May 30 – Durban, South Africa

Weather – 24º

Steps – 8,788

Humidity – 64%

Country #94!

approaching

Just after we woke up this morning, we heard the dreaded bing-bang-bong…right into the room – not good. A helicopter would be arriving shortly to medivac someone from the ship. Chris heard the ‘code mike’ (medical emergency) announcement in the night. Anyone on the top 2 decks were told to scram. Well…no pool for us.

second try

Around 9:00 the ship stopped, and the helicopter arrived. It seemed like it took a few tries to get the helicopter landed on the ship. We couldn’t see much from our room. The ship doesn’t have a designated helipad like some ships do. There was no landing. Everything was done from the sky, dropping a paramedic and then raising the patient. We of course didn’t see anything, but Nyoman was our waiter tonight was is on the pool deck because he is the juice man, saw it all, and relayed it to us.

The whole evacuation took about an hour. The helicopter took the patient to the hospital and then had to return for the paramedic, who didn’t go on with the patient. Maybe the ship’s medical staff

went and there wasn’t room for the paramedic…no idea.

Durban street life

We spent the rest of the morning on our back deck. It was very pleasant. We knew the sea conditions were deteriorating and that the seas were getting choppy, but didn’t realize how windy it was. The wind was coming from the front of the boat and us being on the back were completely sheltered. When we went up for Cool by the Pool, it was just that…cool. about a third of the chairs were tied down and the pool spray was being blown over anyone near. Another reason (for today at least) to love our back balcony.

For Cool by the Pool, we typically like to have Aperol Spritzes. These drinks have lots of volume and low alcohol – perfect for pre lunch. As we approached the pool bar, Georgio saw us coming. We sat down said hello and saw that he was preparing 2 Aperol Spritzes. Chris said to me: “think those are for us?” I replied: “if they are, that is

Durban skyline

incredibly impressive”. Guess what??? THEY WERE FOR US!!! I told Georgio what Chris and I just said to each other, and he said: “I see everything” – WOW. Not only does he know our drink preferences, but he also knows WHEN we like to drink WHAT!

We arrived into Durban at about 4PM, our tour wasn’t meeting until 5:45, but we also had to go through South Africa face-to-face immigration – that was painless.

Out evening tour was “Durban City and Costal Drive” ah…well…we saw the city and drove along the coast, but didn’t see a whole lot. The cruise ship terminal was close to downtown where it was obvious we wouldn’t want to be alone. If we were to be on those streets (which we wouldn’t, don’t worry Mom!) we would be the only white people. We didn’t see one white person at all. It also eventually

dawned on me that there was little to no lights on many of the streets and buildings. Even the monuments had no lights, so there was little to see.

We drove along the coast to the town of Ballito – an upscale resort town. We saw little of the town due to it being night, but what we saw were hotels, a mall, restaurants…a resort town.

We saw the stadium built for the 2010 world cup from up close and from a lookout point.

All in all, the tour was a bit of a bust. I was glad to see some of Durban, but will likely see more tomorrow as we leave town for the SAFARI!!!!!!!