Windy morning in Cape Town

We have been sailing very close to the coast of South Africa for a couple of days, hoping to find calmer waters. Not calm, to be sure, but perhaps calmer. At night, you can see lights. During the day, it's hard to distinguish where the clouds end and where the water begins. If you know there's land, you can sort of see it. Maybe.

This morning, we could see land clearly as we came into Cape Town harbor. At full light, I went up to the observation deck on 7, only to find it was closed due to high winds. (This is common. Deck 7 is often closed. Deck 8 is almost never open once we get into open waters.) I went into the faculty/staff lounge and found an intrepid (and defiant) group of people braving the deck.

Since I am pretty heavily scheduled with SAS trips in this port, going out on deck may be the most adventurous thing I do in Cape Town. You can see from my hair how windy it is. After I came back in, I realized my hair ribbon (you can barely see it) had blown completely off.

The view was worth it. The aptly named Table Mountain looms large. The city hugs the shore, with the mountains rising close behind. There's a cable car up the mountain (on days less windy than this).

Warnings for Cape Town: don't go anywhere alone, or even in a small group. Beware of ATMs which might blow up, or where you may be mugged. Don't ride the trains unless you are in a car with an armed guard. Never let your credit card out of your sight, even at a good restaurant. Compared to Cape Town, everywhere we've been is considered safe.

Tom has been getting a lot of flak for emphasizing crime and safety in the preports. This time, he just sent everyone the Country Specific Information and said, "Read it and take heed. This time it's up to you." I think the students were disappointed. There's a certain amount of Schadenfreud--we all want to know the adventures we avoided.

Several students are departing in Cape Town, having gathered enough disciplinary points that they are no longer welcome. Others are going to be enjoying South Africa from the ship, having accumulated double or triple dock time for landing in the drunk tank after Mauritius. (If you land in the drunk tank, it's an automatic 24 hours of dock time in the next port. I think about 40 students ignored Tom's warning of triple dock time and came in wasted. At 6 PM. These kids really are flirting with a life of alcoholism.)

Me? I had wine at Communion last night. I'm on a search for Easter Candy.