Sandy and Jim WC 24-25

  Table Mountain Cape Town, South Africa April 3, 2025 As we sailed to Cape Town and into Victoria Harbor, shipboard photographers captured beautiful photos of Heavisides dolphins and Cape Fur Seals performing alongside the ship!!!!   Cape Town is one of the world’s most picturesque cities at the foot of the iconic Table Mountain.  This cosmopolitan city boasts a thriving wine production industry and a rich array of cultural venues.  In and around the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, historic architecture and delicious cuisine reflect an array of African, Dutch, English, and Malay influences.   Our tour of the iconic Table Mountain began at Kloof Nek’s lower cableway station where we rode the Rotair cable car up the mountainside.  The small blue circle was our destination! The 360° rotating floor gave us the most beautiful panoramic views as we ascended 2,300 feet from the Valley Station to the Mountain Station.   Some foolhardy souls ev...

  Pickleball Cape Town, South Africa April 4, 2025 This blog entry belongs entirely to Jim. He has found a game in The Villages, FL, called Pickleball, and he thoroughly loves to play. Imagine his stunned reaction to find this within about 100 meters of the Cape Town Cruise Terminal! The courts are in a building which actually houses a working brass foundry. Managed to play quite a few games in the 2-hour window that was available. There was a mixture of locals and tourists and quite a variety of skill sets, but it was a VERY enjoyable day.

  East London, South Africa March 31, 2025 We began our tour of East London on the southeastern coast of South Africa with a scenic drive along Oxford Street past the magnificent City Hall.   The maroon Victorian Renaissance-style building was constructed in 1897 with the addition of the clock tower later to commemorate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee.   Our first visit was to the East London Museum where the world’s only known dodo egg is on display.  By 1693 the dodo had become extinct.   This museum is also famous for its coelacanth specimen – a fish species previously known only from fossil records, it was thought to have become extinct 80 million year ago – and a hominin child’s footprints estimated to be 124,000 years old.   Many colorful birds like the Paradise Flycatcher, Forest Weaver, Ground Hornbill, Puff-Adder, many Eagles and Forktailed Drongo as well as the Rhino Horn and Manta were on display.  Our last stop was to a beautif...