Day 30--In port, Ghana

22 September. 5° 38” N. 00° 00.06” E. Speed = 0 knots

We’re finally docked at the port of Tema, Ghana, barely into the Eastern Hemisphere by six one hundredths of a minute longitude—a few meters.

The docking process took an unusually long time this morning. At each previous destination, we’ve watched the final feet of slack in the mooring lines tightened precisely at the scheduled arrival time: 0800. Not so today. First, we circled outside the port for over an hour waiting for a large auto-carrier to clear so we’d have room to maneuver and dock. The carrier cleared by 0845, and we headed into the port, crossing swells that rocked the boat by at least 30 degrees port and starboard. Coffee cups and plates slid from one end of tables to the other, rescued by the quick reflexes of 20-year-old hands.

Once inside the breakwaters of the port, the crew maneuvered the ship into position for what looked like a simple nose-in approach—like pulling into a parallel-parking spot where only one car stands along an otherwise empty curb. In today’s case, the lone “car” is a 500-foot-long container ship.

Without knowing what the captain had in mind, we appeared to overshoot the spot and slid instead alongside that lone container carrier. Then we parallel parked, backing into the dock, rotating the bow toward the curb, and slipping sideways to the longshoremen waiting to catch the ropes that would lash us to the stanchoens. The gangway was finally in place by 0915, an hour and 15 minutes later than scheduled.

All that was interesting to watch, but not as interesting as the show we were treated to while circling outside the port. As I sat outside the 6th-deck garden lounge drinking coffee with one of the lifelong learners, a young girl two tables away suddenly screamed, “Look! Wow!” Everyone on the deck stood and turned to see two humpback whales crashing down into the water. The 50-or-so passengers eating breakfast leaped up and rushed to the rail, arriving just as first one then the other whale, no more than 100 yards off the portside stern, surged out of the water and, like the insurance ad, rotated onto its side, seemed to wave its fluke at us, then crashed back down and disappeared into the foam. It was a synchronized swimming demonstration, two beautiful animals in perfect formation performing to the absolute delight of the crowd. The whales continued the dance for the next 10 minutes, leaping out of the water and crashing back down to our shouts, screams, and cheers.

I’m sure the show will be viewable on YouTube today. Cameras were everywhere.

So now we’re firmly tied to the Tema dock, again in an industrial area. This place feels very different than Casablanca, though. The smiling longshoremen waiting to lash us in laughed, sang, and waved as they watched the crew maneuver the Explorer toward them. It was a very different greeting than we saw in Morocco. Annie might say, “I think I’m going to like it here.”