June 19 – Dakar, Senegal

Weather – 27º

here we are

Steps – 6,122

Humidity – 79%

Country #101!

This morning we disembarked the additional security team that has been with us since South Africa – I take that to mean we are in a safer part of Africa. As I mentioned when I talked about heightened security a while back, we are never, worried – EVER about our safety on Regent. I suspect I’d feel the same on any cruise line. No team of 5 pirates wanted to take over a ship full of 600 passengers and as many crew. Plus, no cruise line wants to be hijacked.

supervising sail in

I know Regent brings on the additional security team it to cover themselves, but that ultimately helps us. We talked to a staff person recently about Regent’s insurance and how

Dakar street life

on a day-to-day basis in some parts of the world it’s all about how much it would take to insure going into some ports – Middle East depending on the situation (or not even)…expensive…Mediterranean, less so. Obviously, there are other factors that go into to it, but when the bottom line is involved, that increases my safety.

We originally scheduled to dock at 11AM with our tour out at 12:15; however, due to the strong current and offloading the security team, we ended up docking at 3:30. Fine with us.

We booked “Highlights of Dakar” which was only supposed to be 4hrs and was shortened to 3. No problem, poop happens. In fact, very little poop of any

significance has happened during the last month and a half. Maybe I shouldn’t tempt fate, but we’re almost done and so far, pretty much everything has been as scheduled.

African Renaissance Monument

Dakar kids

We spent the morning and early afternoon on the deck. I managed to drag myself to the gym again…will I ever want to go to the gym? Then we ordered room service.

We were debating whether to stay and have room service or go out for breakfast. We opted to stay in – we figured, this way we would get to talk to Saravanan. We haven’t seen him for a few days. Like the last time we ordered breakfast he thanked us! Sheesh Saravanan, let us thank you! Chris had an omelet; I had avocado toast with poached eggs. 

Dakar's Grande Mosque

I’m kinda getting into poached eggs (Mom, can you believe it??). I always like an eggs Benedict, and in the main restaurant here for dinner there is an always available appetizer of a breadcrumb coated and fried poached egg, in a parmesan/truffle sauce – wow, is it delicious, I’ve had it twice! Add to that the eggs on my avocado toast…I’m eating eggs!

Senegal is the western most country in West Africa, pop: 19 mil. Official language is French, 98% are Muslim, the capital is Dakar, pop: 4mil.

called a 'fast bus' Messa says it isn't

We weren’t really hungry for lunch (plus we are eating so, so much and could use to miss a meal) so we decided to just get a snack from the Coffee Connection. From first thing in the morning until 6PM, the Coffee Connection has small bites to eat – in the morning…cereal, fruit, yogurt, nuts, pastry, toast, bagels – in the PM…cold cuts, cheese, fruit, sweets, toast, bagels etc. All self-serve.

La Gazelle beer

Today’s tour was panoramic, described as “settle in for a revealing drive through the capital of Senegal with stops at Dakar’s traditional and contemporary attractions.” Yup, that was pretty accurate.

Because we were late arriving our tour was cut short by an hour. We lost one stop and the others we had to sprint.

Dakar is a big city, this is obvious as soon as we left the port – narrow streets, many cars (although Messa, the guide said it was a light traffic day), busses, and lots of people.

art in progress

Chris and I tried to strategize about seats on the bus. Typically, as I’ve mentioned, we like to be at the back. Most people sit as close to the front as

completed work

they can – unless you have mobility issues, I don’t get that as long as the bus has a sound system and you can hear. Sitting at the back means you’ll be off last - sometime the bus has a back door – today it did. We also wondered if there would be a mic. We opted for the back of the bus and although the bus was packed, there were a few empty seats. As soon as the doors close and we are on the go, we split up – never far from each other, but behind or across, today Chris was behind me. We also wondered about the AC, as soon as we got on it was meat locker cold – nice at

about to jump on!

first, after a while even I was a bit chilly – the driver adjusted. I will never, EVER complain about the AC being too much on an African bus…EVER!!

Highlights of our race through the city were the 52 metre African Renaissance Monument - Africa’s tallest statue. We only stopped for 10-minutes, or we would have climbed the stairs to the base of

so many shoes

the statue. If we had stopped longer, we would have bought a beer too. There was a café/ restaurant next to the statue. Knowing that Senegal was 98% Muslim, we wondered if we’d be able to find a local beer, but this place had beer.

There were various non-aggressive hawkers when the multiple busses emptied at the base of the statue – beads, sunglasses, hats…the usual. There was also a gaggle of kids with their hands out. Not sad looking kids, but kids who figure one of us is bound to give

cultural show

them something. Kids whose parents I assume worked in the restaurant or were the hawkers. As soon as the kids got too close to any of us for too long one of the guides would shoo them, and they’d run away laughing hysterically. Then when his back was turned, back they came…and the game went on and on. He even threw a rock at them at one point and they still laughed hysterically....ah, kids.

cultural show

Messa kept mentioning that Senegalese people value physical fitness, I thought he was overselling it until we arrived in the Fann Cornich district and saw many, many people running, and doing all kinds of activity – mostly men, but some women.

This is another thing we noticed. While most people on the streets were men, there were plenty of women too – again, being a Muslim country, we wondered. We’ve visited Muslim countries and often all you see are men and boys.

Dakar street scene

The affluent Fann Cornich area is home to the Door of Millennium - built in 2000 to symbolize Senegal’s entry into the new millennium. The university is in this area too – 70,000 students! This area is a contrast to the port area/downtown. Here the streets are wider, and buildings are newer.

fruit sellers

Senegal has many colours of sand – we visited an artist’s studio where art is made from this sand. The sand sticks to the board by using sap from the baobab tree. Basically, the artist painted the scene with sap and then tossed sand over the sap starting with dark and ending with the lightest sand. Then he knocked the excess sand off and voila…art! The entire process took about 5 minutes! Super interesting.

The artist studio was also a comfort stop. I think I may have missed my calling as a washroom attendant. I ended up holding a cane, a cellphone (where I caught glimpses of

downtown

ENDLESS texts – I didn’t need to see, but the font was so big I couldn’t help it), holding doors closed and dishing out toilet paper. All the while, Chris was waiting for me beer in hand. Good thing he only got one beer…we had 10 min to guzzle it. We drank a La Gazelle …Senegal’s local beer - $2USD.

The requisite cultural show was our next stop. I’ve grown to love these stops…no audience participation, and always interesting.

Another thing we noticed in Dakar was that people were selling things EVERYWHERE! From actual store fronts to carts with mangos, to a small mats with peanuts (Senegal’s largest food export) there were small shacks, movable carts, trucks, and people selling behind tables…entrepreneur-ness was all around.

Dakar street scene

BTW, I paid attention to the fruit…apples, oranges, bananas, pears, mangos.

Another interesting thing I saw on the street were small set ups frying eggs and tomatoes. I

mangos

didn’t see the final product, so I don’t know what it would be, but super interesting.

There were also numerous stalls selling popcorn. Not popcorn in a bag, but popcorn in small bucket type containers (like you’d see at home.) I was dying for some, unfortunately none for me.

downtown building

Other than the sprinting aspect of today’s tour which was a bummer, it was the kind of tour I like – multiple things to see, accompanied by a drive through the city. Other than a walking tour – this works for me.

For dinner tonight I had the ‘destination dish’. I try to have a local dish as much as I can. Tonight was an African chicken with couscous, called chermoula. Sounds fine, but, wow, it was so tasty! Chris had a beef stir-fry that is a Regent staple, it’s always good, but
could use some spice…he got our waiter to bring him a couple of sliced red chilis – I added them to mine too and we were able to finish the whole plate – feeling like real heros…impressing the staff who hail from spice loving countries.

little boats and big boats

Senegal

Because the tours came back so late, the buffet opened for a casual dinner where the dress code didn’t apply. I’m not a fan of jostling and standing to serve myself, so we rarely (maybe never) go to any buffet for dinner. It wasn’t that hard for us to take a quick
shower and change for dinner. The restaurant was quiet and calm…nice. Albert our waiter, even had some time to chat – the wait staff is usually so busy chatting is hard.

We turned our clocks back an hour, woot! Unfortunately, day after tomorrow we will have to turn our forward one hour for 2 nights…that’ll be tough!

June 18 – AT SEA, Cruising the Atlantic Ocean

shot of the sunset before curtain are closed

Weather – 27º

sea day example p1

Steps – 7,073

Humidity – 82%

Nothing all that significant to report from today’s sea day.

We learned that the Atlantic North Equatorial Countercurrent is particularly strong - because of that we will be delayed about 3.5 hrs getting into Dakar, Senegal tomorrow. I had never heard of this current but learned that it is a wind-driven, eastward current in the Atlantic just north of the equator. We are being slowed down because it is stronger than anticipated.

how we do laundry

Andrew sings the oldies

In addition to the current causing delay, we will need to make a 30-min stop in the ocean where will meet with the local navy to disembark our security team
and their equipment. Hopefully, this means we can go back to having the curtains open after dark and the outside lights on.

We attended a pre-dinner jazz show. The ship’s cruise director, Andrew, sang, accompanied by the ship’s 5-piece band. It was good. Same ol’, old music, but good. I absolutely appreciate the

sea day example p2

sea day example p3

musicianship but am still looking for variety. We talked to Andrew a few days ago about the lack of variety in the ship’s music. He said we wouldn’t find much more current music in his show…he was right. Don’t you think the musicians might be interested in variety? If I find it same ol’, how do they feel playing it day in, day out???

I’ll tell you want has had variety…the 3 current guest entertainers – one piano guy (played the Olympics theme), a violin woman, and a guitar guy. They have all played pieces from classical to current…it’s not that HARD!!!! For example, last night Susana, the Hungarian violinist played Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters, followed that up with a Mozart medley! See…not that hard.

sea day example p5

We both went straight back to the room to do some laundry (and by do some, I mean shove our stuff in a bag and note it on the form) and go to bed early.

sea day example p4

I have to say, I’m never a bad sleeper, but when I’m away from home, I seem to pass out hard! Even on days when I don’t really do anything to make me tired (although today I did manage to drag myself to the gym), I’m out!

June 17 – AT SEA, Cruising the Atlantic Ocean

Bloody Mary or was it a Caesar?

Weather – 27º

Steps – 4,838

Humidity – 85%

Today was a typical sea day. We did little. I had my first Bloody Mary of the cruise, so that was exciting. It tasted suspiciously like a Caesar to me, which is great, but they said it was a Bloody Mary.

In the mornings, pool waiters circulate the with random trays of drinks – alcoholic and non. You can order what ever you want of course, but these conveniently find everyone.

Nigerian beer and a view

We also had noon time Aperol Spritzes that we didn’t order. All of a sudden 2 Aperol Spritzes found us, we looked over at the bar and there was Georgio waving…WOW! Good ol’ Georgio.

Yesterday, I also tried the ship’s non-alcoholic sparkling wine. It wasn’t bad, not exactly great, but not bad.

Seven Seas tiers

We were excited to see more local been at the bar – Nigerian beer. We haven’t just been to Nigeria this trip so this odd, but I think Nigeria somewhat dominates the area, so somehow got their beer onto the ship. It was fine…a typical lager. I don’t much care for lagers, I’ve realized they’re a bit sweet for my taste. Of course I want to try everything local, but I won’t have another.

There was another Seven Seas Loyalty party…we learned we are 2 of 11 people with over 400 days on Regent – we are the most junior of that club, the most senior couple has over 800 days! WOWZA, not sure we’ll get there. I think people with that many days must take world cruises (those are well over 100 days) pretty often. It’s taken us 17 years to get to 400 nights. I don’t see us getting to 800 – I’m not keen on a cruise much longer than this. Chris is, me…not so much. The longest we’ve been away was Chris’ 2020 retirement AKA the covid cruise. We were supposed to be gone 93 days…we came home on day 75.

Chris has taken to making his own desserts on this cruise. He orders an espresso and an ice cream and DIYs an affogato. The waiters are always interested, and it’s become a bit of talking point. Kelly even made one the second night we ate with her. However…a couple of nights back we had a waiter, Melona, who tried to convince Chris to add a shot of Frangelico to it. He wasn’t into it that night, but last night as soon as we sat down in her section, she declared: “someone’s having an affogato tonight.” When it came time for dessert she went way above…I thought she was just going to bring his usual and an additional shot of Frangelico for him to DIY. Nope…she made the entire thing herself (or had it made.) I usually get my own dessert off the menu, but today, had to also have a Melona Special! I’m kicking myself for not getting a photo, I guess we’ll have to see her again.

We learned the depth of the water was only 100 meters…this is very shallow. Not a problem shallow, just shallow compared to what is typical. We expect at least 1000 meters Last week we were in an area of 3,500-meters depth.

The show last night was a piano ‘showman’. This is the second time we’ve seen him this cruise and we learned tonight we’ve seen him before. He told a story tonight that I remember hearing before. He started tonight’s show with the theme to the Calgary Olympics…NICE! Brought back lots of memories.

Kathie – great points, I have a video of the instruments, but it’s too big to upload…grrr! Yes, to the toque – we absolutely noticed that too. It definitely wasn’t cold, that’s for sure! I’m not sure what the fruit was, but I’d guess it wasn’t too exotic. From what we’ve seen in Africa, things are pretty similar to what we have at home. For exotic, you have to go to Asia (I think). And about the fisherman and his net…yes, I was lucky to get that shot. I just click away and sometimes get lucky. Yes, the majority of this trip has been humbling.

Lori and Christina - 100 is mind blowing...we can hardly believe it!

June 16 – Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast

Weather

St Paul's with Chris wandering

– 29º, a bit overcast

Steps – 9,244

Humidity – 78%

Country #100! WOW!

Côte d'Ivoire (or Ivory Coast), a former French colony, is in west Africa pop: 32 mil. We are going to Abidjan, which is the largest city, pop: 6.3 mil. Although the official language is French, (we

St Paul's stained glass

could understand a bit) there are 78 languages spoken – wow! Not atypical in the countries we’ve
visited, but still…wow!! 42% are Muslim, 39% are Christian. Education and healthcare are free.

walk-through Banyan tree

Chris and I were discussing poverty last night. It’s an unavoidable issue when visiting this part of the world, but what defines it? Who defines it? None of the guides have really discussed it, until today and even today all we learn is that some people here eat one meal a day. However, that puts things in context a bit.

It is rare that we pay for a tour on Regent, we figure the included ones are fine, unless we really want to see something. All of the tours today were pay ones – very atypical.

Adam and the ant thingy

The for the third day in a row we prepared for rain, thankfully today none came. It rained as we sailed in but once docked…thankfully dry.

Today’s tour was awesome. Not because it was a pay tour, but because it was my kind of tour. My kind of tour included a little taste of a few different stops. We got on a 3x2 bus…I have NEVER seen that before. We made our way to the very back and had the entire 5 seats to ourselves. In fact, we had the last 3 rows to ourselves. The mic worked (including some sweet reverb) and so did the AC.

giant mushrooms growing

Oofi, our guide, had plenty of interesting info to share with us along the way. Plus, no one felt the need to talk over him.  He was pretty funny. Throughout the entire 5 hours we were with him, he must have said: “Are u listen to me? Are u follow me? about a hundred times. I’ve been there! 

We started with a stop at St. Paul’s church. This place is huge. 5,000 capacity – 3500 seated, 1500 standing. We were only here to wander a bit and take some photos.

thief head punishment

Next, we headed to The Botanical Garden of Bingerville – Bingerville is a suburb of Abidjan. This garden is very natural, with some unpaved paths. We followed Adam, the garden’s guide, who showed us various plants and trees.  We saw mango trees, a huge termite hill, and bamboo trees.The most interesting being a fire tree, named because matches are made from its wood, this tree had a huge formation made by ants. There were some large banyan trees, one of which we could walk through!

chief dying after 7 years

The Combes Museum was next on our itinerary. This small museum is in the artist Charles Combes’ former studio. It is filled with busts showing of Ivory Coast history. One showed the punishment thieves would receive – there were no jails, but the offender was fitted with a sort of head piece to show the community he was a thief.

corridor of busts

Chris and I were at the back of the last bus – meaning we were the last to enter the museum. This worked in our favour, as by the time we got there (really only 5 minutes after the first people) most everyone had lost interest if they were ever interested in the first place. We were able to follow Sam, as he interpreted what the guide was saying to only about 5 of us who cared - don't forget this was an extra pay tour!

mancala

The tiny museum was super interesting. There was also a game Sam described as being played only in Africa…ah, beg to differ Sam. I’ve played Mancala with kids at school, I seem to remember it goes along with a book. Any of my school friends remember

typical street scene

or still play this? We almost bought one when we went to the market.

We learned about tribal chiefs who after their 7 year reign, were killed…that was part of the deal.

orphanage

Next was a visit to an orphanage. I wasn’t at all pumped about this visit, but it turned out to be mostly information about the history, who is there, and why. Then we had a short cultural show.

Lastly was a 30 min stop at a Market. This place was quite nice, with mostly authentic items, and the artists working on the spot. As usual, we were determined to find a local beer – mission accomplished. At the entrance to the market was a stall with drinks. We found

the band

a Bock and a Beaufort – both from Ivory Coast. $2USD each we gave them a $5 and were happy! Even $2.50 for a beer is a steal! We were able to walk and drink and browse. It wasn’t a big market and was filled with Regent people. This is where I like to be a small fish in a little pond, filled with many other fish.

dancer

We have essentially bought NO souvenirs from this trip. We are very un-souvenir people. However, we thought this market was the perfect spot. All of the people approached us but were very unaggressive. We saw a couple of bronze sculptures we liked, we tried to

bargain with one guy who wasn’t interested. Then we found Salimata, who promptly claimed me as “my sister!” - what a sales person!

huge toll bridge

 She was lovely, we haggled for a bit and then agreed on $50, plus $5. For some reason she liked the plus part. It wasn’t $55, it was 50+5…ok, sold.

Africa has been relatively calm on the hawkers/sellers front. Other than in

market beers

Madagascar, there has been no where, where sellers are aggressive or even around. We’ve been in other places (India!!!) where sellers know the bus is coming and we have to run a bit of a gauntlet – there has been little to none of this.

shopping with Salimata

I had Mafé for dinner - a west African stew with meat in a peanut sauce, it was good, but like a basic beef stew – not much peanut flavour.

We went to 60s and 70s Name That Tune tonight. We came in third place, just the 2 of us…we didn’t team up.

3 place with just the 2 of us

Côte d'Ivoire

shopping