Watkins Cruise Africa to China

The day after Christmas we arrived almost two hours late into the port of Richards Bay. The port had been closed on Christmas so they had a traffic jam to get all the ships into the docks and we did not have priority. We were glad we had cancelled our tour as our original time of departure was 7:15 am and they ended up more than 90 minutes late and they were going to have to shorten the tours. South Africa has become more tropical and less European as we have sailed north. South Africa has very good infrastructure and some vibrant ports along with some scenic mountains and hills. We just stayed on the ship and relaxed.

December 27 we were in the port of Maputo, Mozambique. This place was really a dump, garbage everywhere, derelict buildings, and we were told they have very high unemployment, lack of education, and very high crime rate. We had cancelled our tour but took the provided shuttle that went to a large craft market. This was about a 20 minute ride through the city and we think we saw about everything that would have been on our tour, including the pick-up truck with 8 soldiers or police in the back with automatic weapons! One of there guys looked like he was about 12 years old. We were told not to wear any jewelry or watches or carry a camera so I could not get a picture of the truck. Most businesses also had guards at their doors. The craft market did not look all that interesting so we just came straight back to the ship without getting off the bus. During the evening we had a "block party" where you come out into the hallway and meet your neighbors while having cocktails and canapes. One of our neighbors is the comedian Yakov Smirnov (sp?) who will be our New Year's Eve entertainment. He was very friendly and personable.

City of Maputo from the top deck of ship