Well, not using the mosquito net was a mistake. I kept getting woken up by mosquitoes
flying near my ears and buzzing around. Come morning, though, I found out something else:
I had about half a dozen red welts on my forehead where the mosquitoes had had themselves
a drink! They itched for days afterwards.
After a quick breakfast, we headed south towards Cape Cross, a large seal colony near
Swakopmund. Everyone was looking forward to Swakopmund, since we would be in real beds and
have real showers for the first time in a week! Bliss.
Cape Cross proved to be a real sinus-cleaner: it STANK. Hundreds
of seals (sea lions, actually: you can tell the difference by checking for external
ears) made for quite a stench. I breathed through my mouth the whole time we were there.
It had been breeding season recently: I saw lots of baby
seals (and quite a few small sad corpses, unfortunately) and a few young still suckling. 
There were
several large males strutting around. There were a few groups barking and biting at each other. For the most part, the
rest of the sea lions seemed to be trying to get some
sleep.
There's a low stone wall between the tourists and the seals: there are signs for the
tourists warning them to not cross the wall. No one had told the sea lions this: there
were quite a few sunbathing on our side of the wall, including one large female blocking
the entrance to the lavatories.
Cape Cross has a little monument to Diego Cao, the
Portuguese explorer who originally claimed the cape for the King John II. There's a
reproduction of the original cross he erected as well
as a more modern monument nearby.
After Cape Cross, we continued on to Swakopmund, stopping for lunch at a small cluster
of beachfront housing. A stray dog hovered around looking for scraps as we explored the
beach down below the dunes.
We arrived at Swakopmund that afternoon and split
up into our rooms. The resort we were at had rooms built into large A-Frames, with shared
showers and kitchens. I roomed with Chris & Joanne, while Katja & Martina and
Antonio and Christina took a second A-Frame; Geraldine & Jan took the third.
Before dinner I explored the beach a bit and took a few photos. I met up with Geraldine and Jan at an open-air
market similar to the one outside of Etosha, but managed to avoid buying anything. We
decided to go find some dinner.
Susanna had told of this great pizza place in town: we went to seek it out. On the way
we met up with Chris & Joanne and all went into the pizzeria. It was fairly crowded
inside, but we managed to squeeze into one corner.
Dinner was GREAT: you could order individual pizzas, and there was a wide variety to
choose from. I got a delicious Greek pizza with anchovies (yum!!). As we were finishing,
Katja, Martina, Antonio and Christina showed up, so we stayed and talked while they ate
dinner. After a week of camping food, we were in ecstasy!
Tomorrow's schedule came up: Geraldine wanted to do an overflight of the area, and it
would be cheaper if more people went. I also wanted to go, but I also wanted to do the
Quad biking and sandboarding the next day, so we weren't sure if there would be enough
time. I had already signed up for the Quad biking and sandboarding, so I decided to
see if I could skip the Quad biking in favor of the overflight. However, that would
have to wait until tomorrow.
