Duncan Dock

We woke up this morning fully believing that we had departed Cape Town during the night as the ship was rocking pretty well. We opened the curtains to a view of Table Mountain. Guess that we did not leave Cape Town.

I went to the Mixed group Bible study. During the study, the Captain came on the intercom and announced that we have not departed due to high winds.

I returned to the stateroom and relaxed until noon.

We went to the World Cafe. The Captain usually gives the navigational update at noon. At 12:20 we had still not heard an update. Next thing we know, the staff is passing out rum drinks. I found this amusing as Viking usually provides a special drink or food when there is bad news to 'grease the wheels'. Sure enough, the Captain came on the intercom at 12:30 PM to announce that there were extremely strong winds and he could not safely make it out of the narrow exit to the bay. He mentioned that the ship has a tremendous surface area for the wind to catch. The wind force could not be overcome even if he used the engines at full speed along with a tugs. As a result, we could not depart the port. He indicated that the winds should die down during the night. The Captain went on to say that the South African port authorities would not authorize us to leave the ship.

On the bright side, unlike my captivity yesterday in a restroom stall, during our current captivity, we have a whole ship to enjoy.

We relaxed during the afternoon.

We met Dale, Jenni, Jim and Janet in the Chef's Table for the same dinner we had the day before last. The menu was title Xiang. We were a bit disappointed as the food was not nearly as good as it was on April 9. Come to find out, there was a different chef. This just goes to show the impact of different chefs even though the menu is the same.

After dinner, we paused to hear the assistant cruise director, Michael. He had a concert in the atrium.

We are hoping that we will get out of Cape Town this evening.Read more