Adventures with Julia

December 18, 2018

After our delicious sashimi lunch, we spent the afternoon reading, relaxing and swimming in our pool and in the slightly cooler ocean.  Mark continued his effort to get great bird photos.  He is making good progress, I think.

Mark suggested we hire the local dhow for a sunset cruise so at 5:45 we headed for the boat and sailed away with the cocktail of the day, a margarita, in hand.  It was a pleasant one-hour ride, but the sunset was a bust. Meanwhile, the staff had set up a Gin Bar on the beach. Even though I don’t usually drink gin, I could not resist the trying a couple of the many choices of drinks offered after we climbed out of the dhow and bellied up to the beach bar.   There were at least 12 different kinds of gin and a couple of recipes for each one.   We finally connected with some other guests and chatted until it was time for dinner.

Robson planned for us to have a special location for our meal and had the table set in what he called the “secret garden”.  It wasn’t much of a garden, but it was somewhat secluded, behind the gin bar.  We lingered over a mixed grille of shrimp, chicken and lobster and a very tasty berry sorbet to finish.  Back in our villa, we cleaned the sand off our feet and went to bed.  It is so nice to have the doors and windows wide open with the AC on too.  We can hear the night birds and the ocean gently lapping on the shore.   As with everywhere we have been on this trip, there are no bothersome bugs forcing us to sleep under a bed net.

December 19^th, our next travel day, we have a 2pm departure from Azura.  So, we got up early and kayaked around the island before the day heated up.  It took us only 45 minutes to paddle around the small island.  The water was calm.  The tide was out and we had to go out farther from the shore than usual.

Had smoothies for breakfast then hung out around our pool, repacked and read.  It feels like the hottest day yet.  Just want to stay in the water.  Seems to me that things are getting a bit monotonous for this story–swim-read-write-swim-eat-photograph birds- read-swim-eat.  Hope you don’t mind the slowdown.  It is time to move on.

Robson served us one more tasty lunch on the breezy side of the island.  That felt good. We said good bye to him and the co-managers of the resort, paid our bill and walked to the helipad, where the pilot was waiting.  We flew back to Pemba, caught the next flight to Jo’burg and then a flight to Cape Town.  Only about an hour between legs.  Glad not to have long layovers.   Arrived after dark and got to the Ellerman House where we are staying at 10:30pm.

Ellerman House, Cape Town

It is more like an elegant home than a hotel.  The halls are lined with art and sculpture.  There is a living room full of paintings and a Christmas tree. Indoor dining rooms as well as terraces for outdoor dining.  Hallways that end at doors to suites as well as ones that turn a corner and lead to the kitchen, the reception or the pantry or the Spa.   The grounds are meticulously manicured with flowers, water fountains, lawns and pools.

Wine Gallery with Corkscrew wine rack

One pathway leads to a huge wine room with the most unusual wine storage I have ever seen.  It is a circular device about 10 feet in diameter made of carbon fiber and shaped like a corkscrew.  It is full of wine bottles laying on their side and enclosed by glass walls all around.   The property is perched, multi-leveled, on the slopes of Bantry Bay, a residential neighborhood in Cape Town.  It faces west, overlooking the Southern Atlantic coastline.  We knew nothing about the House, except that our GeoEx agent, Starla, had booked us here.   Arriving as late as we did, there was only the night manager to show us to our room. She had arranged for sandwiches and snacks in our room, brought the extra suitcase we had sent ahead a few weeks earlier and left us.  We enjoyed the lovely view of the city from our room, at a few snacks and went to bed.

December 20, 2018

Not due at the Silo Hotel for our White Desert briefing for the South Pole until 11am, we had time to wander around the hotel and check out the place.  Awesome.

At 10:30, White Desert staff picked us up and took us to the Silo for our briefing.   I was both excited and nervous.  Did I have the right equipment?  Would it be hard to put it all together?  Soon everyone was shaking hands and saying hello.  By 11:15 13 of us were seated in the top floor room with picture window views of the city all around, and big spaces for us to put our bags.  We watch a short film about where we were going and how we would get there and some dos and don’ts while in camp.  Then the White Desert rep told us what will be happening.

The first thing we learned was that the flight will be a day late as the weather is not allowing us to fly in on the 21st.   Sadly we loose a day, while the folks there now, gain a day there.  Very early on the 22nd–4:30am–we will be picked up and taken to the airport for a 6am departure on a Gulfstream 550.  The flight will be 5.5 hours to an airstrip called Wolf Fangs Runway on Queen Maud Land.  From there we transfer to a Basler BT-67 (similar to a DC3) for a 25 minute flight to camp.  The Basler is outfitted with skis and is unpressurized. Then we are transferred by snow cats to Camp Whichaway.   That ride takes 15 minutes.  So we take off from Cape town in summer clothes and change into winter wear before landing at Wolf Fangs Runway.

Then we get into the nitty gritty.  What to pack and where to pack it.  First we pull out whatever we think we need to wear when we land at Wolf Fang.  Plus whatever we need to have with us between the briefing and departure.

Everything else needs to go into our large bags that will go in the hold of the plane.  We each had a White Desert person go through our clothes with us so we have everything we actually will need.  That was very helpful.  I felt like I was more prepared once that task was completed.

Then we were free to go.  We went on a sight seeing drive about with a guide that had been prearranged.  Tried to go to Table Mountain, but the crowds were so great that we decided to do that early the next morning.

Had lunch in a charming neighborhood spot called Kloof Street House, walked around the colorful Muslim neighborhood  of the Bo-Kaap, which dates back to the 17th century.  Each building is painted a different bright color that originally represented the kind of shop that is inside.   From there we drove around Signal Hill and took in the lovely views.  It was a perfect sunshine day and people were everywhere outdoors.

Garden path to our “Spa Room” for the last night

Happily, we went back to the Ellerman House, enjoyed the evening on the lawn, had a wonderful dinner there and relaxed our way into bed.

December 21, 2018

Got up in time to catch an Uber to Table Mountain at 7:45.  Not as perfect a day as the day before, but close enough.  There was virtually no line and we had a happy experience up on the mountain top.  There is a pleasant, if irregular, stone path to get around the top.  The distance is about a mile total and includes many steep overviews with a few railings (not nearly what would be there if it was in the US.), many flowering plants and signs telling you what is in the distance. We were down and back at the House by 11am.

Because we are staying an extra night, we had to be moved to another suite.  It is not the fancy place the Suite was, but it is most comfortable and next to the swimming pool and fountain.  It is also neat to the Spa, so Mark waisted no time in getting a pedicure.  We are set to relax for the rest of the day.

Since we will be unable to communicate from this evening until our planned return on the 28th, we both wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May you especially experience the birth of Christ in your heart and know the joy of His love.

God bless you all,

Julia and Mark