Africa 2023

Saludos, mis amigos! On this beautiful May 27th, 2023, we arrive in Barcelona, Spain. We disembark the Sojourn for the last time! We fly home to Florida today! Let me step back two days...

Tahiati and Bonjour (Greetings in Arabic and French), On May 24th, 2023, we arrive in Casablanca, Morocco! This is our fourth attempt to visit Casablanca – we finally made it! We have a tour...

Buenas dias for the last time! It is May 22nd, 2023. Today we arrive in Arrecife, Lanzarote! The sun is well up when we pull into port. Since our last visit here the island...

Buenas dias! It is May 21st, 2023, and we are in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, today! This is our third visit to the Canaries, but we don’t remember what we did on our first...

Ola! Today, May 18th, 2023, we are visiting Mindelo on the sleepy island of São Vicente, Cape Verde. This is one island we did not book a ship’s tour – they all go to...

Saudações e Olá (Greetings and Hello in Portuguese)! Today, May 17th, 2023, we arrive at Santiago, the first of two Cape Verde islands. The Cape Verde Islands gave Portugal a stepping stone to the...

Bonjour once again! On May 15th, 2023, we arrive in Dakar. This is a city I’ve been interested in seeing since hearing Ofeibea Quist-Arcton report from here many times on NPR radio! Joy and...

Bonjour! (Yes, they speak French as the primary language in this part of Africa. Creole is the native conversational language.) On May 14th, 2023, we arrive at the industrial port of Banjul. On our...

Kudo again! On May 9th, 2023, we find ourselves approaching Lome, Togo! Togo is a sliver of a country wedged between Benin on the east and Ghana on the west! On my first look...

Kudo! Afo gangia! (Hello two ways in Fon) Today is May 8th, 2023, and we are in Ghana. The port is Tema, but the destination city is nearby Accra. We have a tour today...

Kudo and mi kwabo (greetings and welcome in Fon) from Benin! On May 7th, 2023, we arrive at the port of Cotonou in Benin. Benin is a sliver of a country along the Sea...

Greetings from the Sea of Guinea! Today is May 6th, 2023. At 4:52 AM local time we cross the Equator at the Prime Meridian! That is 0 deg longitude, 0 deg latitude! This is...

Greetings, once again! Today is May 2nd, 2023, and we’ve been invited to tour the ship’s bridge! Feel free to skip this blog if you have no interest. We enter the bridge through the...

Greetings! On April 30th, 2023, we arrive at Walvis Bay. We are here for two days. We come in quietly through the fog. In the fog the seals dance for us! Hundreds of them!...

Greetings! Molo! Today is April 29th, 2023. We are in Luderitz, Namibia, today! Short history – a German named Franz Luderitz persuaded the German government to place this area under German protection. The town...

Molo! it is April 26th, 2023, and we will have two days in Cape Town, South Africa! Percy is a gentleman passenger on this cruise who is from South Africa. He lived near Port...

Imbuliso (Greetings), once again! Today is April 24th, 2023, and we will be in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The tour we have planned is to visit the Pumba Game Reserve where they claim to...

Imbuliso! Molo! (Xhosa for “Greetings! Hello!”) It is April 22nd, 2023, and we arrive in our first port in South Africa, Durban. In this part of South Africa the top four languages are Afrikaans,...

Jambo! Today, April 17th, 2023, we make our first official landing on the continent of Africa!  Woo hoo! As we approach the port we are “racing” this fishing boat. The colors are fun and...

Greetings, again! Jambo! (Hello in Swahili) It is April 14th, 2023, and we spend most of the morning approaching the island city of Zanzibar. I have the Billy Joel song “Zanzibar” running through my...