Wednesday May 20, 2026
Hi Folks! Today we were docked in the twin city of Sekondi-Takoradi in the country of Ghana on the continent of Africa. Our tour, to be honest, was not that great today. We had two locations we went to, a fishing village and a hotel. The fishing village smelled very fishy (Lol!) and was jammed with people selling fish (go figure!). But the sad part was all the shanty towns and poverty we saw on the way. While I realize that’s part of any third world country, it’s still hard to look at.
The hotel we went to was very nice and the local people put on a show with dancing and drum playing. They also served snacks of chicken, muffins and fresh chopped fruit. Hmmmm… should we have eaten the fruit if it was washed with local water?? If you don’t hear from me in a few days you’ll know Montezuma came a callin’!! Lol
We did learn some interesting history. It was 1928 when the deep water port was opened. The area played a pivotal role in WWII. Planes were built here and moved to the war front. Over 60% of the population is Christian and it’s one of few countries that has never had a civil war.
This was the first black African country to gain independence. On March 6, 1957, they gained their independence from Great Britain. The British had ruled here for 113 years from 1844 to 1957. The sorta funny thing is, here we are in 2026 and Ghana is playing their previous ruler, England, in the Soccer World Cup! Revenge Match?? Lol.
We got back onboard around 3 PM and chilled and got ready for dinner. Tonight we had dinner at the Steakhouse Specialty Restaurant named Prime 7. Tonight we had dinner with our good friends Don and Terri who we met thru Colleen and Steve who were hosting the Ghana kids today.
The food is so good here, I always slap the feed bag on and over indulge. For my appetizers I had both the Lump Crab Cake as well as the Caesar Salad. For my main I had the New Zealand Double Cut Lamb Chops and for dessert (since we were both stuffed!) Kathy and I split the 14 Layer Chocolate Cake (7 layers is still a lot!!). Lots of great conversation but sorry, no food pics!
After dinner we went to the 9:30 PM show which was our good friends from the Mariner Production Company in Divos and Divas. They sang and danced to a lot of the greats like Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet and many others. It was once again a Broadway level performance!
After the show we called it a night since we have an early excursion tomorrow. We’ll be in Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast and you guessed it, a new port for us! Hope everyone had a great day!
PS: Quick follow-up to yesterday’s note about the Ghana kids. Eight of them, aged 21 to 32, came onboard and got to meet the Captain, got a tour of the ship, had lunch, and even got to go to afternoon tea. That’s where we met them and got a group photo with them along with Colleen and Steve. The kids were so nice and it was an honor to meet them!
The Wandering Italian 