Today I had a private dance lesson! All the
other guests had gone ashore. I learnt couple steps which didn't happen much during
the on-board lessons. They were much more geared to line dancing or solo styles.
We had docked in Fort Dauphin
in the early hours of the morning. There
was not much to see if you had not booked an excursion so we had decided to go
ashore at 1 o'clock. The market place was about 300m away but walking in the
unprotected harbour areas was forbidden. There was a shuttle service to the
market place – a misnomer if ever there was one. It was a small enclosed area
with about 12 stalls. The shuttle dropped you at the gate and the gate was
manned by two security guards from Madagascar. As you approached the
gates the beggars tried to besiege you but they were warded off by the guards.
One other guard wandered around the stalls. As you walked you were jostled and
approached with hands extended. It was too depressing. Worse than anything I
had ever seen in South Africa.
I couldn't wait to get back on board.
Leanne, Wayne, Carma and Kai were going
to go to the beach after they saw us safely onto the shuttle. We got back and
about 10 minutes later Leanne and family arrived back. They complained that to
get to the beach you had to walk through a barrage of human's all begging. They
turned tail and caught the next shuttle back.
I had a lovely relaxing afternoon
culminating in watching the ship leave the harbour. The sideway movement of the
ship was almost imperceptible. It seemed to glide away from the dock. As we
were leaving I could see lightning in the distance. At the harbour mouth the
open sea was up to its usual tricks, bucking and rolling!
That night the show featured a guy on a
unicycle and another balancing act.
After the show I went up to deck 11 to see
what was happening. As I got out the lift I heard strange lapping sounds. As I
opened the door to deck 11 a stream of water cascaded towards me (okay it was a
small stream!) and as the ship rolled the stream rolled away. It was pouring
with rain and once again we were in fairly high seas which still managed to
rock me into dream land!
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