DAY 110 CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA & DAY 102 ON CRYSTAL SERENITY

We wanted to begin by saying that yesterday we had learned of the passing of a fellow World Cruiser on board Serenity very late Sunday/early Monday morning.  We have known her and her immediate family since the 2007 World Cruise as they have been on every world cruise we have been on (and more) and we have also sailed with them on a few other voyages.  The guest who passed away required a lot of assistance from her family and this was given almost exclusively by her son.  From time to time Anne Marie and myself would tear up not only thinking of her situation but how much her son had to take care of her.  Essentially, he had to do almost anything you can think of.  

We dined with her and her son and two other couples along with a senior officer and Crystal Society hostess early on in this World Cruise and we could see her health was going down from last year.  

We think she passed the way she would have preferred on board Serenity.  Her husband passed away a few weeks ago.  Thankfully her son was able to be with her while she passed and held her hand those last few minutes.  

While this is all very sad, and she had a lot of challenges, she always seemed happy sailing Crystal as she enjoyed so much of the enrichment program including lectures, entertainment and team trivia.  

We often talk about how the ship becomes a family and the Crystal Family and we are saddened that one of our family members has passed.  

All of this is another reminder to us about being positive and about enjoying each and everyday.  As we have mentioned before, to us our lives are similar to a book and we just don't know when that last chapter will be written.

We now wanted to move to the Safari and are including a few more photos from our stay at Phinda.

Cheetah's

Lion

We were asked by Lil what prevents the animal from going into the open vehicle  First the animals are used to the vehicles so in general are not bothered by them compared to us walking on foot.  Many have a fear of humans.  With that said, the ranger has to take a lot of precautions and knows how close to get to them and when to move away.  Safety at all times is key and the ones on this reserve are very well trained as they are at the private reserves.  Many at other areas are well trained as well but not all who take people on Safaris at public sites.

We had dinner at the Hotel last night with dear friends Bob and Glo and also Doctor Noel from the ship joined us as well.  Dr. Noel and his wife live in South African and each of them escorted individual groups to Pinda.  Dr. Noel's wife arrived later in the evening on a later flight than we had all taken.  On a related note, as we mentioned a few months ago it was wise that Crystal decided to go with more than one doctor on this year's World Cruise.  Since Noel and his wife who is also a Doctor volunteered to have both come on board but other than sharing a room to be as if they are one person it turned out that we have three rather than two physicians on board.

Food was quite good but service was a bit slow so we dined for about 2 and 1/2 hours and we didn't get to back to our room until around 11:00 PM, making it a very long day.

All in all things turned out very well and we do want to complement Crystal Cruises for being on top of everything for all of us.

We did sleep very well last night as we were both quite tired.

Keith was up first but even he was up later than normal.  

We had breakfast at the hotel and decided to have room service.  It was good to get back to a simple breakfast.  We each had some cereal and a banana and coffee to get us all charged up for the day.  LOL, but true.

Since Serenity was not arriving until late morning we walked around Victoria and Albert which we have done many times over the years.  V&A features lots of restaurants, stores and also has scenic views.  In years past we have taken the boat from here over to Robbens Island where Nelson Mandela and some other political prisoners was held for many years.  Most recently when we visited in 2014 we took two different Hop On Hop Off Buses from this area to tour around.  

We enjoyed nice views of iconic sites as we walked.  The weather was gorgeous.

Tabletop Mountain

Keith has played chess but never with such large pieces.  

Inside one of several shopping malls.

Back of our hotel.

A couple of views of Crystal Serenity arriving to Cape Town that we took from our Hotel Balcony

We boarded the bus at 11:00 AM and they took us on a city tour.  After being dropped off at the pier we were back on-board Serenity at around 12:30 PM.  We had lunch and then we were able to get a sufficient number of washer and dryers and got all of our laundry done.  

Keith was able to workout at the Fitness Center for one hour and then later he met up with dear friend Bob.

This evening we will be dining at the Crystal Dining Room.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY....

"No one has become poor by giving." - Anne Frank


Keith & Anne Marie