[Worldtrippers home] [2025 Crystal-Viking]
An archipelago of ten islands off the coast of West Africa was colonized by Portugal in the 1400s. It is traditionally known as “Cape Verde” (pronounced “VER-day”). In recent years, it has changed its name to “Cabo Verde” (pronounced “VERD” without that last “e” on the end). We have two different port stops in Cabo Verde.
Today’s port was Praia, the capital and largest city of Cape Verde, located on Santiago Island. Unfortunately, we only had about four hours in this port. Even more unfortunately, it was Good Friday and just about everything was closed.
This was our first port after six consecutive sea days. During that time, we have become good friends with two of the guest entertainers.
Harry the Piano (his stage name) is an amazing pianist. The high point of his show is when he gathers live requests from the audience for different songs and different musical styles. (e.g. “‘Yellow Submarine’ in a swing style.”) Within minutes, he performs an impromptu medley of the requests.
(Yesterday, Harry hosted the daily trivia contest with “Name That Tune.” Our team won for our first time!)
Nate Simpson is an amazing vocalist. He was a finalist on Britain’s “X Factor” television show. He has performed in London’s West End (the British equivalent of New York’s Broadway), including the lead role of “Simba” in “The Lion King.”
With no excursion and no specific plans in Praia today, the four of us took the free shuttle bus into town, where we walked around until we found a sidewalk café. As we ate lunch (which took forever to be served), we watched a half-dozen Viking walking tours go by. It was very amusing as we saw guests secretly trying to take photos of us while trying to respect our privacy.
We had to get back to the ship early because…
Russell was scheduled as tonight’s evening entertainment! This was an added lecture, and Russell picked a fun topic that had nothing to do with our destination: “California Sound: The Story of the Beach Boys.” At the end, he received a rare standing ovation.
This would be Harry’s and Nate’s last night aboard ship, so we all went up to the Explorer’s Lounge for drinks and conversation. Harry and Nate performed some impromptu songs, much to the delight of the guests. Gail even got Harry and Russell to perform a rather off-key version of “All I Have to Do is Dream” (one of “our” songs). The ship will be a much sadder place tomorrow, with both Harry and Nate gone.
Today marks exactly one month since we boarded the Crystal Symphony in Mumbai. It feels like we have been away a lot longer. But we are less than a quarter of the way through this contract, and we have many more adventures ahead.
