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Mauritius and West Africa

May - July 2025
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A 37-day adventure by Darren and Janet Read more
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  • São Tomé and Príncipe
  • Namibia
  • South Africa
  • Mauritius
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  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa

    Sea day to Benin

    1 hour ago, Gulf of Guinea ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Another full day at sea as we head north to Benin, and a busy part of the cruise with 3 shore days in a row.

    Today's activities were a bracelet making craft morning, a cooking demonstration by the Executive Chef, the usual trivia session, and my first swim in the pool.

    Evening entertainment is a piano virtuoso.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
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    São Tomé and Príncipe

    Yesterday in São Tomé and Príncipe ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We woke early to witness the actual crossing of the equator... and unsurprisingly, nothing happened! But we did witness the ship's tenders being unloaded and the first sights of São Tomé and Príncipe.

    São Tomé and Príncipe is a small nation composed of two islands - São Tomé and Príncipe - located in the Gulf of Guinea. Both islands are part of an extinct volcanic mountain range, and it is the second-smallest African country (after The Seychelles). São Tomé Island, where we are landing, is the larger of the two at 50 km long and 30 km wide.

    This is our only anchor port of the cruise, which means we anchor offshore and are transferred to shore by tender (approximately 60 at a time).

    We have an afternoon excursion booked, so we caught an early tender in and walked around town for a while. This time we were dropped in the centre of town (there are no shopping malls in ST), so we had easy access to the local shops and could really experience the beat of the city. The downside is that there were a lot of street children begging for money (although some resident adults admonished them, obviously aware of the reputation this gives the country). But all in all, a fabulous day.

    I was feeling peckish mid-morning and noticed the street coconut seller doing a roaring trade, so I changed some money with a money changer and made a purchase. For 10 dobra (70 cents) he lopped the top off and gave me a straw to drink the coconut water. Then you hand it back to the vendor, and he chops it in half and chops a piece of the shell off to use as a scoop to eat the flesh.

    Lunch consisted of a couple of bananas as we walked around town, before our afternoon city tour of the fort, a chocolate outlet, the cathedral, local produce market, and a nearby fishing village for a display of local dance.

    Early dinner tonight in the Italian restaurant, then a theatre show of Broadway musical songs by the onboard singers... before we lose an hour as we change time zone again.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
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    Crossing the equator

    June 11, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Full day sailing today as we head north from Angola to São Tomé & Príncipe, crossing the equator on the way.

    When crossing the equator by sea, nautical tradition dating back to the 1500's involves conducting a ceremony to pay homage to Neptune, God of the Sea, which transforms a sailor who has never crossed the equator, known as a Pollywog, into a Shellback.

    The ceremony is lighthearted and was originally done to break the monotony of long sea voyages and boost crew morale, so today involves paying respect to King Neptune, kissing a fish and getting a miniature ice bath.

    After an exhausting day eating, reading and enjoying ice cream on the pool deck, we also did a galley tour this afternoon with the head chef. It's quite an exercise in logistics to feed over 1,000 people every day (guests and crew). The fun fact I took from it is that they loaded 58,000 eggs at the start of our cruise, and will be topping up with another 15,000 in Ghana!    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa

    Luanda with an escort

    June 11, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    We awoke to the sight of Luanda Bay as we arrived in Angola.

    Angola was a Portugese colony until gaining independence in 1975. Upon independence, Portugal left Angola without establishing a new government, so Angola suffered 27 years of civil war, which left much of the country in ruins. Beginning in 2002 with a new constitution, Angola is still slowly recovering, with new high rises towering above shanty towns, and a beautiful beach front promenade running around the bay. It is, however, not yet regarded as a tourist destination (10 ships stopped here this year, and we are the last ship of the season).

    The capital Luanda is the largest city in Angola (population 9.5 million), but is rated as the most expensive city in the world for expatriates and foreign workers to live, mainly due to the lack of quality housing.

    We were on the first tour out today, in a convoy of 6 buses, with a police escort. First stop was Senhora de Nazare Church, built in 1664. After we were escorted back to the buses by police stopping the traffic for us to walk across the road, we headed to the San Miguel Fort, with commanding views across the city.

    Built in 1576 by the Portugese to protect their colony, it was the major site for slave traffic that was exported to Brazil. For many years the fort was a self-contained town, protected by thick walls and cannons. Today it houses the Museum of the Armed Forces.

    We drove along Ihla de Luanda, a narrow spit of land housing many beach bars and restaurants, before heading to Agostinho Neto Mausoleum, a rocket shaped structure and resting place of the first president of Angola. Unfortunately we couldn't enter, as repairs are currently being undertaken.

    Again with our police escort, we returned to the ship in time for lunch, then headed straight back out on the shuttle bus to town. We are docked at an industrial pier, so were unable to walk direct from the ship, but had to catch a shuttle... which only took us to a shopping mall. The mall had very limited opportunities to buy any souvenir items, and even when I was approached outside the mall by a street vendor, they were moved along quickly by the mall security staff. The authorities are so keen to create a good impression, we were barely allowed to mingle with the locals, so unfortunately only saw a sanitised version of the city.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
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    Sea day... off to a slow start

    June 9, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    The day began at sunrise for me (which is unusual in itself!), with more rocking motion on the boat than usual. Turns out we were stationary and had been so for a while, so was getting an extra buffeting.

    At 7am the captain announced over the PA that we were stopped because of an issue with the propulsion system.

    Follow up announcements communicated that they have identified, then fixed the issue, and shortly after 9am we were back underway and full stream ahead towards Luanda, capital of Angola.

    Another full day at sea, so today's activities were craft morning, more book reading, coffee, cakes, shuffleboard and trivia (we won again).    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
    111

    Slow boat to Angola

    June 8, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    A full day at sea as we make our way from Namibia towards Angola, and it's the first time we've actually felt the ship move around, with seas building to 4m tonight.

    The day was spent mostly around the pool deck, even though it's not quite warm enough to swim yet... but plenty of book was read.

    Today's lecture was on the life of Nicolai Tesla, and trivia was on again - after 3rd place yesterday, we had our first win today with 13/15.

    Before dinner they had a Block Party, where drinks and nibbles are served in the corridor outside your room and you're encouraged to meet your neighbours.

    Dinner tonight was in one of the specialty restaurants (French cuisine tonight), then some musical entertainment in the theatre, before a rolling night's sleep ahead.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
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    Salt, sand and Swakopmund

    June 7 in Namibia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    We booked an independent tour today and met our driver at the gate to the port. First stop in Walvis Bay was the lagoon to view the flamingos, but being breeding season, there was only a handful present. We continued along the coast to the salt works and evaporation ponds.

    Heading out of town, we stopped at Dune 7 - at 383m, the highest sand dune in Namibia and 5th highest in the world. It is part of the coastal dune belt that runs 30km from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund. We climbed to the top the long way, but came down the quick way, straight down the face... with boots full of sand.

    Our journey took us to Swakopmund via an area known as the Moonscape, and to view the Welwitschia plant. It has been called one of the ugliest plants in the world and grows only in the deserts of Namibia and Angola. It is unusual because the entire plant has just two leaves. The leaves rest on the ground, and as they grow, their ends get split into multiple ribbons, which gives the impression that there are multiple leaves. Many of these plants are over 1,000 years old.
    Since rainfall in this area is erratic, the plant absorbs moisture from fog that regularly develops at night over the desert. This is achieved by the leaves by keeping their spores open at night and closing when the fog lifts. Because of the dependence on fog, the plant is seldom found more than 100 km from the coast.

    Last stop was Swakopmund ("mouth of the Swakop") , a popular beach resort town characterised by 19th century German colonial architecture. We had a quick city tour before returning to Walvis Bay via the coast road.

    The ship departed Walvis Bay at 5pm, heading north to Angola.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
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    Walvis Bay

    June 6 in Namibia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    As we continued cruising towards Namibia, our morning activities consisted of a leisurely breakfast and another trivia session (with the same team of 6, we came third today, after yesterday's 2nd place).

    We arrived in Walvis Bay at midday and, after immigration processing on board, caught the shuttle bus from the port to the city. For reasons unbeknownst to all of us, the shuttle destination was a shopping mall on the outskirts of town. Walvis Bay is very spread out and not a walking town (or a tourist town), so after a quick peruse to confirm that the shopping mall was the same as every other suburban shopping mall, most people caught the next shuttle back to the ship.

    Walvis Bay is the primary port for Namibia, as well as a vital link for its landlocked neighbours to the east. It is also a former South African naval base, and remained under South African control after Namibia's independence in 1990, finally being integrated into Namibia in 1994. There are very few tourist attractions, but there are 6 caches spread around town, so we negotiated with a taxi driver for a 1 hour journey around the caches. Then we caught the shuttle back to the ship, arriving just in time for afternoon tea

    At 6.15pm we hosted a geocaching event near the dock, and had one local cacher attend, then returned to the ship for South African buffet dinner and an early night before our full day tour tomorrow.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
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    North to Namibia

    June 5, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We had a full day at sea, so it was shipboard activities for us. Between us, we partook in a guest lecture about Albert Einstein's personal life, a Pilates class, a trivia session, and a bracelet making crafternoon. No prizes for guessing which of us did each activity!Read more

  • Darren and JanetMauritius and West Africa
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    Sailing out of Cape Town

    June 4 in South Africa ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    We spent a lot of today waiting ... our cruise departs at 5pm tonight, but we were given the first transfer window from the hotel, at 10.30am. After hotel checkout at 10am, we waited only a short while in reception, and arrived at the cruise terminal well before 11.00am. South African Immigration changed the time of their availability, so we wandered the V&A Waterfront until check-in opened at midday.

    After formalities, we boarded the Regent Seven Seas Voyager, our home for the next 23 days. The ship is close to capacity with 615 passengers, including 195 Australians who boarded today.

    First activity was buffet lunch, in one of the 6 restaurants on board. In the afternoon we walked the decks to familiarise ourselves, then settled into our suite late afternoon.

    Shortly after 5pm we departed Cape Town, heading north towards Namibia.

    After dinner we attended a caberet variety show in the main lounge, a taster of the entertainment on offer during the cruise.    Read more

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