Postcard from the Indian Ocean, February-April 2009

I arrived in Cape Town early on Friday 13th February and was driven into Town. My apartment wasn’t available until 11am so I did a food shop at Pick ‘n’ Pay before settling into my little apartment. Spent a few hours in the sunshine in the afternoon, and then went back to the Waterfront to get myself a pay-as-you go Sim card for my mobile. That evening my friend Colin came around for a drink. The next few days were spent quietly by my pool with the odd foray into the Waterfront to wander around the shops. Later in the week I met up with an old friend from Cape Town for lunch and on the Friday my guide/friend Colin took me on a wonderful day trip to Paternoster on the West Coast. We spent the day travelling all the way up there, stopping for a coffee at a local cultural centre for coffee and then for a glass of vino at Langebaan, before driving on to Paternoster where we lunched at the delightful Paternoster Lodge overlooking the beautiful bay. We got back home for a glass on my balcony at the end of the day. A truly wonderful day. I spent the next few days by the pool in glorious sunshine, then on Tuesday 24th I met with Colin and his wife Wendy and we went up into the Winelands for a wine tasting and then for lunch at Ernie Els’ restaurant Guardian Peak which was another enjoyable day. Spent a few more days by the pool and met up with my friend June again for lunch in Camps Bay and then it was time to embark on Discovery.

On Saturday 28 February Colin and Wendy picked me up and we went to Haut Bay for lunch. Sadly Colin was taken ill during lunch and whipped into hospital. So Wendy drove me back to the Marina, where I picked up my luggage and embarked on Discovery. After a quiet night on board woke up to a glorious day, during which the temperature reached the 100 degree mark – too hot even for me! Spent the day reading on deck. In the evening we departed at 18.30 and had the most magical and memorable departure. It was a glorious evening, and we had an escort of a pod of whales as well as seals playing with the ship as though they were dolphins, and a beautiful sunset to boot!

After a day at sea we arrived at Port Elizabeth at 7am Tuesday 3 March and by 8am I was off to Addo National Park to see the Addo Elephant – had a great morning, seeing many elephants and lots of small game as well. Was back at the ship by 13.30, so spent the afternoon soaking up the sunshine. Early on Wednesday we arrived in East London – I took the shuttle into Town but we were taken to a shopping centre so I went straight back to the ship and spent the day on board. We left for Durban at 2pm, and arrived the next morning at 7.30am.

At 09.45 I met up with my friend Vickie, and she drove me up to Pietermaritzburg and onwards. En route we had a coffee at her house in Gillitts, and then drove through the Midlands Meander to meet up with her friend Clary at the Cooking Bear for the most delicious lunch. We all had a wonderfully fishy Fish Pie [!] and I followed it with a Don Pedro, a delicious creamy liquor drink! After that Vickie drove me to Hilton where we had a cup of coffee with her daughter Kate, and then she drove me back the ship, where I had a relaxing evening in my cabin. We didn’t sail until 23.00 that evening so I gave ‘departure’ a miss that time and went to bed!

On Friday 6th March we called into Richards Bay, and our pilot arrived by helicopter, so was up early to watch that! Otherwise it was another rubbish day, like East London, unless you have excursions to one of the safari parks. I took the shuttle bus into the town but stayed 20 minutes and took the bus back to the ship as there was nothing to see. Spent the afternoon on deck, and then watched the pilot take back off again by chopper

On Saturday we arrived slightly late in Maputo, Mozambique, but by 10.15 I was off on a City Tour. Maputo is a delightful little city with the locals rather too enthusiastically trying to sell us their wares! I toured all the major sites, such as the Polana area, the Eiffel Railway Station, the Cathedral, the Natural History Museum and local markets and also went out to the Costa do Sol to see their local beach. We departed at 6pm and had a beautiful evening view of the City on departure.

After three days at sea doing nothing much more than soak up the sunshine, we arrived atReunion at noon on Wednesday 11 March. Having been there before I stayed on the ship that afternoon and relaxed with my book! The next morning I took the shuttle into the capital, St Denis, and took a walk around the little town. Back to the ship for a quiet afternoon on board and then watched us depart with a beautiful sunset. In the evening I was invited to a very good dinner party by Andrea, the Cruise Director in the Yacht Club – my first fun evening! Early on Friday 13th March we arrived in a very very wet Port Louis, Mauritius. I went over to the Waterfront mid morning and bought some postcards, but otherwise stayed tucked up on the ship all day. The next morning was much brighter, so I took myself over to Port Louis by waterboat and walked around Port Louis for an hour or so to remind myself of some of the sights, and then spent the afternoon soaking up the sunshine on the ship. It was a day for a passenger change over so new faces on the ship in the evening, and another fairly grizzly lot of table companions! At least my Australian friend, Kay, who has been sitting with me for two weeks, was still there.

On Sunday 15th March we sailed for the Seychelles, missing out Madagascar where they are still fighting one another! So we then had two days enjoying the very calm seas of the Indian Ocean with a few whales and dolphins, before arriving at Praslin in the Seychelles. By 9.30am on Wednesday 18th I was on a tender and then a shuttle and off to one of their lovely beaches, with soft white sand and turquoise blue sea. I had a wonderful day in the sunshine, just swimming and walking the beach. In the evening I met up with my newly found Australian friend Kay. She came to my cabin for drinks and then we dined together in the Yacht Club away from our ghastly dinner table! During the evening we arrived at Mahé Island and berthed in Port Victoria. The next morning I went on an organised excursion around Port Victoria and North Mahé. It was an enjoyable if humid morning visiting the Botanical Gardens, the town of Port Victoria, and around the coast. We stopped at Beau Vallon for a drink and a swim before returning to the ship. Sadly the afternoon was rather a wet one, so took to my cabin with my book! The following morning we left Port Victoria at 5am and arrived at La Dique at 7.30am. I took a tender ashore at 9.15 and once ashore at La Passe, the capital of La Dique, I managed to get on a Camionette [a type of small bus] and went to Anse Source d’Argent beach – this is one of the world’s most renowned beaches. Fortunately I was there ahead of the masses so got some good photos before everyone else arrived. Spent the day on the beach, hopping in and out of the water. Decided to walk back to La Passe and photo the island as I walked. Met up with some Discovery friends en route so joined them for a drink at a nice little hotel on the waterfront. Got back to the jetty around 4.30 and took the next tender back to the ship.

For the next three days I sat peacefully on the sun deck reading my books as we crossed the Indian Ocean which was so calm it looked like a millpond. The only small excitement was crossing the Equator, but Discovery has a rather strange ‘Crossing the Line’ ceremony, which was not worth watching!! Early on the morning of Tuesday 24 March we cruised into the Maldives and anchored off the capital Malé. I took a tender in at 8.30am and spent a couple of hours wandering around the little town, but it was very very hot – almost 100 degrees in the shade! My T-shirt was completely soaked on my return to the ship! At one o’clock we set sail for India.

On Thursday 26 March, after another day and a half at sea, we arrived in India at the little port of Vasco da Gama in Goa. It was very humid and rather overcast on arrival although the sun did come out once I set off on a tour. I went on a fascinating drive to Old Goa and the capital, Panjim, seeing how real India lives! We visited the old cathedrals in Old Goa, and in Panjim, walked around the town and the very colourful market before returning to the ship. Unfortunately we were berthed right next door to the place that they load coal and ore on to the ships so Discovery and all of us on board got very black! We sailed at 5pm for our final port, Mumbai. That evening I had a lovely Indian dinner in the Yacht Club with Mohammed, the headwaiter from Minerva! Around 10am the next morning we sailed into Mumbai. I took myself to Colabar Causeway to buy some materials and then back to the ship to start my packing!

Early on Saturday 28 March I left Discovery and I have to say I was glad to get off. I did not enjoy the ship this time. It appears to have gone down hill since I was last on board, and I shall definitely not go back. It was sloppy and inefficient and not even the Captain bothers to put his hat on whilst on the Bridge. The excursions were horrendously expensive so I only managed four in the month on board, and they were all rather chaotic. The organisation of seating in the dining room was a farce and I had some pretty bad tables. The Captain was often quite rude to me and to others and it was the first time in 9 cruises with Discovery [and 23 with Minerva, who are under the same ownership] that I have not been invited to the Captain’s table.! In spite of all of this I did enjoy some of the places that we visited!

With 59 others[!] I then travelled to Mumbai Domestic Terminal and flew up to Delhi. From there it was a seven and a half hour bus journey to Agra, with a stop for lunch and a comfort stop! It was an amazing journey seeing India in the raw – we saw ladies in vibrant saris, men in turbans, men having a pee whenever and wherever they felt like it, sleeping bodies all over the place, every kind of animal you can imagine – cows, horses, dogs, ox and carts, sheep, goats, ducks and even camels and an elephant – all wandering all over the place, then there were tuc tucs, mopeds and bicycles by the dozen, often with whole families on board or carrying beds or ladders or whatever, and we saw truck loads of ladies in their colourful saris, food and vegetable stalls everywhere, and not to mention mounds of cowpats [used for fuel]!!

On arrival at the Sheraton Hotel I did a quick change, had some supper and then sorted my room out before collapsing into my lovely bed! Next morning, Sunday 29 March we set off at 8am for the Fatehpur Sikri . On our journey this Sunday morning we had a marvellous insight into the Indian Sunday morning! Along the wayside we saw them having their breakfast, having their shave, having their hair washed and generally living life along the roadside! We saw lots more animals – monkeys, peacocks, pigs, water buffalo, donkeys and carts as well as camels and carts, to name but a few! Cowpats were being sold everywhere, and then we saw the girls making them – up their elbows in manure making the cowpats and putting them out to dry! Of course also along the way we saw children playing cricket everywhere!

Eventually we arrived at the citadel of Fatehpur Sikri. It is not unlike walking through the Forbidden City as you walk through this abandoned city – an amazing morning. From here it was back via a craft shop to the hotel where I had a swim instead of lunch! In the afternoon we headed for Agra Fort – this incredible place is smaller than Fatehpur Sikri, but fascinating, and from there we got some incredible views of the Taj Mahal. The Red Fort to me was more beautiful from the outside than it was from the inside. Then at 4.30 we arrived at the Taj Mahal itself. We had to go through incredible security to get inside, but once there we spent two hours enjoying the wonders of this ‘love’ monument. Sadly the sunset never happened, instead the sky got darker as the afternoon went on, and we left just before a thunderstorm arrived, but the afternoon light on the Taj was completely different to the evening light that we saw before we left, and you could see how this monument changes colour with the atmosphere around it. A memorable afternoon. Our evening for an outside dinner was cancelled because of the weather, so we had a dinner in the hotel, and were all presented with miniatures of the Taj!

Very early on Monday morning we returned to the Taj for sunrise – this was a spectacular site, more especially because there were very few people there. It was all quite magical and because it was so quiet I even managed to get a ‘Lady Di’ moment. I sat on her seat and a visitor took my photo for me! Then we returned to the hotel for breakfast before starting our long but fascinating journey back to Delhi. We stopped at a craft centre to start with, but I stayed on the bus, and then we drove for another three hours before we had some lunch. Then on to Delhi by 4.30, and we were then taken on an orientation tour of the city – seeing the sights of Old and New Delhi and seeing the life of the local people. We eventually arrived at the Crowne Plaza Hotel by 7pm, had a quiet dinner and a relatively early night!

This post cruise trip to the Taj Mahal was OK but being with 59 other passengers was a bit of a nightmare! I was glad to get out of the Crowne Plaza on the morning of Tuesday 31 March and travel over to the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi, where I had a lovely room with a fantastic view over Delhi and I then spent the afternoon by their lovely pool. Had a good meal in their coffee shop in the evening.

The next day I luxuriated in the Taj Hotel – breakfast in bed, lay by the pool all day, and then supped in my room in the evening! On Thursday morning I spent a few hours by the pool before taking a taxi over to the British High Commissioner’s Residence to spend a couple of days with my friends, Dickie and Arabella Stagg. After a lunch party by the pool I spent the afternoon by their pool. The next 24 hours was a social whirl in the High Commission before returning home on the day flight from Delhi on Saturday.