Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Two weeks flies by really fast. This morning we’ve already said goodbye to Sue, Max and Sarah (sister, nephew, niece). We have the hire car ready to drive back to Port Elizabeth around midday. This morning I need to go to the doctors to have my stitches removed.

Then it’s back to London via Johannesburg and Paris.

We’ve had a nice relaxing time here with the family. It doesn’t feel like it’s been so long since we last saw them all and hopefully we’ll all be back together soon.

In the last few days we’ve been bouncing back and forth between my parents house in Grahamstown and my sisters house in Port Alfred.

Last Friday we were invited out to friends of the family, Ingrid and Sheila for an evening meal of excellently prepared curry.  Very nice.

We spent Saturday and Sunday on the coast which looks onto the Indian Ocean – something we will be crossing in 2-3 years.  Yesterday we all went to Kenton-on-Sea to walk the sands and have a great lunch on the one and only restaurant facing the river mouth.

Apart from that Helen and I have been out for a few more walks. The cost of eating out here is much less than in the US or the Caribbean so we have the threat of plenty of pounds to fight.

While here in South Africa we’ve decided to make good use of the excellent but low cost medical services available in this country.  I have had a lump on my shoulder removed at a cost of US$50.  This morning Helen and I visited the dentist for a check up.  Quite by coincidence Helen shattered a tooth last night while chomping on nuts.  Fixing her tooth, another minor filling for Helen, X-Rays for both of us and the check ups came to about US$100.  This is a fraction of the cost of health care in the US and in some ways better.  Helen was informed that anesthesia may not be necessary so the tooth rebuilding was done without albeit with the option of having some if necessary.  In the US there would be no choice.

Big thanks to the Doctor and Dentist for their fine work.

We had a nice Sunday at my sister’s home in Port Alfred. It was mostly a lazy day sitting around playing with Max and Sarah, our nephew and niece. We spent a couple of hours down on the beach throwing a Frisbee around and building sandcastles. In the evening we sat around chatting and watching things on the PC.

Today we’re back in Grahamstown for Helen’s birthday. The local curry emporium doesn’t look up to much so we’re going to go to a more family oriented restaurant.

Last night was the night for my parents’ 50^th anniversary party with their friends and family. About 25 of us were pulled together at a private home called Table Too which hosts informal meals once a month. For us youngsters, there is hope yet as my parents and their friends were full of energy and noise. We had a British menu and lots of wine. My sister and father made great speeches. Much fun was had.

Helen and I are off to my sister Sue’s place in Port Alfred today which is on the coast. Beyond that, we’re not sure what we’re doing.

Tomorrow is Helen’s birthday so, surprise, surprise, we’re thinking of curry.

September the 3^rd is my parents’ wedding anniversary and this year it was their 50^th. For some time we have collaborated with my sister to make a surprise visit to them on their anniversary. These days they live in South Africa which is not a small hop from Grenada. All the practical flight routes to South Africa go via Europe so we decided to build in a trip to the Uk while we were at it.

Briefly (detail will be added to earlier blogs) we left Grenada on Thursday 27^th of August arriving the following morning. We stayed with Helen’s sister Betty for a few days before flying to South Africa with a stop over in Paris. In fact, it was three flights: London to Paris, Paris to Johannesburg and Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth. From there we took a taxi to Kichaka Game Lodge, a private lodge/game reserve where my parents were soon to arrive on what they thought was their main surprise for the day.

We managed to arrive just over an hour before them. We were able to settle in, wash and get ourselves ready before they arrived. We decided to wait by the pool pretending to be guest lying by the pool. When my parents, my sister and her two children (Max and Sarah) arrived, they were shown around the facilities. Quite hilariously they walked right past us twice without recognizing us (perhaps it was the tan). When they did notice the peace was shattered.

The surprise worked well as they had no idea we would be there. We didn’t have long before were off on a three hour game drive. The weather started off quite fabulous but, as is the case, it got quite cold as night fell. Things were well organized as we all had ponchos to put on to keep warm.

We saw plenty of animals and birds including giraffe, hippos, many types of antelope, ostrich, warthogs. The elephants seemed to be hiding although we came across a few in the dark including one large male in musk. We saw lion footprints in a few places but never the lions themselves.

Back at the lodge we had drinks and then time to wash and change before a very tasty and well presented three course meal. Helen and I both had crocodile appetizers which were not to miss.

We all had the option to take a morning game drive at 6:30. Only Sarah, Max and I went for this. This time we started off cold and warmed up as the sun rose. The dawn light made for a different show. We spent a lot of time searching for a family of elephants and the lions. We were treated to sights of lots of different type of dung but the larger animals eluded us entirely. We did catch sight of some monkeys unseen the previous day.

Before the morning was out we were on our way back to Grahamstown so we could stay with my parents. They have a wonderful home in Grahamstown and we love staying there. As they didn’t know we were coming there was a little sorting out to do but fortunately not much.

After a brief rest, Helen and I took a walk around Grahamstown to exercise off all the fine food we’ve been eating recently (and not so fine).

Dignity won’t be going back into the water until early October. We’re staying here in South Africa for two weeks then heading back to the Uk for another couple of weeks. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of Helen’s family while there.

Back in Grenada we won’t have too long to finish our boat projects. This highlights the frustration we had with our delayed parts order. We really wanted to get everything done before leaving Grenada so things wouldn’t be rushed when we return. Now we’ll have to squeeze things in and maybe delay a couple of projects until later in the year.

I’ve also added red text to previous blog entries to fill in the missing gaps.  Click this link for all the recently changed entrues. For now, pics.