Cape Town

At the beginning of February we finally sailed out of Durban, South Africa to make our way to Sierra Leone, our next field of service for the next 10 months.

So much has been achieved during our time there. Here are just a few of things that were accomplished:

1. Replaced 6 old "ship-original generators with 4 new generators 2. Air-con "SABRO" units replaced - (our cabin is now a bit cooler!) 3. Engine Controls from Bridge to the engine room - LOTS of cables 4. Food Stores shelving - if you saw the episodes of Mighty Ships you will know that our galley staff will be glad of that, especially on the sail! 5. Lifeboats 5 year survey, along with servicing the davits. 6. Fire-fighting and SCUBA equipment repaired/serviced 7. A new Mercy Ships logo welded to the funnel and the website painted on the side 8. Swimming Pool was modified - last year a generous donor gave the crew a swimming pool, unfortunately it was still requiring some changes to stop the waves that were forming even from the very slight movement of the ship. Now it's in full use and people are loving being able to go for a cool dip in the pool after the heat of the day. 9. Additional Sprinklers added on 10. Many windows replaced - we got 3 in our cabin so now we can see through them. Plus all windows were covered with a film to help keep the heat of the Africa sun out of the ship. 11. Engines serviced along with all the landrovers. 12. Lift/Elevator had new controls fitted, it now has lights!

We had 3 days of testing things out before having a 24 hour stopover in Cape Town to pick up extra fuel and water.

The school gave the kids the day off (with a catch up work day on the Saturday during the sail) so they could enjoy Cape Town. Cape Town is the home of the School Principal so she knew there was a good time to be had there. So Sharon and Nathanael, along with our friends hit the ground running to cover Cape Town as quickly as possible. That morning we had booked the hop on hop off tour bus so we could at least get a tour of Cape Town.

(Cape Towns 12 Apostles)

This included a stop at Table Mountain where we took a cable car up to the top. The view was amazing and we were glad that we had made the effort to go.

That evening and the next morning we enjoyed the atmosphere of the V&A Waterfront where the ship was docked, filled with many interesting tourists attractions, restaurants and shops. Here we enjoyed our last fill of Fish and Chips for 10 months.

(Nathanael holding Nelson Mandela's hand, part of nobel peace statues)

(Made out of Coca Cola crates!)

(smaller version of the London Eye)

We set sail the following evening and enjoyed the sunset as we sailed out for a 10 day voyage.