GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #39 WALVIS BAY

First, before you start thinking you know how to pronounce this, realize that it comes from the Dutch “whale – fish.” Got it? The town was our first introduction to Namibia, and from what we saw in the way of __, had a plethora of good tours. The one we settled on was “Sandwich Bay,” less for the name than the fact that it promised views of the flamingos settled here. (Recall that we had only seen a few at Torres del Paine in Chile.)

Well, this more than made up for it. Indeed, several of the other tours would have been just as good; heck, you could have walked the right direction out of town and seen the flamingos for yourself! What made us happy with our decision, however, was that this occurred in the first half-hour of a very full day. We were in all-terrain vehicles and continued up past the local salt works on a “road” which ran through grass and scrub before emerging on the shore of the South Atlantic. We followed this for miles, sometimes almost being hit by the spray, and seeing seals, porpoises, and other wildlife.


A stop was made where tall sand dunes extended beyond the shore side lagoons, while those who were more intrepid (Sam says “Crazier”) than the rest spent a lot of time climbing to the top. Back below, a feast was spread and we had a relaxing lunch before taking off again.







 Our journey back to the ship, however, was not a mere repeat. We headed “off road” into the great sand dunes which border the coast, spotting local nara melons, used by the bushmen, as well as springbok. The drivers gunned up and down the dunes in a remarkable display of bravado, with the two of us bouncing in the back.



A return to the city left just enough time for us to be dropped (you guessed it) at the local bookstore, incurring the glares of everyone else, who hadn’t thought of asking.

Well, not as well known to Americans as its southern neighbor, South Africa, Namibia has lots to offer anyone who loves nature and the wide-open spaces. Now it’s on to Luderitz and the “Diamond Area” ….

GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #38: AND OUR THEORY WHY

The winning photograph surprised us a bit (and probably some of the other photographers onboard as well). It was in the Landscape category and was the shot of the rainbow framed by the mist of Iguazu Falls. When interviewed (by Mary) about his success, the Photographer (Sam) offered this explanation (stow it away in case you ever want to try one of these):

I’ve come to the conclusion that cruisers, or at least the ones we have aboard, are quite predictable. The People shot that won was a close-up of small children in “local dress” – smiling. (Crying wouldn’t have cut it.)  The Wildlife winner – a little baby animal – of indeterminate type, peering over what looked like a “sock” nest. In other words, cute.  So there you have it, smiling kid, cute, cuddly animal, and landscape? Well, what could be rainbows?  I had the only picture featuring one. Voila!

Smiling kids. Cute animals. Rainbows. Got it?

GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #37: PHOTOGRAPHS THAT APPEAL

Half the people onboard this vessel seem to be stalking around with humongous cameras of the six-inch-long lens variety.While it can make you feel particularly inadequate, we prepared for our “marathon” in a different way, bringing a “stable” of cheaper models that could be replaced if they went bad (one down and two near misses …) or were stolen.  We’re glad to report that while others have been ripped off – in Chile – no one has found our cameras worth pilfering to date. Mary swears by her Kodak Easyshare Z950, which is great for zoom shots, while Sam sticks with a Fuji Film 12.2 Megapixel model with a mere three-times zoom. Both are fairly modest in cost, so we wondered how they would stack up against the behemoths when a photography competition was announced.
 
This covered Latin America, and was divided into People, Wildlife, and Landscape categories. We were limited to our “best shot” in each, to be voted on by our fellow passengers over the course of the voyage across the South Atlantic. No flesh was pressed, but we’re pleased to report that one of our six garnered a first place. “Take that, expensive cameras!” We can’t show you the competition for copyright reasons, but let us know which you think should have triumphed (and why!):

1. Mary (People) – a mocked-up panorama in Callao, Chile with an Indian effigy in front of a very real apartment fire that just happened to start as we were standing there (at Sam’s insistence).

2. Sam (People) – we think this one was hysterical.  It was the first hour of our first day at sea.  ☺


















3. Sam (Wildlife) – dung beetles in action in Ecuador

4. Mary (Wildlife) – a bird preening at Iguazu Falls

5. Mary (Landscape) – a view of Antarctica (she had so many and it was hard to find the best one in our rush to submit).












6. Sam (Landscape) – a rainbow at Iguazu Falls














Results in our next blog.

GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #36: IN THE GUTS OF THE SHIP

Having checked out the workings of the kitchen and the bridge, what else is left? Well, how about the engine room?  Mary spoke to the Front Desk, who suggested that we pen a written request for such a tour. Two days later, voila! We received an invitation to see the “innards” of the Amsterdam. (Requests like this do not always succeed; we were told that such chores were anathema to the Amsterdam’s previous captain.)

This tour differed as much from that of the bridge as an afternoon scramble does from a game of … bridge. While the Amsterdam’s engine room is as neat as any Sam has seen, it is not the place to wear anything you’re planning to keep on as “smart casual” for dinner!  We were taken down into an “alternate universe” aboard the ship – a part most passengers never see – with long broad corridors and storage lockers. Craig John Stephenson, Third Engineer, ushered us into the engine room’s headquarters – an area deceptively like the bridge, with its own banks of dials and gauges. Almost predictably, Craig was born north of the Border; the Scottish appear to have an affinity for engine rooms and it is rare to find a vessel without a representative as engineer.

We were given yellow foam earplugs, a very good idea in view of the various “levels of hell” we would subsequently visit. Unfortunately, this made hearing our guide a bit problematic, but you’ll hopefully get an idea of what goes on “in the belly of the beast” from the accompanying pictures. At least, we preserved our hearing!

We learned that while the ship had five engines onboard (with if memory serves correctly, 24 heads under 12 covers – that would be a valve job!), she only needed four at any given time and that if necessary, they could be completely torn apart and repaired while at sea – take that all you land-locked mechanics, who can’t handle having the earth move under your feet! We toured the extensive air-handling/cooling systems that the ship needs just to run, the garbage disposal area, looked at the sewage storage tanks, and – don’t get too close – walked right past the incinerators (over 600 and 900 degrees Celsius if memory serves us correctly.A quite impressive array of equipment that all hummed smoothly along as we sliced through the southern seas, destination Africa.

GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #35: UP ON THE BRIDGE

One of the great things about a sea voyage is that it is what you make it You can spend all your time in your room, feeding the slot machines, or stuffing your face in any one of the number of restaurants. Or you can use the opportunity to learn a bit more.

While it was never advertised, a query by Mary to the front desk got us both included on a tour of the bridge. This is the “brain” from which the ship is navigated.


We gathered in the Crow’s Nest and were taken down by Officer Leon Wageman, who explained the workings of the radar, the astropod, and stabilizers. He deftly dealt with questions ranging from vessel avoidance to piracy (admittedly Sam brought the subject up, but he wasn’t the only one to ask). You can’t always count on tours like this, but we feel they enhanced our “cruise experience” and appreciate the fact that Holland America put this on.
Make sure you see if one is available when you take cruise ….