I write as we parallel the coast of Namibia, SW Africa, heading for Walvis Bay, Namibia. It has been a hectic few days since I last sat here at my keyboard.

After leaving from Maputo and sailing the 35 miles through the sandbanks of Maputo Bay, we turned to the south, heading for Cape Town, South Africa. The time during the transit was filled with social functions, presentations, speeches and dinners while our Executives and families sailed with us.

During my youth I sailed these waters many times, plodding along at 13 knots on cargo ships of the Clan Line and flying along on Passenger Liners of the Union Castle Line. I got to know the waters well, the idiosyncrasies of the powerful currents and where to avoid in poor weather. It was my intention to take a route that gave us the advantage of the Agulhas current; the 2^nd most powerful Ocean current in the world. It varies in width and is not always present in areas where one would expect. In the main, it flows south, along the South African coast and follows the 200 fathom line, (there’s a blast from the past, no-one talks about ‘fathoms’ anymore), so the 400 meters line is more politically correct. It can reach speeds of 5-6 mph, 8-10 kph, so finding and riding it has a distinct advantage. Suffice to say, we found it, at one point making 25 knots, 28 mph, 43 kph with engine configuration for 17 knots!

Before we reached Cape Town, where our Executives would leave, we held our Grand World Voyage party, the theme being the green and gold of the South African Springboks rugby team. Lighting in all the lounges, lashings of food and wine, music playing at every venue made the evening a huge success.

Our arrival in Cape Town was scheduled for 8 a.m. with the pilot at 7 a.m. As we slipped into Table Bay and reported in to the Cape Town port control we were astonished to be told that our berth was not available and we would have to wait. To cut a very long story short, a cargo ship had been tied up in the very place that we were meant to berth; no fault of the Captain, I’m sure, however a major error by the Port Authority. In all my years I have never encountered such a blunder. We then had to wait over 3 hours, going around in circles while the “disorganised tried to get organised”.

3 hours of going around in circles and docking, all in 35 seconds!

Eventually the cargo ship was moved sufficiently to give us room, although they hadn’t exactly been generous with it; the cargo ship ahead and another behind us made for a tight manoeuvre.

3 days and 2 nights in port, gorgeous weather and tours around this wonderful city which I knew so well, tours to the famed wineries, the game reserves and Table Mountain, just to mention a few. There was a vast change from the days I called here regularly; one could walk straight from the dock into the main street, (wide enough for an ox-drawn wagon the turn). Now there were motorways, apartment blocks and skyscrapers in the way. The Victoria and Albert basin still had fishing and tour boats docked in it, but now the area was a vast waterfront attraction; shopping malls, restaurants, museums, markets filled the entire area, a vast tourist attraction and very quaint too.

We had one, final function to perform during our stay. During our South Africa visit of 2014, we were honoured with the presence of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Soweto choir. No choir this time, however the Archbishop and his wife Leah had been invited on board for a dinner and for him to be presented with Holland America’s first ‘Shared Humanity Award’; his Foundation was presented a cheque for $40,000. The Archbishop also attended a talk in our Queen’s Lounge which guests attended.

Our Executives left the following day and we readied ourselves for the next leg of our voyage, north to Walvis Bay.