in …

After Nambia we sailed to Jamestown, St Helena – Napoleon’s  final resting place — until he was moved to Paris – that is! The sea state was a little rough when we arrived and we had a few delays in disembarking. But around 9:00 AM we were taking the tender to the island. It was about 300 yards from the land spot to the main entrance to Jamestown.  I took  a walk into the town, walked through the Castle Gardens, constructed by …

We arrived at Walvis Bay, Namiba on the morning of April 4th. I really did not do much here. I took the shuttle bus to downtown, bought a Guide Book of Nambia and walked through the town around the Bay to The Raft- a restaurant on stilts just south of the ship. I tried to take close-up pictures of birds and flamingos with a telephoto lens, but I did not realize that I had a polarizing filter on the lens which caused …