Walvis Bay - Namibia

Monday January 30th - Day 26

Walvis Bay has always been a haven for sea vessels because of its natural deep water harbour and is the only natural harbour of any size along the Namibian coast. The waters being rich in plankton and marine life drew large numbers of whales and originally the English called it Whale Bay.

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We took the Walvis Bay and Swakopmund tour stopping first at the highest sand dune - Dune 7 - where we had ten minutes to try and climb to the top. Impossible...Vance and Alan managed to get just over half way but no one did any better.....I stayed at the bottom and took the photos....wise choice.

From here we drove on to Swakopmund which is a beautiful town situated at the mouth of the Swakop river and is often described as 'a slice of Germany on the edge of the desert'. It is a seaside resort but resembles a Bavarian village with many buildings dating back to the turn of the century.

After driving through the town we stopped at the Swakopmund museum which turned out to be really interesting with rooms covering different aspects and times of the town's life. My favourite was the wildlife section which displayed many of the animals of Namibia and Africa. As Vance said we've nearly seen the big five now (no lion) so perhaps we should cancel our safari in Port Elizabeth...we won't though!!

Next stop was the Kristal Galeria where we saw the largest quartz crystal in the world. Some of the crystals were amazing in size, colour and shape. The jewellery made from the polished crystals were fabulous...Vance was glad he'd left his credit card back on the ship...but he did splash out $6 to buy me a bag of multi coloured polished stones.

After a stroll around the shopping arcade in the centre of the town we drove on to the lagoon and tidal flood plains where magnificent flocks of pink flamingos, pelican and other water birds congregate at certain times of the year - unfortunately not today!!

Back to the ship - missed our noon beer - just as well as we hear that there is a shortage of Corona Extra until we reach Cape Town......what will we do.

Deck party tonight is 'Rock The Boat' at Neptune's Patio Bar plus desserts. The band was setup ready to go but then the sea mist rolled in and everything and everybody was wet within minutes. The crew later told us it was the quickest breakdown in history as it only took eight minutes to clear the patio deck and move everything  to The Club including the wonderful desserts made by our pastry chefs.

It was a great opportunity to get on the dance floor and burn off some of those Seabourn calories.