We sailed!  At 6am – the thrusters woke us up – and we were off.  We hit the gym – shockingly being able to use the 2 treadmills – and getting beautiful pictures of Table Mountain and all of Cape Town as we leave the harbor.  Then a quick light breakfast I the club lounge – and well – that was it for me! Even though I took my pills, we are rocking and rolling, and I succumb!  I have no idea what that was about – it was almost like a 24-hour bug, but only 4 hours?  Crazy.  Ended up just laying in the bed for the rest of the morning, and then I was fine by lunch.  What the heck?

Oh well, at least I recovered.  And went on through our uneventful day; only 1 lecture on whales.  It was great, with tons of information, including that the blows we see are actually the whale’s breath.  Really?  We always thought it was water being displaced, but no, it is their breath which is so much warmer than the air that it shows up as steam.  Told you this would be educational.

And that was it for the rest of the afternoon until the captain’s welcome and introduction of the staff. That was very nice with champagne and passed canapés. Including these tempura salmon spoons.  Nice.  Ok, and yes, the weirdly dressed Asians.  Is that a blanket she has on?  Sorry – I could not resist.

Dinner was excellent but it is sort of scrum to get in and get a table.  They do try to seat you, but the Chinese line up early and are such rushy, pushy people that it becomes chaos when the dining room doors open.  Our strategy is to get there early too, walk in and grab the first 2-top booth we can.  The last 2 days – lunch and dinner – we’ve had the same waiter, John, for all our meals.  We really like him, so our plan is to continue to try to stay in his section. But who knows what the next 20 plus nights will bring!  Tonight there was a wasabi prawns appetizer which was fabulous; tempura battered and fried, light wasabi sauce, topped with roe.  Yummy.  And then Kaarage for dinner – fried chicken with an excellent sauce.  All small portions packed with flavor – just perfect for us.

Nighttime goes by as normal, drinks in the Lounge with Allan, then back to the cabin for Netflix.  The only entertainment is a piano player and singer, who is quite good, but we aren’t staying up here until 9:30 to hear him sing.  We’re just as happy in our great big cabin on the comfy sofa watching tv and snacking on the provided snacks – yes – provided.  A 3-tiered glass bowl type thing with m&m’s, nuts and dried cranberries.  Perfect for evening munching!