Location: Walvis Bay, Namibia
After an evening of sand, it was time to get wet. I signed up for the “Seals and Dolphins” tour. It was only a ten-minute bus ride to the “yacht club,” which was a nice tourist beach, shops, restaurants and wharf. There were enough people to split amongst several boat, even tho it was a chilly morning (the sun never broke thru the fog/clouds).
We saw a brown fur seal immediately, which is one of those animals that makes you question how scientist classify things – it has external ears lobes and land-walking flippers like sea lions, but they are called seals. Whatever.
I didn’t realize this seal had a deal with the captain, but I understood what was going on once they opened the gate at the stern of the boat.
On the way some pelicans saw the good deal our seal was getting and tried to get some of the fish action.
It took about an hour to sail to the sand bar called Pelican Point, which was home to seals and dolphins. As we traveled, we passed many commercial ships waiting their turn at port. On one there was a seal sunning itself on the ship’s bow.
Once at Pelican Point, we were greeted by many seals.
By the number of other ships and kayaks appearing we could tell it was getting near the time of day that dolphins visited. The first were Heaviside’s Dolphins, but only saw their dorsal fins. Seems these dolphins are quite small.
Then a family of Bottlenose Dolphins came by. Seems dolphins are a bit more camera shy than seals, but I did get some better shots than just dorsal fins. The below shots are not late for a jump (I never saw any of the dolphins leave the water), I think they were just trying to go deeper.
Then they came closer to our boat. I almost got a picture of the side of a dolphin’s head.
The closest action shot I got of the day was of a dolphin in front of the boat, swimming away.
If you remember my failed dolphin tour in Moorea, this was a much better trip. On the way back to port we were served champagne and/or sherry and snacks. We passed several parked ships. Below is my artsy picture.
Security
We received a letter about our coming travel across the Gulf of Guinea dealing with “safety.” It covered how the ship will be running dark at night and how our balcony lights must be kept off and the curtains closed. If we hear the alarm we are to move into the central corridor and prepare for possible ship zig-zag maneuvers.
Huh.
On the other hand, one of the recent Sri Lanka bombs went off at the hotel where we watched a show.
Even more “huh.”
Next: São Tomé