Sunrise on Saturday, April 5. It was foggy all day... and remained that way most of the day. For the first time during this cruise, we heard the ship's foghorn on a regular basis.
Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa
With a population of 3.1 million people and three times the size of the U.K., Namibia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.
Lüderitz is a town in southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. Lüderitz had a population of 16,125 people in 2023.
The arid town of Lüderitz (stock photo)
Harbor view from the ship.
We had an afternoon excursion to Halifax Island aboard a catamaran. Halifax Island is a protected breeding ground of the African Penguin. In the late 19th century, it was home to over 4 million penguins but primarily due to the mining of guano for a hundred years, the population is now considered to be critically endangered.
Our captain-guide who had a bad habit of grabbing his camera and standing in front of me when any good sightings were seen.
In route, we were treated to many sightings of dolphins and seals along with one whale sighting.
Heaviside's dolphin, found along the southwestern coast of Africa.
Bartolomeu Dias travelled under instructions from King John II of Portugal to sail to the southern end of Africa. He was blown off course to land initially at the Cape of Good Hope. On his return, he stopped off at what is known today as Lüderitz Bay. The current Dias Cross is a replacement of the original which stood for over 300 years. The remains are now in the South African Museum in Cape Town.
Our other group's catamaran.
I just barely got this humpback's tail as he disappeared from sight.
An abandoned building on Halifax Island which was used during the guano mining days. Penguin guano on the island was 120 feet (37 m) deep in the early 19th century and mining continued until 1949.
Although the heyday of guano mining was between the 1840s to 1860s, it continued well into the twentieth century. On Halifax Island, the removal of the guano in the 1930s was devastating to African Penguins that had nested in burrows in the thick guano. In recent years there has been a small recovery with several thousand birds living on the island, however, they were again severely impacted in 2018/19 by an outbreak of bird flu.
Bird of the Day - Cape Cormorant
Typical German styled architecture found in Lüderitz.
After returning from our cruise, we opted to walk back to the ship, it was only about a half mile. I had intended to walk up to the Felsenkirche, an Evangelical Lutheran church located at a high point in the town, but just didn't have the energy to make the trip.
I saw this tractor on the port. I assume the "ABNORMAL" sign is what we would see as "Wide Load".
Tomorrow, we continue up the west African coast to Walvis Bay which we reach around noon. We will be spending two days here.
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