Wednesday February 4th, 2026 Queen Anne, Durban, South Africa
- Neil Wylie
- Jan 9
- 2 min read
Today we’ve been in Durban on the eastern side of South Africa and there is not a lot to report. We opted not to go on any of the ship’s shore excursions and instead took the shuttle bus. Strangely, the shuttle bus did not go to the city center, which looked to be quite substantial with modern high rise buildings, but instead dropped us at a Marine World place close to the beach. The attraction differed from typical water parks; in fact it was like a small shopping mall with a few event spaces integrated into it.
The day was very warm, and the buildings were exposed to the outdoors, offering minimal shelter. We strolled through the mall and made our way down to the waterfront. A beautiful wide beach stretched away to our left while a short pier marked the end of the beach to our right. There were a few bars and restaurants facing the ocean as well as one on the end of the pier. Making our way along the pier a light breeze picked up offering some respite from the heat; the bar on the end of the pier was closed and we found ourselves stepping over the swill from the cleaner who was mopping the concrete floor. As we returned to the sea front, we could saw the Queen Anne quite close by.
By now I was well parched and so we stopped at one of the restaurants for a quick drink. Well that was the plan anyway, but we got to experience the famous African slow service – I’m not the most patient person at the best of times; I was hot and flustered and by the time my beer arrived the steam was coming out of my ears like a man taking the heat far more personally than necessary. Luckily the beer was nice and cold and somehow it calmed me down.
We thought about taking an Uber to the city center but again wondered why the ship would not arrange for the shuttle to go there – maybe we were reading too much into this, thinking it was not a good place to visit. It was hot and we were a bit tired, so we called it a day.
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