A catamaran cruise

Namibia – May 2017

One major point on my to-do list for my week in Namibia is an excursion to Walvis Bay. The harbor town 43 km south of Swakop. The lagune which lays between the city and the Atlantic Ocean is home to Namibia’s most important port and many marine animals. The latter of course being my reason of interest. As last minute as always, one day at 5pm I manage to book the last spot on a catamaran cruise around the bay for the morning after. Unfortunately, the shuttle from Swakopmund is already full (which kind of surprised me, not having seen many tourists in the town). Being in a country where cars rule, I have the receptionist organize a taxi which takes me to the port.

Early the next morning I meet the taxi driver (who just so happens to be the receptionist’s cousin) in the lobby. As we pull out onto the main street, right in front of us we see a minibus with my tour company’s logo. We follow the minibus and drive along the only road south out of town. The dunes which mark the end of the Namib desert on the left and the ocean on the right, the drive along the Skeleton Coast offers spectacular views. Chatting away, the driver gives me little insight on the daily life of Namibian people and the 40-minute drive flies by and we arrive at the catamaran jetty.

I introduce myself to the tour leader and we make our way to the boat. More and more people arrive (it seems like they have managed to gather every tourist in the area on this tour). While the crew prepares the last things on deck, we meet the first inhabitants of the bay. Two seals are swimming around the boat and eventually one of them jumps onto the pier. Automatically the whole group takes a step back. One lady asks her husband to take a picture of her and the animal and shortly after we are allowed on bord. For the drive out into the lagoon everyone is asked to sit in the back on the benches placed in a rectangle along the railings.

I choose a seat in the back left corner next to a South African couple and wait for the rest of the people to board. Out of nowhere the seal from before jumps onto the deck in the back right corner. There are now around 30 people on the boat and almost every seat is occupied. So I just sit in my corner and watch the mammal coming closer toward my side of the boat. The tour leader is busy welcoming the last guests and the rest of the crew is somewhere below deck. Suddenly the seal appears by my side and grunts demandingly. As I try to stay calm and not show any significant interest in him, he decides that more convincing measures must be taken and bites me right in the elbow.

I am so surprised that I only let out a little shriek. Some crew member steps on deck and the seal jumps back into the water. With the attacker gone and most people not even having noticed what happened, the tour leader gives instructions to start the motor and our cruise begins. I still can’t quite comprehend what just happened. The couple next to me seems to be equally shocked and asks if everything is ok. As my arm doesn’t hurt too much I nod and they scoot over a little so I can bring a bit of distance between me and the crime scene. Despite the seal’s unbelievably long teeth my jacket is completely intact and I can finally start to enjoy the ocean breeze on my face.

Little did I know that the seals are incredibly fast swimmers and after around 5 minutes motoring out on to the lagune, the same animal makes another appearance on deck. A couple of people scream of surprise, but the guide calms them down saying that he knows the visitor well. They call him “Necklace” and he only wants some breakfast. He opens the cover of the bench where I was sitting before and brings out a bucket of fresh fish.

The rest of the cruise I pass on the nets in the front of the boat and watch pelicans taking a break on our railing, seals sunbathing on the outer shore and the oyster farms passing by. Back at the hotel I check my right arm. There are 4 very noticeable circular bruises where the seal teeth grabbed my ellbow.

So that was the story about my catamaran cruise in Namibia. But how did I get there? And how was my overall experience staying in Swakopmund during off-season?