Setting sail at sunset

It's been nearly two weeks since I disembarked from the Crystal Symphony after 16 days aboard this 6-star floating hotel, and I am slowly returning to reality and landlubber's legs. Having never experienced such a degree of service and attention to detail before, I can confirm that it didn't take long to adapt to the lifestyle - probably as long as it took to stow my belongings in the ample and well laid out cupboard space. It was straight up to the open deck for me, to take in the views of my home city of Cape Town cradled in the rocky embrace of that most magnetic of mountains, Table Mountain.
Our departure from the dock was so smooth that I only realised we had left when I saw the increasing distance between the ship and the dockside buildings as I joined a surprisingly few passengers at the railing. (It later became apparent that the majority of the passengers thought this 'old hat' after so many years of cruising the world and docking at a new port every few days.)
I struck up a conversation with two men standing on the sea side of the ship. One told me about the thrill they had experienced on the day trip to Cape Point, where they had seen baboons and buck (real wild life for them) and we chatted a bit about baboon raids in the kitchen. He then said he was looking forward to visiting Addo Elephant park near Port Elizabeth in a few days' time, where he could see elephants and maybe even tigers. I suggested that he might have to go to India for that.
The ship then turned out of the sheltering harbour and into the first swells sweeping up from the south west. Suddenly it was a whole different scenario - no longer the elegant glide, but the dip and rise that comes with a substantial sea - and as we looked down at the swimming pool on the lido deck below, it began to develop a wave and, within a few minutes, half the water washed right out of the pool and swamped the surrounding deck! Unperturbed, crew members went about gathering lounger cushions and towels to stow away, and unhurried sunbathers retreated inside - it was apparently not an unusual occurrence.
This set the tone for the evening's cruise past Cape Point, and more than one passenger was missing from the dining room, although I fortunately felt no ill effects other than having a very conservative dinner!
The Cape Peninsula sat low against the horizon, not the towering mountains of our imagination when viewed from the sea, and I could only marvel at how the early seafarers even found it the first time, let alone achieving a return trip! The last thing I saw before dusk overtook us was the Slangkop lighthouse, a matchstick against the blue mountains - home.