The Big Five

February 18, 2009

We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday the 18th around 8 AM. The ship docked at Victoria and Alfred Wharf which was an ideal location as we were 100 yards away from a fabulous shopping center with terrific restaurants. It was a great port for restocking supplies, snacks etc. I even did some clothes shopping. We could buy nearly 10 South African rand for one US dollar and so it was a good deal for us. Everything was very cheap including restaurant food and drink. Reggie was on Dean Duty our first day so we stayed close to home. When on duty it is necessary to carry a cell phone and be prepared to return to the ship immediately if necessary. Therefore we got our shopping done and enjoyed a wonderful lunch right there on the wharf.

There is so much to say about South Africa. It is a country of incredible contrast and political challenges. Before arriving in each country there are always lectures leading up to the port regarding the politics, art, culture and ecology. In addition there is always a preport lecture on particular safety issues and other cultural information that is important. Always Semester at Sea strides to educate students and faculty and staff about appropriate behavior and cultural sensitivity. The goal is to present the best of America and to be good ambassadors. And for the most part these efforts produce the intended results. Often before the port we have a diplomatic briefing by members for the U.S. Foreign Service who board the ship prior to immigration clearance. It was delightful to hear from the U.S. Consul General about our new president’s diplomatic goals for South Africa. She was clearly quite pleased with the new administration.

On our second day we boarded a plane with 38 other students, faculty and staff for Port Elizabeth on the Eastern Cape. From there we were met by a guide and a bus and were driven to Kariega Game Reserve, a private reserve advertised as malarial free. Located on 9000 hectares of land, it offers 5 different ecosystems and the possibility of seeing the Big 5 which are the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. We saw 4 of them up close and personal!
We arrived around 2 and were quickly directed to lunch. The lodge, situated on a hill, looked out over some of the park’s grassland below. It was a beautiful building and partially opened to the environment because it does not have all 4 walls. The food served on a buffet line was fabulous with many local dishes represented. It was very tempting to overeat. After lunch we were ushered to our chalets. Ours had 4 bedrooms and looked out over a deep ravine and when we walked out on our deck, we were greeted by vervet monkeys who lived in the trees overlooking the deck. We were told to meet our driver at 3:45 sharp and so had an hour of rest.















Our driver was a cute Afrikaaner named Juan who knew the area extremely well having grown up on a farm, 20 miles away. He was our driver for the next 2 ½ days and we probably did a total of 15 hours of game driving. Our vehicle was a 10 passenger open land rover with plenty of places to hang on as we went bouncing along the muddy dirt roads around the reserve. We were given strict instructions to never stand up without permission and to follow all instructions from the driver. And most especially not try to talk to the animals by saying “here kitty kitty” or anything else equally stupid. Juan also had a great sense of humor and over the 2 days really entertained and amused us and I believe certain members of our group entertained him as well.

So on our first drive in the evening, we saw lots of antelope such as water buck, kudu, bush buck and impala. We also saw plenty of wildebeest and warthog and zebra. The land was dotted with huge red termite mounds and we saw evidence of aardvark raids on them but never saw the animal itself. We entered the most secure part of the park where the lions and elephants live. Plenty of antelope and other animals of prey grazed here as well. None of the animals are fed and it is up to them to catch their own food. We drove around quite awhile looking for the lions and saw lots of very interesting birds including the Secretary bird which has enormous red plumage and is as big as a turkey. It walks in a very odd manner and occasionally breaks out in a funny run when it sees an insect it wants to eat.














Finally we came upon the pride of lions…first spotting the 4 cubs hanging out under a tree tusseling with each other just the way kittens do. The drivers are all equipped with 2 way radios and ear phones and so communicate when they find something interesting. By this means we found the 2 male lions and a female sitting on a hill looking at some wildebeest on the grasslands below at some distance. They paid little attention to us but eventually she raised up sniffing the air and it was clear she smelled our presence. Our guide mentioned that if they had recognized us as food they would have been all over us. It is quite interesting to sit in an open vehicle just feet away from something that could have me for dinner. We were all awestruck and a little scared. I learned that the male lions are kind of lazy and it is up to the females usually to bring down dinner….but given an easy prey the males will pitch in. They usually expect to have first pick when the eating starts….sound familiar? The cubs get the leftovers.

When were heading out of that area we raised a few warthogs and their offspring and could see they were heading in the direction of the lions. And so when we got to the bottom of the hill we parked and watched the drama that ensued. The warthogs all got away but we could see through binoculars the female stalking them.

We also found a small herd of elephants feeding on prickly pear. There was a little baby that stuck close to its mother and was the epitome of cuteness. Elephants will stampede if they feel threatened. Once again we were able to get pretty close but keep a respectable distance. The bull was further back in the trees but I did not see him. It was fun to watch them pick the pears with their trunks and pop them in their mouths as if they were little cherries. Ouch!

On the other side we found giraffes. The sun was setting. It was quite the quintessential African moment with giraffes silhouetted against a gorgeous sky. On another drive we saw a 3 week old giraffe that rivaled the baby elephant on the cuteness scale. It was really curious too…..kept looking at us. Giraffes will kick in all directions if challenged but were completely uninterested in us…except for the little one.










On another drive we saw rhinos. They are huge and very dangerous. They grazed right up to the vehicle. We could hear them breathing and chewing on grass. They look like the animal version of an armored truck. And we saw two hippos. There is a river flowing through the park and at dusk we went down to it and were able to barely make out a pair of eyes at water level. Later we found one grazing in the grass. They do not eat while they are in the water. They come up on land at night and graze during the cooler hours. The park also has a pair of male Cape Buffalo. We found them grazing along the side of the vehicle trail. One of them was scratching his back on the wire stay connected to a telephone pole. The entire pole was shaking. We eventually had to back up and go a different direction as the driver did not want to provoke an attack. They were mean looking beasts.

On the final night in the park some of the local people who worked in the kitchen prepared an outdoor barbeque and they danced some of their traditional dances and sang songs. Over the course of their performance they managed to pull a lot of us out on the dance floor including Reggie. It was a delightful ending to a spectacular trip.

Next port of call is Port Louis, Mauritius, a volcanic island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. We are really a long way from home now! We will be there for one day on Friday the 27th.

Namibian Experiences

February 18, 2009

We arrived in Walvis Bay, Namibia (23 degrees, 0 minutes S latitude, 14 degrees, 30 minutes E longitude) at 0800 on Valentine’s Day morning. From the ship, you could see over the dockyard and into the Central Namib Desert. Georgia had arranged with a local company, Turnstone Tours, for a tour of the coastline, bird watching, dune driving, and overnight camping in the desert under the stars. Jon Kastendiek and Sarah Swank went with us, so with Georgia, Jackson, and me, we had a party of 5. Our guide was a relocated South African named Wayne Hutchison and he had a six-passenger Land Rove Defender, with a huge luggage rack on the roof – the sort of vehicle designed for safaris. We met him at the Port of Walvis Bay about 10 AM, climbed into the Land Rover, and took off south. Our first stop was to see the greater flamingoes and white pelicans along the Walvis Bay lagoon. These birds and many other species (avocets, for example) were very abundant here. There is a salt works near the lagoon that collects salt by evaporating sea water in expansive ponds that turn pink from the salt-loving bacteria that thrive in them. We drove to the top of a dune about 200 feet high and looked down on the salt works and the lagoon.

Once we left the Walvis Bay area, there were no paved roads, so we were four-wheeling in the sand; Jackson particularly appreciated that! Sand is the defining feature of this landscape. The prevailing southwesterly winds pile it up in huge dunes all along this coast; these dunes south of the lagoon extend right to the sea, and as you go further south, are immense – maybe 1,000 feet high. Wayne said that the “dunes are the memory of the wind.” Leaving the area of the salt works, we drove south along the beach. We saw a number of dead southern fur seal pups. They are weaned at 3 months of age, and many do not survive because they can’t find fish to eat. Sandwich Harbor was an early stopover for ships traveling along the southwest African coast because of the availability of fresh water and a sheltering sand bar.

There are amazing adaptations in the plants found in the various water-limited desert habitats in Namibia. Some have very deep tap roots; others have dew-collecting leaves to take advantage of sea fog generated by warm air moving over the cold Benguela current flowing north from the Antarctic; yet others store water in melon-sized gourd structures.

On the way back north, we saw a jackal sitting on a sand dune, studying us. The guide took us up into the dunes in his amazing Land Rover. We went to the top of a dune that was probably 500 feet high, and rode along its ridge, with steep slopes just to either side. We got out, walked around, and then drove back down. It was rather exhilarating in a terrifying way. Next we drove to a midden, an archaeological site where whale bones, shells, ostrich egg beads, and glass beads dating from the earliest European trading days along this coast could be found.

Back north along the coast past the salt works and then east into the Central Namib desert for about 10 miles and then south again into the Kuiseb River basin, an ephemeral river. Ephemeral rivers are rivers that only run when it rains in the mountains. Since it was raining in the mountains, we had to camp downstream where we could ford the river in the Land Rover if necessary. Along the way in our search for camping site, we saw the dwelling of some Topnaar people. The Topnaar used to be called Hottentots; they are descendants of the Khoi-Khoisin, the earliest humans in Namibia, speakers of a click language of the Khoisan group. Today, they still live in these areas where the ephemeral river provides enough water for certain drought-adapted plants to grow, such as the !Nara. (The “!” is the English symbol for a click sound.) !Nara are melon-like fruit that have many seeds like sunflower seeds. The Topnaar women collect these !Nara and cook their insides (sort of like the stuff in a cantaloupe that you throw away) and collect the seeds for drying. The seedless stuff is converted into a sort of flour for a type of bread.

We pitched camp on a small dune above the Kuiseb River bed. Wayne built a fire and roasted potatoes and white sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and grilled marinated eland steaks for dinner. As an appetizer we had pate from kudu liver. Eland are large antelopes; kudu are smaller ones. We also had wine and beer and bread. Wayne fixed all this while we sat around in canvas chairs drinking beer.

Just before dinner, a small (1 foot or so) puff adder crawled out from under the Land Rover toward us. Puff adders are a species of venomous vipers and are responsible for more deaths in Africa than any other snake. They apparently are very willing to bite you. Wayne shooed it out of camp, while we took photos of the rascal. Wayne had been extolling the virtues of sleeping out under the stars with no tents, just sleeping bags spread on a tarp. A few drops of rain and a large amount of snake paranoia convinced us that we needed tents, so Wayne set up three of them: one for Jackson, one for Georgia and me and another for Jon and Sarah. We crawled in and ‘enjoyed’ the typical night’s sleep outdoors in a tent in a sleeping bag, only waking occasionally to wonder if a snake had crawled in or a hyena was roaming nearby. Just before sleeping, we heard the Topnaar people go by full tilt in their donkey cart down the river bed, despite the fact that it was pitch dark. The next morning while Sarah was seated on the makeshift outdoor toilet seat just behind the nearest dune, three Topnaar men appeared on the top of the largest dune close up, setting Sarah to giggling at the situation. The three headed our way, one of them doing back flips down this huge dune as the quickest way to the bottom.

They came into camp and we met them: Alfred, Rudolf, and Stephen. They were looking for their donkeys that were lost last night when a wheel on their cart broke, aborting their journey. Alfred went off to find the donkeys, Rudolf stayed to help Wayne break camp, and Stephen led Jackson, Georgia, Jon, Sarah, and me down the river bed, and taking a short cut, high over a very large dune into the valley below where two Topnaar women were processing !Nara collected nearby. They had set up camp under a tree with weaver bird nests in it and would probably stay there a month or so, accumulating a cache of !Nara seeds to sell, one of their few sources of money. We listened to Stephen talk to these two women in Damara, and we were able to hear the clicks characteristic of these Khoisan language. The Damara and Topnaar are related.

We drove back into the Walvis Bay area and then north along the road that parallels the railroad on the east side of Dune 7. Just before Swakopmund, we turned east in the Central Namib Desert to see the Welwitchsia, a two-leafed desert plant that Darwin called the “platypus of the plants”, because it is halfway between a gymnosperm and an angiosperm. Talk about sexual ambiguity! The desert is pretty much what you imagine, only more so in person. The Welwitchsia are even much older than me since they live for as long as a thousand years; however in the course of that time, nothing much really exciting goes on, as far as I could tell from looking at one.

We drove into Swakopmund for lunch, Wayne’s treat. I think the alternative was he would have to make lunch for us, and it was easier for him to buy it at his pal’s German luncheonette. We then bought some curios (we would call them souvenirs), such as carved hippos, woven baskets, and such. Swakopmund is a bit of Germany plopped down on the coast, a charming little gingerbread sort of a town, a relic of Germany’s control of the region as a colony called Southwest Africa. We then drove south along the coast back to Walvis Bay, where we had a beer in the Walvis Bay Yacht Club, and listened as Wayne played his guitar and sang his elephant song.

The next day, we took a tour out to Pelican Point where we went sea kayaking among the southern fur seals. Jackson and I had a two-seat kayak, and we were out in the ocean near the beach surrounded by hundreds of seals.

We arrive in Cape Town in about 30 minutes, ready for more adventures. Noon today 27 49 S; 15 45 E; 64 F air, 61 F water.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Jon, Reggie and Jackson in Namibia








February 12th

The scientists on board all thought that it was rather auspicious, that we were in the vicinity of the Equator on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. And so we celebrated and sang “Happy Birthday”. Jon Kastendiek, a biology professor, gave a wonderfully entertaining lecture about the man who was behind the science. He told us amusing and sad stories about Darwin’s family life and the struggles he encountered as he painstakingly built his case for the scientific revelations for which he is so well known.



Consistent with his role as Academic Dean, Reggie has instituted a new column which appears daily in The Dean’s Memo. Below are his thoughts on the occasion of Darwin’s birthday.

From the Crow’s Nest
Some comments on Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday…

In profound ways, our own journey is evocative of Charles Darwin’s 5-year voyage on HMS Beagle. Like him, we set out to understand the world we live in, carrying with us the hope of putting what we are to learn into rational form. Darwin used his voyage as a vehicle to explore biology and geology. Reflection and study for some 20 years after he returned home culminated in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, which enjoys its 150th anniversary this year. Despite the intervening century and a half, Darwin’s ideas are not broadly accepted at home: An August 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center found that only 26% of Americans say that life evolved solely through processes such as natural selection. Doubtlessly, the 63% of Americans who openly reject the theory of evolution find little fault with the theory of gravity. While we understand very deeply and can speak with great authority about the scientific mechanisms that underlie evolution, we are woefully ignorant regarding the mechanistic basis of gravity. Verlyn Klinkenborg comments in today’s New York Times: “...Cultural opposition to evolution [is] scientifically irrelevant. Perhaps the persistence of opposition to evolution is a reminder that culture is not biological, or else we might have evolved past such a gnashing of sensibilities. In a way, our peculiarly American failure to come to terms with Darwin’s theory and what it’s become since 1859 is a sign of something broader: our failure to come to terms with science and the teaching of science.” Science is not a belief system; it is a system whose purpose is to investigate ideas and reach testable conclusions that provide a factual basis for understanding the world, as evolution does.


One comment about timing....in reality we are about to arrive in South Africa. Tomorrow morning at 8AM, we will be steaming into what I hear is a gorgeous harbor. We will be on the bow of the ship to greet Cape Town. I am still trying to assimulate Namibia which is a fabulous country to visit and plan to post the blog as soon as I have some time to spare.

Sum Sum Summertimmmmme

Neptune Day-February 9th

At about 0800 the ship’s crew marched thru the passageways, summoning all polliwogs to the Pool Deck for our initiation into Neptune’s World. This ceremony began as a seafaring tradition sometime around the 16th century and was originally intended as a test for new seamen to determine their seaworthiness. This strikes me as a bit odd because by the time they got around to testing their fitness at the Equator, it was too late if they failed the test and proved to be unseaworthy. In any event at the crossing of the Equator, the ships of yore would heave (hove?) to, which meant that the sails would be set in such a way that the ship would be stationary. At that point the polliwogs were hoisted on the mainyard and dunked in the ocean some 40 feet below. This was followed by other sorts of hazing and as well as rowing if the trade winds were not available.

Here’s what happened on the MV Explorer. King Neptune and his court presided over the activities on the pool deck. At 0900 all Equatorial newbies, myself and Jackson included, lined up and two members of the crew who looked like they were enjoying themselves, proceeded to pour an iced concoction on our heads one after the other. Even at the Equator it can be cold…and it was. After that we had to kiss a dead fish which happened to be a mackerel. Then we had to set our kissing lips upon King Neptune’s (played by none other than our illustrious Captain) ring, and you guessed it, give it a kiss. After bowing to Queen Minerva, we jumped into the pool to rinse off the cold concoction and when we climbed out we were dubbed true Shellbacks by a member of the King’s Court. As part of the ceremony some voyagers shaved their heads including a member of the faculty and a woman in her 70’s who is a lifelong learner. Since this was optional, I declined.

Neptune Day was declared a free day with no classes and so after the ceremonies, students sunbathed or studied. We had a day of rest and it was used for catching up. For the professors, it meant finally having time to write quizzes and grade papers. We had a barbeque on the pool deck and watched the full moon rise over ocean.







Tuesday, Feb. 10th

Actually we did not cross the Equator until today around 3:20 PM. Before we arrived at zero degrees latitude we reached a cruising speed of 28 knots with all four engines running at full capacity. We had a rooster tail of ocean spray rising up off the stern. It was quite dramatic. No one volunteered to try the water skis.

The Captain announced over the loud speaker that when the ship actually crossed the line, he would give a long blast of the ship’s horn. He warned that we might feel a slight bump when we crossed the equatorial line and the ship would probably vibrate due to the fact that the drains would all be reversing the direction of flow. But he assured us that no harm would come to pass.
It’s summertime!

The Marrakesh Express

February 5th-Heading back to the ship. Jon Kastendiek & Sarah Swank are in the background.

We did not go to Marrakesh but we took the express train which travelled to Casablanca and through to Marrakesh. The Moroccan trains are fantastic, fast and efficient and not at all expensive. In fact if you speak a little French and read up on the cultural norms and customs, this is an easy country to visit.

Mostly Muslim, the Moroccans are incredibly polite and friendly. They are not rich but they are very happy and generous and speak kindly of Americans. They are quite excited about Obama and everyone I met from the taxi drivers to the shopkeepers mentioned his name with great excitement. It seems that people all over the world feel relief and hope that the U. S. has turned a critical corner. I hope we don’t let them down.

In Morocco I did not experience any kind of threat to my person or felt any fear. I have received so much from these brief few days and feel that I have a much broader understanding and appreciation for a country about which I knew so little. Judging from the comments I have heard from other voyagers, it sounds as if this has been a common experience among us all.





Purchasing skull caps at Volubilis.

Amazing Morocco

In real time we are sitting in the harbor at Dakar, Senegal which is nearly the western most point of the continent of Africa, bunkering once again. This puts us squarely in the tropics at 15 degrees north. I am sitting in our cabin looking out over the ocean and Goree Island which is reputedly where Africans were gathered before they were exported off into slavery back in the 18th and 19th century.

But I digress.......

February 5, 2009

After a disappointing beginning in Morocco, we had an incredible experience in this beautiful country. Disappointing, because we arrived 12 hours late due to bad weather, and did not get to have dinner with Malika Ouensa’s family in Casablanca.

There is no way to adequately describe the experience I had stepping out of a taxi at Place el a Hakim in Meknes at 5PM. It is an enormous ancient square and it was full of mostly men wearing long dark robes with hoods and women wearing long blouses over pants and head scarves. We stuck out like 5 sore thumbs! Ignoring us, the people were playing music, watching street performances, shopping, eating, begging or selling their wares. I felt as if I had stepped out of a car and into the 8th century. It took my breath away.

We found our way through narrow, dark streets, more like passage ways, to the Ryad Bahia where we stayed for 2 nights. This is the Moroccan version of a bed and breakfast and is usually always located in the medina or the old part of the city. In Morocco it is always quite surprising to walk into a home from the street. Beyond the doorway, one discovers an extraordinary and ornate courtyard with mosaic tiles and fountains, greenery and pillows for sitting. Check it out.

http://www.ryad-bahia.com/fr/index.php?afficher=presentation

The Moroccans offer superb hospitality which is always initiated by an offering of hot mint tea which is such a pleasant respite after the challenges of travel in such a foreign place.

Before our arrival at the Ryad, we visited Volubilis, Roman ruins located about 24 km from Meknes. At the train station, we negotiated a price for a grand taxi to take us to the ruins, wait for us and deliver us to the medina. Travelling with our friends, Sarah and Jon, we packed into this old Mercedes like sardines and drove through the countryside with this wonderful, gracious man who stopped at all the panoramic overlooks for photos. We mostly communicated in French (that is, Reggie did) which is the second language of Morocco, Arabic being the first.

Volubilis was founded by the Romans in 25 BC and served as an outpost for the Roman Empire for 200-300 years. Now it is only occupied by storks that are nesting on top of some of the ancient columns that are still standing. Along with the French, the Moroccans have been excavating and restoring these ruins since 1963 and still much remains buried under mounds of dirt. We hired another guide to take us through the ruins and he showed us the basilica, forum and some remnants of homes owned by the wealthy Patricians many of which had restored mosaic floors. It is quite a humbling experience to stand in the midst of such antiquity.

On the next day we visited Morocco’s second Imperial City, Fes, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a short train ride from Meknes. While on the train we met Ahmed who called his friend Hajj Rashid, who met us at the train station and whom we hired as a guide for the day. Later comparing notes with fellow voyagers, we determined that there is a real business working the trains to find tourist who need guides. And need a guide we did!! The souk (market) in Fes is a warren of 8000 streets with no names that I could see. The streets are more like are tiny dark, passage ways, lined with 3-4 story attached buildings. We would still be wandering around there trying to find our way out if not for Hajj Rashid. The tiny streets are filled with shops, merchandize, people and donkeys carrying goods. We visited a rug cooperative, a shop full of brass and bronze engraved plates and vessels, and a tannery where we saw them curing and dying leather on the roof tops of several buildings. It was here that I bought a leather coat and was told that I did a good job bargaining.

The food markets in Meknes and Fes are a full frontal assault of all the senses. Life at its most intense…all varieties of dates and olives stacked in pyramids, spices piled up in cone like shapes like sand castles, live chickens squaking on their way to the plucking machines, hanging sides of beef and pork, a real camel’s head marking the camel meat vendor, and candies and pastries that would put Willie Wonka to shame. It was an EYES WIDE OPEN experience and there is nothing in my memory bank that compares.

Andalucia

As you can see I am backtracking to fill in the holes. It would be great to keep this in real time but it is simply not possible.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

It is hard to believe that January has come to an end and so has our stay in Spain. Cadiz is an elegant seaport and in fact is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It was founded by the Phoenicians in 1100 B.C. and was called Gadir and later was conquered by the Romans. The Moors occupied Spain beginning around 800 AD and were kicked out in 1492. After the Americas were discovered, the merchants of Cadiz, positioned themselves to have a monopoly on the Spanish-American trade. It had its golden age during the 18th century. Many of the older structures were destroyed by a tsunami which followed an earthquake in Lisbon and then later by an earthquake. The people of Cadiz have an independent streak and enjoy celebrating whenever they can find the opportunity. They are proud of the fact that they got around Franco’s prohibition of Carnival….by having it underground the week after the official Carnival that kicks off Lent. Now they celebrate Carnival for 2 weeks, first the official celebration and then the “illegal” celebration.

We visited the so called white towns of Arcos and Ronda. Each is built on the side of a hill with narrow streets lined with white washed buildings. Both have cathedrals at the top of the hill which were originally built by the Moors to be mosques. After the Moors were kicked out of Spain, the buildings were converted to cathedrals. In the cathedral in Ronda, there is the original arch entrance to the mosque which is a fine example of the geometric arabesque plaster style, typical of Moorish architecture.

One striking feature of Arcos is that the main street is lined with Seville orange trees, pruned in an ornamental fashion and loaded with oranges. I can only imagine what it must be like to stroll down that street in Spring when the orange trees are in bloom.

In Ronda there is the Plaza de Toros, the oldest bull ring in Spain. It was here that the rules and customs of bull fighting were first established and which are practiced to this day. The early bull fighters are highly venerated and their statues are prominently displayed. Today this bull ring is only used twice a year for bull fighting. It is a beautiful example of Spanish architecture and our guide told us that a few years ago Placido Domingo sang in a performance of Carmen there. What an amazing experience that must have been, and in my opinion, far preferable to bull fighting.

In Ronda there are fantastic views of the surrounding orange and olive groves below and the town is split by a very deep ravine. The two sides are connected by a “new” bridge, built in the 18th century and an old bridge built in the 14th century by the Moors. The new bridge also housed a prison and is infamously portrayed in Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls.

On our last full day we visited Donana National Parc which is essentially an island at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. This park is only accessible by boat and they allow less than 300 visitors a day in order to protect the fragile habitats. It is a major resting point for birds migrating north and south between Europe and Africa. From a distance we saw a huge flock of pink flamingos and various types of geese. We saw plenty of wild boar which our guide called “wild pork”. They were surprisingly hairy and large. The park has incredible sand dunes which are constantly moving and swallowing up the pinyon pine trees in their path. On the other side of the dunes lies a beautiful, long and empty beach which I think looks due east to Cape Hatteras.

It is time to move on. Hasta la vista!

Rocking and Rolling out of Casablanca Last Night

0900, Friday, 6 February

The port in Casablanca is protected by a sea wall and the entrance is very narrow. It is quite amazing how such large ships can pass through. Because of the angle of the seawall, the ship must move parallel to the incoming surf. At the end of the sea wall the ship must travel some distance before turning into the swells.

The worst of it lasted about 5 minutes. We rode it out in the lounge and watched the very heavy furniture slide from one side of the room to the other. I was sitting on what I thought was a safe place but at one point found myself sliding on my back across the room with the furniture. Fortunately nothing hit me. In our cabin the very large TV came off its secure attachment and rolled across the room. In Reggie’s office the entire desk turned upside down. He is not sure whether the computer survived. Half of my books fell off the shelves and covered the floor of the little textbook center.

Such is the life on the high seas. The crew is used to this and expects it. We land based creatures are still learning how to cope and organize ourselves around such inconveniences. The ship is still rolling quite a bit and I am looking forward to calmer seas which I have heard are coming. But how can I complain too much when we are headed for summer?

I am still working on Spain and Morocco. Hopefully calmer seas will give me some opportunity to finish my entries. But now I have to go to work.

Au revoir

Espana Will Have to Wait: The Rock

Sunday, 1405

Current heading 71 degrees; Lat 36 degrees 9N;
Long 005 degrees 13W; Speed 1.4 knots

Right now we are passing the Rock of Gibraltar and entering the port, where we will bunker (refuel). This photo was taken from our cabin. The seas are rough and the weather is horrible. As a result the port has been closed for hours and we have been waiting on the leeward side of the straights. Apparently there are many ships waiting in line for fuel and I am not sure where we are in the lineup. The weather may result in a delay of our arrival in Casablanca. The ship really rolled a lot last night and I could hear things moving and falling in other cabins. Walking under such conditions can be rather humorous because sometimes one ends up walking sideways to go forward and the most direct route between A and B is a zigzag route. But everyone was in bed and we were all out of harm’s way. Because of the rough seas the Captain has ordered all portals on deck 2 to be covered. Tonight we should have an interesting ride to Casablanca.

Actually I have just learned that we are still in a holding pattern and we are not headed into Port. The mantra on this ship is flexibility and I have had to learn and relearn how to be truly flexible. And as such I am still composing my Spain entry and so that will come later…..hopefully before we leave Casablanca.