Noon Report:

• Position: S 45° 17.37′, E 166° 52.82′
• Speed: 11.5 knots
• Course: 315º

Note, the noon report is a bit strange today (slow speed, strange course) because we were in the process of exiting the Doubtful Strait (named by James Cook) at that point.

It was an interesting night – rockin’, rollin’, pitchin’, bangin’ – the Pacific was anything but.

That continued into this morning where the wind was blowing so hard that we couldn’t open the doors onto Deck 2. So we threw a couple of loads in the wash and I joined Cheryl in the gym – she on the treadmill, me on a bike. It’s interesting looking out the window on deck 1 as the 18 foot swells crash by. I was supposed to insert a video but I think I can get a better angle. I’ll try another one Friday.

While I was pedaling away we got an announcement that we were changing the itinerary for the day. We were scheduled to cruise Milford Sound this morning and then proceed south to Doubtful Sound. Because of weather (low clouds, high seas) …

…the captain opted to switch our day around so we passed Milford and (above) and proceeded directly south to Doubtful Sound for some spectacular scenery.

Breakfast

We sailed in then out of Doubtful Sound, ate a bit of lunch, and shortly after 1:00 were back on the Pacific Ocean headed north back to Milford Sound.

We arrived back at Milford Sound around 5:00.

Eventually we reached the end of the Sound and spent the very windy afternoon sailing in and out of rain showers.

And it was time to turn completely around and head back for open water.

On the way out we ate and tried our best at BBB (21 of 32). Tonight was a “Guess the Date” format. He read a set of events and we had to guess the year they all happened. Our score was good for 4th place so we were pleasantly surprised.

So we say a fond farewell to New Zealand as we sail off into the sunset, open sea, huge swells and battering waves. We’re headed for Tasmania, with plans to arrive there in 3 days on Saturday 2/11.

Till tomorrow, R

Cheryl’s factoids:

• This is the furthest south we will be – the sunset tonight is at 9:15. (It’s also been much cooler the further south we get – 53 degrees for the high but with the wind chill make that 46 degrees.) Tomorrow we have a time change (turn the clocks back an hour) and ANOTHER time change the very next day before we hit Hobart in Tasmania (I theorize this is because the time meridians of the earth are closer together at the top and bottom of the earth).