One of the popular activities in Walvis Bay is to book a boat tour of the harbor, which our driver arranged. We weren’t exactly sure where it was going (we had thought we were going to Sandwich Harbor, but evidently that tour is on land not by boat). After watching many fancy new catamarans load up with tourists, we were a little concerned to see that our boat was neither fancy nor a catamaran. However, the staff were all pleasant and solicitous, so we went with the flow and got on the “Lady Victoria”, along with 33 South African tourists. The South Africans were mostly elaborately and somewhat provocatively dressed women who were intent on having a good time.
As we were boarding, there were several seals in the water and on the dock that very interested in joining us. Two of them had a little contest about boarding rights that created some interest. One of them even got on the boat, hoping for a fish handout and the crew obliged before luring him off the boat.
As soon as we set off, the South Africans started playing music and singing and dancing and enjoying adult beverages. It got so loud Ruth’s watch sounded an alarm about a dangerously loud environment.
There was a tour guide on the boat who quickly realized most of the passengers were not interested in listening to her. She suggested we go outside to the front of the boat where it was much quieter. We enjoyed talking with her about Walvis Bay and the wild life in the area for most of the trip. From time to time some of the larger group came out to chat with us as well. As the only two white people on the boat, we clearly generated a lot of curiosity.
Our first destination in the tour was “Bird Island”, a man-made dock where evidently birds congregate. The owner periodically collects the guano and sells it. We only saw a few gulls on the dock, but under it were hundreds of greater and lesser flamingos. It was cool seeing a sea of pink legs from a distance.
There were several oil drilling rigs in the bay, but none of them are operating because the new president, a woman, is not sure it would be a good thing for the people in the community. As mentioned yesterday, Walvis Bay is a huge shipping port, and we saw many cargo ships lined up waiting to get into the docks or waiting for supplies, repairs or cargo.
As we neared the point at the end of the peninsula that creates the bay, we saw many seals swimming around, a very few dolphins (the tour was billed as a dolphin cruise) and sand dunes on the shore. There were also many colonies of seals dotting the sandy shore (and one black-backed jackal waiting to eat vulnerable pups).
The dancing and singing inside abated when the crew put out a substantial display of finger foods. We noted that many of the women in their fancy but light weight dresses now had jackets and blankets wrapped around them. After the light lunch the music started again, and the crowd was delighted when one of the young women urged Cheryl to dance with her. She was the subject of many photos! And we all ended the tour as a happy group.
Before returning to the hotel we went to a large shopping mall where we checked out many stores and made a few purchases. It was fun seeing all the South African stores - not a single American or European store. Cheryl bought a rain jacket to replace the one she accidentally left in Morocco.
Later in the afternoon we drove out past the salt processing plant to see the pink lakes created by the salt evaporation process, and also saw a few more birds in the shallow waters at the edges of the bay in the way back to the hotel.
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