When last I wrote here I said our bags were packed and we were off on an adventure that would take us out of our comfort zones to new countries and into new cultures as we sailed from Cape Town, South Africa to Singapore.
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| Setting sail from Cape Town, South Africa |
We did just that with some 500 fellow cruisers in December as we crossed the Indian Ocean aboard Oceania's Sirena ship.
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| Cruise port Maputo, Mozambique |
The cruise line had been up front about some of the places we would visit. Among the things they advised:
Some of our ports of call were in developing countries, not well established for tourism. We'd visit places where English was the third or fourth language, where there were no formal qualifications for local guides and restrooms and guest services might be in short supply.
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| Crossing the Indian Ocean in December |
Some shore excursions would be done in convoy, they said, with buses all leaving and returning at the same time. (We didn't have that experience anywhere, but we took few of the ship's excursions.) Buses in many cases were not new, and road conditions in places were somewhat, shall we say, minimal. But after all, they are still developing countries.
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| From the ship in Columbo, Sri Lanka |
Other stops were in popular tourist destinations like Mauritius and Phuket, Thailand that offered gorgeous beaches and ports of call designed for tourists. We shared dock space with freighters in most of the places we visited but then we like the hustle and bustle of the shipping industries so that was an added bonus to our way of thinking.
It took a dozen sea days to complete the journey. It took three days alone to travel from Maputo, Mozambique (on the African continent to Reunion Island to the east of Madagascar). Another four days were required to travel between Mauritius and the Maldives. We'd underestimated the vastness of the Indian Ocean.
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| Our ship off shore on tender day - Maldives |
I did write dispatches from the Indian Ocean on Substack, the writing platform where I write as Jackie Humphries Smith @TravelnWrite. I mentioned my move to it in the last blog post. And I thank those of you who've already subscribed to receive those articles. (It is free, arrives in email format, just like this one, so hope to see more of you there).
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| Street scene Male, Maldives |
Just a bit of a reminder here for my subscribers (current and future): Google Blogger, the platform this is written on was sold to another company. Mailchimp the platform that sends these posts to you is also changing in a few months. I will gradually be moving from here to the Substack platform and if you want to keep reading of our travels and expat adventures and misadventures, please do sign up there using the link above.
I will be writing more there about our Indian Ocean 'cruise of discovery'. I named it that about halfway through the cruise when we realized that not only were we discovering new places, but also learning a bit about ourselves as travelers
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| Waves wetting our sixth floor cabin balcony |
One of the first things that became clear about us was that we tired quickly of the sea days. And that was a surprise because sea days used to be a favorite of mine. These Indian Ocean sea days were rough, literally, rough. The kind of days you braced in the shower so that you didn't topple out and you staggered down the hallways. Some days outer decks and pool areas were closed because of the wave action and the wind gusts ('mild gale' means just that we learned). A larger ship would have offered more indoor activity space which we could have used to while away the hours.
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| Hambantota, Sri Lanka |
Three of 11 ports of call were missed. The sea was so rough in Mossel Bay, South Africa that the captain dropped anchor, set out the tenders we'd use to get to shore and two hours later pulled up the anchor having determined it unsafe to try and use them. In Maputo, Mozambique we stayed on board for not having gotten a Yellow Fever vaccination (more on that and travel vaccinations in a later post). Galle, Sri Lanka, a UNESCO cultural and historic stop was switched for Hambantota (Where? you ask. So did we! I'll be writing about that visit on Substack.)
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| Tender to shore in Male, Maldives |
We wouldn't call this trip a magical journey - yes, I know I am famous for labeling places and travels as being magical. This trip didn't make the cut. BUT as with each of our trips we are certainly glad we went. We saw some amazing places and other places we don't feel the need to visit again. Traveling by ship got us to those places without the fuss, muss and cost of traveling by airplane. We met some wonderful people on board our ship and some pretty amazing ones as well. I will be telling you about them on Substack!
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| Touring by tuk-tuk in Sri Lanka |
Thanks for being with us again today. We wish you a Happy New Year and Happy Travels. (And while you are traveling, head over to Substack and sign up for Jackie Humphries Smith @Travelnwrite! )
