Cape Town, South Africa. Day 1

In the days before the MV Explorer arrived in Cape Town, we had all been able to see mainland Africa for several days, since our ship had to make its way all the way around the southern tip of the continent. During that time, we hit some pretty big swells, and the ship got extremely rocky, just the way it was in the first couple of weeks of the trip. I think it's kind of fun when we hit rough seas and it's impossible to walk a straight line down the hallway, but I guess not everyone shares my opinion. Then again, I really don't get seasick, but I can't say the same for everyone else on the ship. Anyway, the days preceding South Africa were filled with making plans for the country and attempting to stay upright.

 

The morning we arrived, I got up with Ali to watch the sunrise, and at first I was surprised to see a lot of other people on the deck, since it is usually just us along with maybe two or three others. My surprise was quickly replaced with awe when I looked out, and suddenly I understood why so many people were out on the deck. The view of Table Mountain at sunrise was absolutely GORGEOUS, and the sunrise itself was equally stunning. I stood out there for much longer that I normally do because I couldn't take my eyes off that incredible mountain.

 

Before we were cleared to get off the ship, we all went to the Union, but instead of having to sit through another diplomatic briefing, we were fortunate enough to have Amy Biehl's mother talk to us. If you don't know who Amy Biehl was, she was a young American who was an anti-Apartheid activist in South Africa who was killed by a black mob in 1993. What is incredible about Amy's story is that, when four men were convicted for her murder, her parents supported their pardon in 1998 because they understood that their crime was an act of political frustration and desperation, and had nothing to do with her daughter at all. Instead of harboring anger and hatred for these men, Amy's parents shook their hands and began the Amy Biehl Foundation to continue the work that their daughter had believed in. In fact, one of their daughter's killers is now an active member of the foundation. It was truly an honor to listen to Amy's mother and understand her incredible strength and ability to forgive.

 

Our ship was cleared soon after Mrs. Biehl's talk, so I met with my friends and we all got off together. As I went down the gangway and stepped onto African soil for the first time, I couldn't stop smiling if you asked me to. I knew already that I was going to fall in love with South Africa. In my opinion, the port in Cape Town was the most beautiful we had been to thus far. First of all, the weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and warm, but not too warm, and there was a slight breeze. The port was pretty touristy, with restaurants everywhere you looked, along with a huge mall, but the harbor was really beautiful, with all sorts of beautiful boats berthed along the dock. In fact, our ship was berthed next to the 5th largest privately owned yacht in the world. The thing was HUGE, and I found out that the owner wasn't even there, but had his ship there so he would have a good location for the World Cup, which is taking place in a couple of months. Between how much it must cost for this man to have his ship berthed there for that amount of time and the price of maintenence and employing 48 people, I was just amazed (and slightly appaulled) at that level of wealth, especially in a country where poverty and unemployment is so prevalent.

 

I spent the morning walking around in the mall with my friends doing some souvenier shopping, although I didn't end up buying much because, naturally, Cape Town is extremely expensive. We ate lunch outside at restaurant and had an amazing view of Table Mountain, which stands just behind the town, and got to watch the "table cloth" cover the mountain. The table cloth is actually a cloud that forms occasionally over the plateau of the mountain, and you can actually watch it appear if you watch the mountaintop long enough.

 

After lunch, we went to Robben's Island, which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. Luckily, we had ordered our tickets online a few days before we got to South Africa; by the time we arrived, they were completely sold out for the time we'd be there. It took us about half an hour by ferry to get to there, and once we were there all the buses were filled, so my friends and I all had to stand for 45 minutes while we got a tour around the island. It wasn't terrible though, I just sat on the stairs of the bus and listened to our tour guide, who was a pretty interesting guy. At one point he stopped in front of the building that was once used as an insane asylum for the inmates, and explained that even the most insignificant quirk about a person could land them in that place. At that point he decided to use me as an example, so he had me stand in front of the whole bus and he said, "You see this beautiful lady here? She has four piercings in one ear and only three in the other. She would definitely be in the insane asylum." I don't think I've ever blushed so hard in my life. It was pretty funny, though.

 

When we got to the prison, we went inside and were led around by another guide. I got a very abandoned, almost haunted feeling from the place, with its high, blank white walls and barbed wire fences. It was extremely eerie, especially when my friend and I decided to wander away from the group and walk down the halls alone. Once we caught up with the group, we were fortunate enough to see Mandela's cell. It was incredible.

 

I think the best part of the day, however, was the amount of PENGUINS we saw on Robben's Island. It was so funny, in the middle of this desert island were big group s of them crossing the road right in front of our bus. Definitely the last place you would expect to see a penguin. They were adorable.

 

We caught the last ferry leaving the Island that day, and once we got back to the mainland, a friend of my friend who lives in South Africa took us all out to dinner, and we got to try some of the local food, and of course, the local beer. My friend Spencer and I really wanted to try something called "smiley," which is sheep brains, but unfortunately they were all out. I guess it's a popular dish here!

 

After dinner, I called it a night and went back to the ship, since I had to be in the Union at 4:30 AM to go on my SAFARI!!

Port Loui, Mauritius. Day 2

 

On my second and final day in Mauritius, my trip met up outside the ship bright and early, around 8:45 AM (yes, that's early when you're on island time). Our group was very intimate, with about 12 people including my professor. We climbed on our small bus and headed out and drove about half an hour outside of Port Louie, to a dock where a speed boat was waiting for us. We took the boat to a small island that is used as an endangered wildlife conservation and research facility.

 

Once we were there, we hiked around the island for a couple of hours with the guide, who explained what kind of work he and the other researchers do, and specifically what kind of species they are attempting to save. We got to see several of the species while on our hike, such as a bird called a "footie," and the pink pigeon, which at one time, according to our guide, was down to 6 known individuals. Thanks to the amazing work of these researchers, they have managed to bring the pigeon population up to a few hundred. Though the bird is still endangered, it has been officially dropped from the "critically endangered species" list, which is a great thing!

 

Also on our hike, we were lucky enough to see two full-grown tortoises! One of them was 80 years old, he was abolutely huge, and he seemed to like Professor Sumner because he kept following him around. It was pretty funny to watch.

 

After a quick stop in the gift shop to buy a Mauritius t-shirt, we were back on the boat, speeding away from the island once again. Next stop was the Crocodile Park, about half an hour away. There we saw a variety of species, including what must have been hundreds of tortoises in a huge fenced-in field. We were allowed to walk around in the field with them, which was kind of awkward, because in case you didn't know, it's tortoise mating season, and they were all being very, um, active.

 

Anywho, after that we walked around the rest of the park, and I was surprised at the way the place was laid out. I was expecting a typical zoo where the animals sat looking depressed in a too-small cage with iron bars. It was more like they took the natural rainforest and built the facility into the natural environment. We walked around on this path that winded all the way around the park, and it was almost like we were taking a stroll through the rainforst, complete with streams and little waterfalls. We saw coy, monkeys, bats, all sorts of lizards, and of course, lots and lots o' crocodiles! We even got to watch the crocs be fed, which involved two large barrels of plucked chickens that have been chopped in half, and two workers dumping the meat into a thriving group of crocodiles. The frenzy was absolutely unbelieveable.

 

We headed back to the ship soon after watching the crocodile feeding, so I sat and enjoyed the scenery of paradise one last time. Two days in Mauritius, regardless of how many things I packed into them, was not even close to enough. As our group waited in line to go through ship security and get back on the ship for the last time, Mauritius decided to give us one last gift, in the form of a sun shower, followed by a beautiful rainbow stretching over the water and disappearing behind the mountains. I know that sounds corny, but I'm not lying! It was simply the most perfect way to leave this island paradise.

Port Louis, Mauritius. Day One

A few days after Neptune Day, we arrived in Port Louis, Mauritius. Unfortunately, Ali and I couldn't go outside to take pictures the morning of our arrival because it was raining, so we slept in a little before heading to breakfast and the diplomatic briefing. Customs took the normal amount of time, and we were off the ship by about 10:30 AM. Three friends and I had plans to go to a place called Adventure Park, where you are strapped to a harness and get to go through this kind of obstacle course with all sorts of bridges, ropes and zip lines. Our reservation wasn't until 1:30, so we took some time to explore the city a little bit.

 

I got off the ship and walked into town with my friend Kelli, as we were told the walk would take us only about 15 minutes. It was raining on and off, and it was muddy and humid, but still, as we got closer to town, I couldn't help but admire the absolutely beauty of this island. Port Louis itself is very touristy, which I don't really like, but even so, the waterfront where all of the restaurants were lined up was gorgeous, the water was a deep turquois, and there were these amazing green mountains with mist floating around near their summits visible just beyond the city. Personally, I couldn't wait to head out of the city and get away from the endless gift shops and other touristy places. I've had enough of this to last me a lifetime.

 

A couple of hours later, we got a cab back to the ship so we could change into our adventuring gear, ie. sneakers, bathing suits, sun screen and a LOT of bugspray. We had bargained with our taxi driver for a price to take us around for the entire day, to and from Adventure Park, so he was waiting outside of the ship for us. We met up with him and took the hour drive out to the park, and while we sat in the car, Ben took the opportunity to practice his French with the driver, while us three girls sat in the back and enjoyed the scenery.

 

I have to say, our trip out to Adventure Park is worth it just for the drive. It was unbelieveably lush and green, and became even more beautiful when the sun would occasionally peak out from the clouds. We passed endless fields of sugar cane, which I found astounding, but that really is one of Mauritius' biggest exports, so I guess it made sense that I would see so much of it. We ended up getting to the park about 15 minutes late for our reservation, but hey, we were on island time!

 

When we got to the place, there was a huge group of SASers who had gone to Adventure Park with an SAS trip. They had just completed the course, and they looked tired and sweaty, not to mention insanely muddy. They advised us to make sure we stamped the mud out of our sneakers every once in awhile, otherwise the bridges would be extremely slippery. They also told us that if we had bug spray with us, to put it on, even if we had done that already, and once we did that, to put more bug spray on top of that, because evidently...there were mosquitos. Lots and lots o' mosquitos. So we reapplied the bugspray, paid for our harnesses, had them strapped on, and headed to the starting place with our instructor.

 

Our instructor showed us how to clip our harnesses into the wire rope that hung over each bridge, and told us that whey should remain clippsed at all times when we are on the bridges, and only three were allowed on at a time, blah blah blah, we got the point. We would be careful. Of course, I went first and within 5 minutes I fell on one of the first bridges, my leg slipping painfully between the wooden boards. After that, I was a little more cautious, and I made someone else go first.

 

Each bridge took us deeper and deeper into the forest, and it was very peaceful in there, despite the obstacles we had to go over, each one more trecherous than the one before it. As we went deeper in, I noticed too, the clouds of mosquitos gathering around my ankles. Not fun! Overall though, the park was a lot of fun, and surprisingly challenging, especially the spiderweb rope wall that we had to climb across, which absolutely killed my arms. I was sore for days after that part of the course. The zip line toward the end was hands down the best part, I felt like Indiana Jones as I went down it. Actually, I take that back, the best part was watching Ben attempt to get across the rope bridge, slipping, and dangling helplessly below it as he tried and failed to get back up. I couldn't stop laughing at him for a good 5 minutes.

 

We got through it all in one piece, looking exactly the way the other SASers did when we first got there: sweaty, muddy, and exhausted. After rinsing our legs off with a hose and clapping out our sneakers to get rid of the mud, we climbed back in our cab. Before taking us back to the ship, our driver stopped at several places for us. The first stop was a waterfall lookout, where we had the most amazing view of some very tall falls. We also saw the largest bats I have ever seen, flying around in the middle of the day, which was pretty crazy. After that, we were driving along the road when suddenly the coast became visible on our left side, revealed the most incredible view of other parts of the island, as well as the water with the afternoon sun reflecting off of it. We stopped on the side of the road here to take some pictures and admire the breath-taking view for a few minutes. Our last stop was to get food, since we were starving at this point, along with some snacks for the ship. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to be in a grocery store, since I hadn't been in one in months.

 

After returning to the ship, we each took a much needed shower and met up with the rest of our group to go out to dinner. I tried some of the local beer called Dragon, which was very tasty..so I had a few more. After dinner, I left my group with a friend to go out to Grand Bay, where a lot of other SASers were supposed to be partying at the bars. After our cab dropped us off, we met my friend Christina, who was with a group of people heading to the beach. I hadn't been to the beach yet, so my friend and I joined them and did a little night swimming...although none of us had bathing suits. Oh well, it was dark enough that this minor detail didn't really matter. The beach was completely devoid of any rocks, and the water was literally the perfect temperature, and I began to think that Mauritius truly is paradise on Earth.

 

I made it to the bars eventually, where SASers seemed to have taken over. Although it was a cool bar, it was extremely crowded so it took a long time just to get one drink, one guy was being extremely drunk and wouldn't leave me alone, PLUS I had an FDP that started at 8 in the morning, so I actually didn't end up staying long. Overall, great first day in Mauritius.

Neptune Day

As we travelled from India to Mauritius, our ship crossed the equator for the first time, which meant only one thing: Neptune Day! According to tradition, when sailors on a ship cross the equator, they shave their heads and cover themselves in fish guts as a tribute to King Neptune, God of water.Obviously, Semester at Sea was required to follow this tradition as well, or else face the wrath of Neptune, so unfortunately, we had to take a day away from classes to pay our tribute.

 

The day started off around 7:30 in the morning, when I woke up to the sound of drums and whistles. My roommate and I jumped out of bed and ran to our door to find members of the crew dressed up in togas and face paint, banging on people's doors as they marched down our hall. After seeing that, we were fully awake and curious to find out what would be going on next, so we quickly got ready and headed out.

 

After breakfast, the festivities began by the pool on deck 7. Deans and professors were also dressed up in togas and facepaint, and Dean Crabtree was King Neptune himself. Students who wished to complete the traditional right of passage jumped into the pool on one side, climbed out one by one to kiss a fish held out by one of the professors, and then had fish guts dumped on them, thus transforming from a polywog to a a shellback. In this case, the fish guts wereen't real, but regardless, it still smelled absolutely horrible. I'm not sorry to say that I skipped the "initiation." Don't tell King Neptune.

 

Then, of course, came the other part of the ceremony in which people had their heads shaved. Set up by the bar on deck 7 were several chairs, as well as several LLCs armed with hair-cutting shears and electric razors. I was absolutely shocked at the number of people who stepped forward to shave their head. Of course their were plenty of guys with already short hair who were willing to sit in the chair, but I'd say as many as 30 women, Lifelong Learners and students alike, who stepped up to the chopping block. Women were not only getting cueballed, but some with hair that was long enough were putting it up in ponytails and getting them chopped off to donate, and some girls even got mohawks. I spent a good half hour that morning helping my friend Yensi spike her hair up after her mohawk haircut. When my hair gel and spray didn't work, I broke out the Elmer's glue from my art kit, which seemed to work pretty well!

 

Now here's where I drop the bomb. I was one of the girls to shave their head. Believe me when I say that I hadn't even considered doing it at all, I was dead set on just taking pictures of everyone else who decided to shave their heads. But as I stood there watching girl after girl go up fearlessly and watch their hair drop to the ground in front of them, I felt more and more that I wanted to have that experience. I wanted to break that standard of beauty and just rid myself of my hair! I quickly jumped into the chair before I had a chance to change my mind. I didn't even tell any of my friends, although a few of them were there to witness my moment of insanity. As I felt the shears cutting roughly at my ponytail, I knew there was no going back. Suddenly my head felt much lighter than it did a second ago, and Danielle, an LLC, was dangling my ponytail in front of my face. I looked at it and couldn't help but smile: No going back now, is there? I lifted my hands to my head and felt something I never had before. Nothing.

 

At that point I just wanted them to shave my head and get it over with, and a moment later, I heard the buzz of the razor in my ear, felt it travelling against my head, front to back, front to back. I watched my hair drop away, felt a sudden coldness on my bare scalp, and the next moment Danielle was saying "Alright, you're done." Again I brought my hands to my head, felt the leathery skin that had never before seen the light of day. I stood and saw my friends smiling faces. Smiling in shock, most likely, as they all reached out to rub my newly bald head. I looked at one friends and the first thing I could think to say was, "I'm cold!"

 

I walked around in a daze for most of that day, with a million thoughts running through my head. Did I really just do that? Was this a really bad decision? Will people look at me differently now? Will they treat me differently? How the hell am I going to tell my family and friends from home about this? I know you're probably thinking that this isn't as big a deal as I'm making it out to be, but if you know me at all, you know that I have always been the kind of person who spent an obscene amount of time on her hair, washing it, blow drying it, straightening it, and dyeing it every color of the rainbow. To have no hair, for me, is to change everything about the way I saw myself. Believe me, this was a big deal to me.

 

Moving on, the day ended with an amazing two-hour talent show, and I could not believe the incredible musical talent of some of the other students on SAS. Here were some of the best singers, best dancers, funniest and most creative people I've ever met in my life, and I had no idea until I saw them perform that night. I was totally taken aback by them, and as I sat and cheered them on, I was so grateful to know these amazing people.

 

So there you have it! Besides the Sea Olympics, Neptune Day has been one of my most memorable days at sea. Oh, by the way, that whole thing about me shaving my head...yeah. I was kidding. Good story though, right?

Sea Olympics

One of the most anticipated days at sea is the day we hold the Sea Olympics, in which the different Seas compete in various events. The "Sea" that you belong to, as I mentioned in an earlier post, depends on what deck you live on, which side (starboard or portside), and whether you are towards the front or back of the ship. The events include a lip sync, syncronized swimming, crab soccer, tug-of-war, musical chairs, Simon Says, "Dress your LLC" (LLCs are basically like RAs in mornal college. My LLC's name is Rob and he's fantastic), and a shipwide relay race. The Sea with the most points at the end of the day gets, well, bragging rights for the rest of the semester, and they are the first Sea to get off the ship in Fort Lauderdale.Sooo, yeah. Best. Day. Ever.

 

Our Sea captains held a meeting a couple of days before the olympics to discuss strategy and come up with a good cheer. As we are the Bering Sea, which is up near Alaska, and our team color is black, we decided we would be the Ninja Crabs (because of the Alaskan King Crabs). The cheer that we came up with went with the theme song of "Men in Black," and went a little something like this:

 

"Here comes the Sea in black,

Gold medal defenders!

We are the Ninja Crabs,

Other seas surrender!

 

Be-RING!" (everyone simultaneously raises hands up like we have crab pincers and makes a hissing noise. Think about the Purple Cobras' cheer from the movie Dodgeball and you'll get the right idea. Pretty lame, yes, but SO much fun to do!)

 

Needless to say, we were all pretty pumped up by the Opening Ceremony, so we all dressed up in black, convened in our hall, and walked to the Union together, clapping and cheering and intimidating the hell out of all the other seas!! Okay, so we weren't that intimidating, and all the other seas had amazing cheers also, but let's be honest, they just did NOT have our enthusiasm. Anyway, we were all given the run-down of the rules and regulations about the following day, like no running on the ship, no fighting, blah blah blah, you get the idea, and then we were all given a chance to perform our Sea cheers.

 

The next day was just a blur, with events going on simultaneously all around the ship starting right after breakfast. My favorite event was the lip sync, which, of course, I took part in. Seven other girls in my Sea and I made up a dance to "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, and got a guy from our Sea to wear a wig and a bedazzled outfit so he could be our Lady Gaga. Our dance was a pretty big hit, I think everyone really liked it, and some of the other dances were hilarious as well. I think my favorite dance (besides ours) was when five guys dressed up like the Spice Girls and danced to "If You Wanna Be My Lover." I was crying from laughing so hard by the end of their routine.

 

The only other event I participated in was the last one of the day, the relay race. It was so chaotic, with people running (uh, I mean walking quickly) from deck to deck, room to room, to pass off the t-shirt to the next member of their team. I was a member of the flip cup squad along with three other people from my Sea, and even though we were chugging water instead of beer, we still rocked the competition! I think overall we came in second in the relay race, which is pretty good, if you ask me.

 

The day ended with a barbecue dinner on deck seven, which was incredible. The burgers, ribs and corn on the cob were such a nice change from the dining hall food. After dinner, my friends and I decided it would be a good idea to jump, fully clothed, into the tiny pool on the deck, and before I knew it, it seemed like everyone around me had the same exact idea. Everywhere I looked, more and more people started jumping into the pool, regardless of whether or not they were wearing a bathing suit. Somewhere along the line, we all decided that we were going to try and fit as many people in that pool as humanly possible, so we started chanting "WE NEED MORE PEOPLE!" and tried to convince more people into the pool. At one point, you could not even see the water because the pool was so packed. I don't know how we did it, but somehow we even managed to get Cindy, the Dean of Students, into the pool with us. It was absolute insanity, and so much fun.

 

The closing ceremony took place that night to reveal the winners of different events, as well as which Sea had won the day and would be first off the ship in Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately for my Sea, we seemed to get shafted in a lot of the events, including the lip sync, which we did not even place in for some reason. Oh well, NOT bitter, it was still a lot of fun. However, we came in third for Sea Spirit, which I think we definitely deserved! The Red Sea ended up winning overall, which I thought was funny considering they were the one Sea that didn't seem to care about the Olympics at all. In fact, no one had even signed up for any of the events until the night before, which meant that they had no lip sync, no synchorized swimming routine, nothing, until a few hours before the olympics. Go figure! I can't say I'm really jealous, something tells me I'm not exactly going to be eager to get off the ship on May 5th.

 

Anyway, the Sea Olympics was hands down the most fun day at sea up to that point. That was, of course, until Neptune Day, which could definitely give the Sea Olympics a run for its money. I'll be sure to blog about Neptune Day soon.