Lüderitz, Namibia - NOT!

Hello, Everyone!

Today (Monday 6 Apr 2026) was in interesting day. We were supposed to be docked in Lüderitz, Namibia as of about 7:00am this morning, but when I looked out my veranda window I could see that we were still a considerable distance from land. At about 7:30, the captain came on the PA to say that the wind conditions were too high for us to safely dock there. Indeed, the ship was rolling a good bit and the seas, even in the harbor area, were pretty choppy. He told us that the conditions weren't expected to improve anytime soon, so we'd unfortunately have to cancel our port call in Lüderitz.

Since this was our first of two planned stops in Namibia, they elected to have us go through immigration anyway, so that we wouldn't have to do it at our next stop in Walvis Bay - apparently they're not as well-prepared to handle 800+ passengers plus crew! So, despite the rough water, a small team of immigration officials was able to bravely board our boat from a small tender. They set up shop in the main theater and we all cycled through to get our passports stamped and complete the visa paperwork.

All that went smoothly, and we expected to weigh anchor and set sail for Walvis Bay shortly. An hour or two went by, and I noticed that the ship was rolling quite a bit. I looked outside and noticed that we were still in the bay and were slowly spinning in a circle, with the stern thrusters pushing sideways to make us turn. I thought that was odd, but figured they knew what they were doing.

A bit later, the captain again came on the PA to say that the anchor was "a little bit stuck" and that they were trying to maneuver the ship around a bit to free it. I went up to the cafe to have some lunch and noticed that some crewmembers were maneuvering around our ship in one of our tender boats. I assume they were somehow working to free the anchor, but I don't know specifically what they were doing. The winds had really picked up and our ship was rocking almost as much as it did that night on the Tasman Sea. Their little tender was getting tossed about quite a lot in the rough sea. Because we weren't moving forward through the water, the ship's stabilizers were ineffective. At one point we rolled to starboard by what I'd guess to be 8-10 degrees, and there was a loud crash from the serving line. Plates that had been stacked beneath the counter slid out onto the floor and shattered. There were several loud crashes and the sound of metal pans clattering and breaking glass from the kitchen area. I grabbed my plate and water glass to keep them from sliding off the table, and my silverware landed in my lap.

The crew worked very quickly and had the mess cleaned up in no time. They hardly missed a beat and managed to keep serving food through all the excitement.

It took about another hour, but the crew finally got the anchor free and we proceeded north toward Walvis Bay. Once we got moving and the stabilizers became effective, the worst of the rolling stopped, despite the seas still being rather rough.

Obviously, the shore excursions for the day were cancelled, so the cruise director and her team pivoted and managed to add several new events (lectures, trivia games, etc.) to the daytime schedule to fill the time. I chose to curl up with a John Grisham novel and had a nice, relaxing day. Although I would have liked to see Lüderitz, I wasn't too disappointed because my planned excursion was just a tour around the town and a bit of the local desert area. Lüderitz reflects the strong German Colonial influence in Namibia and still has a lot of old, German architecture. The pictures make it look very quaint and frozen in time, so it would have been nice to see. 

We'll still get to see Walvis Bay though (tomorrow's port call), and I believe it will be similar - German influence and lots of desert. We also have a special event planned there. The crew is putting on a big "dinner under the stars" for us out in the Namibian desert tomorrow night. They're being a bit cagey about the details, but it sounds like they've got a real extravaganza planned. More on that tomorrow!

Cheers,
Jim