,What a fabulous day in Namibia! Today we had to go through customs personally, first time this trip. This process meant we didn't go ashore until after 11 am. The weather is cooler here on the coast.
Walvis Bay has a large bay, a lagoon and of course the sand dunes it's famous for, that literally run into the sea.
We took the ship's shuttle to the Dune Mall, a large modern mall opened just 3 years ago. After stocking up on snacks and some drinks we returned to the ship for lunch. After lunch we went ashore again and walked the waterfront. We were docked very near the lagoon, famous for it's flamingo's. Just 1.5 km from the ship was a seemingly new area of the city, lovely walk along the water's edge that went on the miles along the lagoon.
We walked over 13 km in total, admiring the buildings, streetscapes, flamingos and plovers along the way. Stopping at the end for a beer and a local specialty, Eisbein, in a restaurant over the water. 

The ship offers a "sing out loud" opportunity for passengers - tonight was the groups first concert and a highlight for the rest of us! They did a great job. Today was a very quiet day for us - too much fun and drinking last night combined with a bit of "motion of the ocean" kept both of us under the weather. We did go to lunch, didn't eat much and then spent the afternoon in the cabin practicing our Bridge play online. We ventured out at 4pm to go for a walk on deck - however the deck was closed due to the weather and motion so we ended up at afternoon tea. You know I'm not well when I only had tea. Adrian went to dinner on his own and brought me back a bowl of soup. Hard to even find sympathy even for ourselves given its self inflicted. Vowing to do better.... I did a google search for some hangover photos and found these animal representations - they certainly represent how we both feel today.

Today was another lovely day at sea. The highlight was tonight's special invitation to eat dinner in the Toscana Restaurant with other around the world travellers. We learned that the ship plans to make this a monthly event. These events are by invitation,  you're assigned a table so you usually meet new people and the chef presents a set menu of choices.
Sadly tonight's food experience wasn't fabulous - the menu fell quite a bit short and so we were "forced" to make up for it by indulging more than usual in the free booze. We had a fabulous time and then Adrian and I continued the party back to our cabin and opened another bottle. Will we ever learn???????

Another glorious sea day topped off with a spectacular sunset!
Beautiful weather with a nice breeze and cloud cover for my morning walk! Our sea days are standard now – Bridge class, exercise, lunch, maybe some work for Adrian, the gym and so on…
Some ship’s news  – we now have a small outbreak of gastrointestinal trouble onboard so some of the ship’s services are closed until the problem goes away. They closed the library and the card room – thankfully the gym is open, not sure why it was spared though. Also Duplicate Bridge carried on – that was baffling, everyone in the room handles the same cards.
We are still traveling through the high alert area off the west coast of Africa! Our armed guards are still with us. The outside decks are closed and unlit at night and so on. We heard yesterday that a tanker not far from us had been boarded and taken over by pirates. Pirates seem impossible as we float along thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
https://apnews.com/article/pirates-gulf-of-guinea-congo-africa-7ec2963bd23bd61bbd2a2722915cec61#:~:text=DAKAR%2C%20Senegal%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94,Port%20Pointe%2DNoire%2C%20Congo.

 Wonderful, very warm and humid day in Sao Tome and Principe. We are anchored and took the tender into the port. The town square had some music and local dancers to greet us. This is a small two island nation, formerly Portuguese. The community has a waterfront boardwalk which we walked and then went up the hillside and meandered down on the other side to reach a beach we could see from the ship.
​We travelled through a really nice residential area and past a couple of schools before we reached a beach area which we walked as well. Incredibly warm day and I was melting. Fortunately our return walk was much shorter - we walked up a big hill which while quite steep was much shorter than our path to the beach.
On our return to town, from our 2 hour walk, we stopped at a chocolate shop.Sao Tome is known for its coffee, sugarcane and cocoa production. The chocolate store was also a cafe, serving fabulous chocolate based desserts - we indulged in a dessert and washed it down with beer and gloriously cold water. You can see from my photo that I'm pretty wet with sweat!
The town square had some interesting architecture. We returned to the ship around 2pm and went for lunch - something other than chocolate. 
This afternoon we crossed the equator, for the third time but the first time during the day. The ship had an equator crossing ceremony with King Neptune, a few mermaids and some music. The hazing ceremony was largely tame - the poor stuff got the worst of it. Passengers were just required to kiss a fish and get doused with some cold water! We didn't participate but did attend.
​We lose another hour tonight - two days ago we lost an hour, then we gained it back and now we're losing it again - 4 hour time difference between us and MB after tonight. Three days at sea coming up before we arrive in Namibia.

Another sea day and another wine tasting - this one old world wines. Fabulous time as usual. I started the day with a long walk and then a Bridge class! Very hot and humid - now up to several showers a day and very excited to have laundry. Adrian doesn't sweat - I on the other hand am forever dripping on this leg and my hot flashes are back too! My glasses are perpetually steamed up. Hoping I acclimatize soon. 
One of my new friends Mary, made sure I had to participate in the wine games - games folks can volunteer for and the winner gets a bottle of wine. Up until today I've managed not to participate. Love the wine tastings but am not a joiner as you all know. Adrian took a video - I haven't watched it but it is posted for your viewing pleasure!
Tonight we attended our third Oceania Circle cocktail party. the ship gives out awards at these events and sometimes provides some fun facts! On a weekly basis passengers onboard consume:738 lbs lobster; 3098 lbs beef; 3092 eggs; 713 lbs butter; 674 lbs of vegetables. Finally last night we enjoyed a pork rib BBQ where we collectively consumed 658 lbs of ribs!! Delicious!!

Today we're in Cotonou, Benin. Last night our clocks went forward an hour so today we're 4 hours ahead of Mahone Bay - interestingly we get that hour back tonight, I suspect only for a day or so.
We arrived in port for 7 am but Adrian and I enjoyed coffee on the deck while he read and didn't head onshore until after 10 am.
We took the shuttle bus to the craft market. This was a meandering market full of individual sellers, all vying for our attention and to get us into their small shops. Unfortunately the shops all had almost exactly the same things on offer and I found the constant badgering a bit exhausting. We didn't last much more than an hour and about 20+ shops.
We did see quite a number of the  carved "Chief seats" shown above. These seats are made for the chiefs and according to Adrian are the perfect height for women to sit on their laps for sex. We didn't buy one!!!
​After the market we enjoyed a beer on our balcony while Adrian read - he's almost finished "Anxious People". 
We had a great lunch onboard and are now back on the balcony - until Adrian's finished the book!
This afternoon we have a walk on deck planned before Bridge and afternoon tea at 4pm. Pork Rib BBQ rounds off our day. Tomorrow we're at sea before our next stop in Sao Tome Principe. 

Many days we arrive in port we are greeted with local music and dancing - just like today. Adrian and I had a call at noon so we spent the morning onboard and then took the 2pm shuttle into town. Often the shuttles drop us off at the main square or close to the market. In Lome we were dropped near a very large Grand Bazaar.
You can find just about anything here - although the main section of this market was primarily goods and clothing - I did catch a photo of some meat being cut up near the area we entered.
​Vendors are much more aggressive here and this made the experience a bit less fun for me - I don't do the hassle well. After about 30 minutes in the market, Adrian and I decided to walk the beach instead. The city's on the water and the beach runs on seemingly forever - the hardest part was crossing the busy streets.
The beach is quite wide and gave us a great walk. We returned to the ship after our walk and enjoyed afternoon tea followed by a few hands of Bridge.
It's Friday night and while the ship was hosting a Toga party - we decided to enjoy some champagne and watch the latest episode of Ted Lasso! Most of our streaming options don't work but we are able to get Apple TV and Netflix. Any recommendations?

 What an adventure - can you say silly tourist? We took the shuttle from the port into town today with another couple Kylee and Bill. Bill wanted to do a walking tour which he couldn't confirm so we decided a visit to the tourism info centre was in order. Visiting the centre meant renting a cab - $15 an hour US and the folks hired by the ship insisted we should keep the cab and not go into the city centre and just get dropped off. Well - off we went to the tourism office, 20 minutes from where we started. Once there we managed to get a map - still no word on the walking tour so we decided to go to  the circle market. So the cab took us back to where we started as the market was only a few steps from where we got dropped off - dah!
​Regardless we had a great day - shopping the market for fabric for tomorrow night's toga party (Toga party in Togo!), buying school supplies for a future school visit and donation, and picking up beer for our cabin. The people were incredibly friendly. English is one of their official languages which made things much easier for us. 
We found a lovely little bar for a couple of beer and some peanuts and a friendly political discussion, American and Canadian. We're all still friends. Ghana is relatively well off by African standards and has a close connection to Canada's oil fields - many oil companies have offices here.
​I am always facinated by what folks can carry on their heads so forgive all the photos.

We're having a wonderful time experiencing East Africa. Today we rented cabs with two other couples and visited Grand Bassam which was the former capital of Ivory Coast. We took the shuttles bus to the centre of Abidjan, the current capital and where our ship docked. The picture of the trees is likely too dark for you to see but this tree is full of large bats - all chatting to each other loudly!
From our drop off we set off on foot and then ordered Ubers to take us to Grand Bassam. Our drivers stayed with us because there were no return Ubers available. The trip took about 2 hours and I've included some photos in our album of the variety of items available for sale on the way. All along the highway the roadside was full of vendors selling everything from oranges to pillows to TV trays, tissues, rugs and so on - it was like traveling a long outdoor market.  Each side of the divided highway with about 3 lanes of traffic, people, vendors and motorcycles weaving in and out.
In Grand Bassam we got to wander around viewing the historical buildings many in various levels of restoration. The city was abandoned as the capital after a yellow fever outbreak - I included a photo of th monument to the folks who died during the event.
From the city centre we visited a fishing village where they smoked and preserved fish. We also visited the beach. We made it back to our shuttle with about 35 minutes to spare and took the last shuttle back to the ship.
The weather called for thundeershowers and thanlfully we didn't have any - very hot and steamy day though.