Welcome To Port Elizabeth - Day 33

Several pictures from today’s shore excursion at an Elephant Park.

Four pictures from last evening. This includes two pictures at the front of the fountain by the Crystal Cove, a third picture from the Captains Welcome Reception with friends Bob and Glo, Rabbie Morrie and Gerri, and World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston and one picture of the dinner entrée that Keith ordered which was fresh Halibut and a small portion of the fresh South African Lobster.

A few friends have written to ask for an update on Keith’s ankle. He was hoping to be back to normal by now but that is not the case. His ankle itself still hurts and the bone is quite sore. The small toes are purple.

The good news is that the other purple area that was on the side of his foot is gone. The other good news is that the swelling of his foot and ankle are almost completely gone. And the other good news is that we know it could have been worse.

We received a booklet in our room about the World Games that takes place on the ship very soon. Keith will limit himself to those items that do not require much effort for his ankle.

We enjoyed a wonderful time on the ship last evening. The attire for the evening was formal and everyone looked so wonderful in his or her formal attire. We always look forward to the formal evenings on board the ship and it is so nice to see everyone all decked out in formal attire. We are glad that Crystal Cruises continues to hold true to the tradition of formal nights on each voyage. Given the length of this leg of the world cruise we will have four formal nights on this leg.

We began our evening in the Main Dining Room and last nights menu was the Gala Formal Dinner. Anne Marie enjoyed the Broiled Fresh South African Rock Lobster. Keith enjoyed the Fresh Atlantic Halibut and also had a small portion of the Lobster. We also enjoyed our standing order of steamed vegetables and Keith also had a small order of Brussel Sprouts.

Other entrée choices included Chateaubriand, and Pink Roasted Squab Breast. Other traditional fare items were offered including Grilled New York Sirloin Steak and Kosher Roast Half Chicken.

While we have had the fresh Main Lobster and the fresh Australian Lobster over the years, this was our first time trying the fresh South African Lobster. This lobster is somewhat different in the actual size of the lobster meat and it does not have claws. Our Headwaiter, Augusto, compared it to a type of Lobster from the Mediterranean whose name we can’t quite remember.

Anne Marie had the Captain’s Salad, which was very tasty and Keith had a salad that he has often which the Pedja special orders for him. We did not have an appetizer but the choices included caviar, foie gras, oysters and a fresh fruit cup. There were also soups to choose from including cappuccino of porcine mushrooms or a clear oxtail soup. If one was still hungry other choices included a pasta special and even a salad entrée. We did finish our dinner with a bowl of blueberries for Anne Marie and a bowl of mixed berries for Keith.

We understand that Lobster was the most popular entrée ordered last evening.

Rather then rushing around to get to the Captain’s Welcome Reception that took place before the meal, we went to the one at 7:45 PM, which was mainly for those who have late dining. We did go through the receiving line so that we could give our best to Captain Glenn, to Hotel Director Josef and to Cruise Director Rick Spath.

Once we made it through the receiving line we were warmly greeted by many members from the Lido Deck Area and staff from some of the other areas on the ship that had drinks in hand. We sat down and ordered a drink at the table where we were assisted by Clark alias Super Man. Clark is one of the infamous Lido Deck Stewards who we mention from time to time who not only has a great sense of humor but always a very nice smile on his face. In a blink of an eye he brought each of us a glass of wine that we ordered.

These are always very nice events as we get to sit and talk with some of our fellow passengers while enjoying a drink of our choice. We also enjoyed listening to the live band followed by the introduction of this leg of the World Cruise from Captain Glenn. Captain Glenn also introduced some of the officers. This included the Vice Captain, Hotel Director Josef, Cruise Director Rick Spath and the Doctor who Keith has come to know better than he would have thought.

Captain Glenn gave a very nice talk welcoming those who joined the ship in Cape Town along with wishing everyone a wonderful cruise. As he say often, if one wants to have a great time on the cruise they will. We feel the same way.

We sat with friend Bob and Glo and friends Rabbi Morrie and his lovely wife Gerri. World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston sat with us for a few minutes and we also spoke with Destination Lecturer Ken Rees and his lovely wife Lynne, along with Golf Pro John Clarke and his lovely wife Pauline, and other guests who we have come to know quite well. We had a wonderful time as we do at each and every reception. The Head of Housekeeping stopped by and she asked how Keith’s ankle was doing. She was one of the members of the crew who Keith had been playing Paddle Tennis with from time to time.

This morning we arrived to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. This is our first visit to this port of call and is a maiden port of call for Crystal Cruises.

Port Elizabeth is located at the Garden Route. This area of South Africa is famous for its outstanding beaches and its tropical climate. Many consider this port to be the water sports capital of South Africa. Its features include scuba diving, fishing and kite-boarding. This is clearly a major tourist destination.

This area is also well known for its Wildlife, which can be observed at several locations. One such location is Addo Elephant Park which is where we visited today.

The population of this area is approximately 1.3 Million people. As such, it is one of the largest cities in all of South Africa and is situated on the Eastern Cape Province. It is also referred to as “The Windy City” and also as “The Friendly City”.

The language that is mainly spoken is IsiXhosa, which is followed by Afrikaans followed by English. Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 and initially was home to British settlers.

This morning we woke very early to get ready for our day at this port of call as we had a fairly early tour.

Keith arrived first to the Fitness Center and once again worked out one of the Stationary Bikes. He worked out for along for quite some time but before he finished my workout fellow passenger and friend John arrived along with the Executive Chef. While Keith does prefer the Elliptical Machine to the Bicycle, he does feel as if he is getting a good workout on the stationary bicycle and his thrilled that he can do more than just lift weights. J

Keith arrived first to the Fitness Center and once again worked out one of the Stationary Bikes. He worked out for along for quite some time but prefer the Elliptical Machine over all of the other machines I do feel

Keith stopped by the Lido Café on his way back to the room with some coffee for himself and coffee for Anne Marie since she was not working out this morning. He spoke with several of the Lido Deck Stewards who were already setting up the breakfast and this included Earl, Raymond, and Ross.

When Keith arrived back to the room breakfast was already set up. As we ordered the Breakfast for delivery before Alexander comes on duty he had made arrangements for the breakfast to be delivered by the person who works the night shift. Everything was set perfectly as it always is. We do order a rather simple breakfast and it is nice to enjoy it in our room.

This morning, we took the Addo Elephant Park Excursion offered by Crystal Cruises. This elephant park is home to some 450 elephants which were bred from the few that remained after the herd was decimated during the 1920’s be the hired game hunter, Major P.J Pretorious.

As part of this tour we were taken from the pier to the park in a motor coach. Once we arrived at the park, we boarded a 4x4 open vehicle with a canvas roof, which offered protection from the sun while also offering us nice views of the scenery all around us.

We spent two hours in the 4x4 vehicle as we were driven all around this park.

The tour was outstanding and more than what we expected. The drive took about one hour each way. During the drive we passed through the downtown area of Port Elizabeth. This town has a large General Motors plant and other large plants including Goodyear. We also saw the new Soccer stadium that has been built for the World Cup. We also passed many small homes (thousands in various locations) that are referred to as RDD (Residential Development Plan) homes. This is all part of Mandela’s plan to provide all South African’s with homes. Given the large population the wait list is a very long time. The homes have four rooms; two for sleeping, one for sitting and one with a kitchen, toilet and shower. They are very modest in size. Once we got about 30 minutes out of Port Elizabeth the road became quite bumpy.

There was a little over 40 people on our tour. We all went in one bus. After a brief stop in the park we were divided into two groups and road in 4x4’s. On the way out of the parking lots we saw a very large snake called a bombslung (sp) which has poisonous and makes one bleed internally if you are bitten by one.

After a little while we first saw one Elephant. What we didn’t know is that this would seem like nothing because we were fortunate to see many more. Later on we saw a herd of approximately 25 to 30 elephants. We also saw another herd of 8 elephants a little after that. We saw the same herd in two locations. About 30 minutes we saw several herds altogether. We kid you not there must have been between 200-250 elephants of various ages including some just a few weeks young. It was amazing. Our tour guide took a great deal of time to point out many characteristics about them. We later learned that this would be one of the largest sightings. We were very fortunate because today was very sunny and on the warmer side so the elephants come out to the various watering holes.

During the course of the tour we also saw some Kudu, which are Elk like animals. We saw Cudo which are Antelopes. We also saw some Wart Hogs.

After we finished in the 4x4’s we had about fifteen minutes before we took the bus back to the ship. On the way out of the park the tour guide pointed out the start of an area that extends quite far where lots of citrus fruit is grown which much of it shipped to the United Kingdom. Along time ago when the Citrus was first grown the elephants would eat the fruit so it was decided to kill off all but just around 10 or 11 of the elephants. When this park was started they put a fence around the park to keep the elephants from roaming over to where the citrus fruit is and then over time the number of elephants has significantly grown.

We also learned that the word Addo which is the name of the park stands for river crossing and we saw actually crossed the river.

On the way back to the ship the tour guide pointed out an area where we could see several Zebra.

As mentioned, it was an outstanding tour. We learned a great deal from the guide on the bus and from the guide on our4X4 and it was wonderful to see all of the wildlife including more elephants than we ever thought we could see in a lifetime.

We spoke with Alexander before we left and we pre-ordered a salad entrée for each of us with him since we knew we would be returning back “home” later from the tour.

Later, Anne Marie took a long walk on the Promenade Deck and also did some laundry. Keith sat with some passengers and also took care of some errands.

This evening we will dine at Prego with friends Bob and Glo

TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY….

“You can make your world so much larger simply by acknowledging everyone else’s.

Keith and Anne Marie