The Regent Seven Seas Mariner was docked by 6am and John and I had a matching wake up call for an 8:00 am excursion. There was one even earlier tour, a 7-hour saga that was set to depart at 6:20 am. The first hint of trouble came a few minutes before 8:00 am when Victor, one of the restaurant staff in La Veranda, stopped by the table to let us know the ship had not yet cleared. 98% of the time, clearing a ship is a formality with the locals, but this morning it was an issue. Seems the Dakar Port officials expected a bit extra on the side, and Regent simply does not allow that!
The Captain came on the speaker system about 8:15 am and advised us there was a problem the staff was trying to resolve. The pilot had brought us in to the wrong pier, another ship was docked at "our" pier where buses were staged, but there wasn't quite enough room for us to dock in front of them (think a very tight parallel parking spot); the situation was under negotiation.
The Destination Services manager announced that the 7-hour tour to the Pink Lake had been cancelled (sorry Erin). The ship would keep us informed, but for the time being, just kick back and relax for a while. By 8:30 we all figured that we'd skip Dakar and head out for another sea day.
The Captain came on again at 8:45 am and announced that a solution had been reached; the cargo ship in our slot was going to loosen it's lines, slide back a bit, giving us the room needed to dock at our proper pier, so we could all enjoy our day at Dakar. The Captain was followed immediately by an announcement from destination services listing the shore excursions and their new departure times. I'm not sure how many people were on the Pink Lake excursions, but they were offered a Dakar city highlights tour, and they all joined us crawling thru Dakar in a six bus convoy!
But wait, there's more! Senegal is a Muslim country, and the tour descriptions clearly stated that shorts were not appropriate. So, before departing for the buses, an announcement was made and about half the folks, who hadn't read the tour information, had to return to their suites to change into long pants!
If we could have driven thru Dakar without traffic, the tour would have taken no more than 45 minutes... maybe less; as it was the tour took 4 1/2 hours.
I have photos, as most words defy reality. Dakar is hot, dusty, filled with piles of garbage that everyone ignores, but the women's clothes are colorful and beautiful. The adorable babies are tied to their Mom's backs and women carry huge loads of whatever on their heads. There were lots of flies and every little neighborhood had it's own group of stores. There were "Transport Commun" buses that seated 10, but could accommodate 14 or 15 if a few hung off the back; the back doors were tied open! The Commun buses were yellow and blue and each had a horse's head painted on the side. We saw them everywhere, packed to the gills. Everything is covered with a layer or two or more of dust. The drivers are all quite courteous and few honked their horns, even though driving was chaotic - one lane turned into three and then back to two. A driver in the rotary would stop to let someone in and three lanes would become six while motorcycles and scooters swerved thru traffic, sometimes going the wrong way. If someone wished to make a U turn, they just did, regardless of where they were, and everyone would stop for them. There were hundreds of traffic police - they would be in the middle of the street blowing their whistles for all they were worth, but no one paid the least bit of attention to them, driving to suit their purpose. Our bus only reached speeds above 20 mph twice... most of the time we could have walked along side, faster that it was moving!
As promised, we did see the highlights of Dakar. The Presidential Palace with the Red Guard, the old train station, the University of Dakar and the Great Mosque, built for the people of Dakar by Morocco. And two recently built monuments, the Door of Millennium, with it's striking design and the powerful Renaissance Statue of Africa, perched high up on a hill overlooking Dakar.
While we didn't see too much more in the way of monuments or buildings except in "drive by" mode, in our slow drive thru Dakar we did see the people "at home" in streets, neighborhood, shopping, cooking, offering their wares to passers by from tiny little shops that doubled as their homes and just going about their daily lives. I was very happy to return to the ship, but also am pleased I brought memories of the exotic with me that I'll never forget.
One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things - Henry Miller.
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