Yellow Fish cruises: Day 26: (Not) Scenic Cruising in Fiordland National Park

I woke suddenly this morning about 4am from a most terrifying dream. Some dreams can’t be remembered but I’m afraid I might not forget this one. I was on Deck 7 just in front of Club Fusion in the elevator and stairs lobby when I (and everyone else there) was in water up to our shoulders and it was rising. I knew I needed to go up or out, and when I looked out the door on the starboard side, all I could see was water, but I saw daylight on the port side and started heading that way, swimming through the water.

And then I woke up.

It was very bouncy at that time, which is probably why I had that dream, but the bad sea conditions, real and imagined, pretty much meant the end of my sleep for the night.

Before 8am we were in the DaVinci Dining Room enjoying breakfast. I was using my hiking sticks this morning, not really because of pain but just for the stability of two additional feet on the ground. We still believed we’d be entering Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park about 10:30am, but an announcement by Captain Lawes soon disabused us of that expectation. The storm was worse than expected, with 50 knot winds and 15 foot swells, and we would be bypassing any scenic cruising in the park and were heading north to outrun the worst of the storm. Eventually we will turn almost due west and approach Sydney from that direction. To be fair, we had already realized that our visibility in Milford Sound would have been severely impaired by the heavy rain, so the incremental disappointment caused by the captain’s announcement was minimal.

But the weather we’ve had almost the entire time we’ve been in New Zealand just highlights why we actually enjoy repeating itineraries during our seasons at sea. We don’t get bored, we can do or see something different each time we visit and we stand a fairly good chance of catching each port on at least one really good weather day, especially later in the season.

Though we would be missing our scenic cruising in Fiordland National Park, one of the park rangers had come on board with the pilot yesterday in Dunedin, expecting to narrate during our time in the fiords, and then, once outside the last fiord (which would have been Milford Sound), both men would disembark on a pilot boat and be returned to shore, where they would drive back to their homes in Dunedin. Instead they are unexpectedly on until Sydney and will have to fly home. But the ranger was scheduled to give a presentation about the park in the Princess Theater at 9am, and that was going on as planned. Since it was the closest we would get to seeing the park today, we were especially looking forward to it.

He shared the facts and history of the park, talked about the wildlife (native and the imported critters such as rats and stoats and possums that are giving the native plants and animal such trouble), and showed us a lot of photos, not only of what we missed but also views from throughout the park, especially taken from the peaks. The highest mountains are those in the northern part of the park, and the tallest peak is Mt. Tutoko at 2723 meters (8934 feet) high.

Source for all Fiordland National Park photos: Park Ranger Ian Thorne

More ship activities were quickly added to the morning schedule, since we were now experiencing what was basically another sea day, and it got me thinking about our schedule so far this year versus our schedule last year. By Day 26 last season, we had flown overnight to London, stayed three nights in two hotels, been on three different cruise ships and spent 21 days in ports or cities. This year we flew only to Los Angeles, spent 25 nights on one ship and actually got off the ship in only seven ports. We said we wanted an easier season; we are definitely getting one...though the pace will pick up considerably after we reach Sydney.

I also wanted to mention two things I learned yesterday that were important enough to remember, but I’ll be darned if I could last night (when I spent two hours on yesterday’s post!). First, when Lyndon was discussing the Polynesian migration and why New Zealand came to be the last islands to be occupied, I guess I never knew, nor questioned why that was, especially when places like Easter Island were so much further away. When the Marquesas and Cook Islands were settled, it was the indigenous people noting the migratory patterns of birds that told them that land existed to the southwest. The birds would leave the northern islands during certain times each year, and return again months later. It is so interesting to think about that.

Also, we’ve heard quite a bit about the serious conservation efforts taking place in New Zealand to restore the native flora and fauna, and critical to doing that is to eradicate those species that were introduced. Not sheep and cattle, of course; they make up a large part of the New Zealand economy. But other things, like the stoats, and possums and the gorse, which is a pervasive noxious weed here. The native bird population has been devastated by the introduced animals. New Zealand had an amazing assortment of native birds but (and this is the part that I didn’t previously know) only two kinds of native mammals: bats and the New Zealand sea lion. Except for the sheep and cattle, I think they’d love to get back to that. So all the native animals we’re familiar with in the US- deer, bears, mountain lions, coyotes, antelope, big horn sheep, etc.- didn’t exist in New Zealand. Fascinating stuff, that.

Okay, enough for today’s lecture. Backing to cruising life. It was so rough by 10am that G decided to stay down in the Princess Theater to wait for a quickly scheduled enrichment lecture on the Battle of Saipan; I fumbled my way back to the cabin, where it was really rocking and rolling, to read the Elton John autobiography (which I’m having a hard time putting down) and add some more photos to my posts from the last two days (so look back at them if you’re interested). The wind was whistling loudly from that door to the Terrace Deck, squealing, really, and even brushing my teeth was best done sitting on the toilet lid. Thankfully, the size of the bathroom allows for that. I kept remembering my first time crossing the Tasman Sea in 2004 when we had 30 foot swells; today’s 15 foot swells were small in comparison, though it didn’t feel that way. “Crossing the Ditch”, as sailing between Australia and New Zealand is locally known, is really one of the only drawbacks to these itineraries. It isn’t always like this...but it sure can be.

Not because we were hungry, but looking for something to do, we went to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room. We might have enjoyed the Horizon Court Buffet instead, but felt that it would be much bouncier than the dining room, which is low and midship.

After lunch, we spent the entire afternoon reading (me), watching TV and napping off and on, since last night’s sleep wasn’t great. All the outside decks were closed off, and the pools and hot tubs were completely emptied. Still, a covered pool area would have at least have offered a place to spend the afternoon. As predicted, we miss it. Showering for the evening was done with one hand on the shower bar just to stay upright, but it really was slightly better than it had been earlier in the day. But we were shocked to see the heavy rain had stopped, and the sun was actually peaking through between the clouds when we went to dinner, but the winds remained high.

Sautéed prawns and scallops

I don’t know how the crew could do their jobs today. I really don’t. While the rest of us were struggling just to get to our tables in the dining room, the waitstaff was carrying trays of heavy dishes and drinks.

The scheduled matinee of production show Stardust, scheduled for 4:30pm, was cancelled. That was no surprise. It surely wasn’t safe for that to be performed, or even to set up the stage. Fortunately, tonight’s scheduled entertainment was a comedian, who isn’t affected by rough seas. Unfortunately, it was a comedian that we saw a couple of years ago, and I didn’t care for him then. G went to the show, but I chose to sit in the Wheelhouse Bar listening to live music and reading my book. However, a lady just a bit younger than me soon joined me. Her husband had to return home from Auckland for work and she is heading to Australia to take care of her mother in Brisbane. We hit it off so well that we chatted for over an hour. It’s amazing how parallel our lives have been.

G found me after the show, and we decided to call it an evening. Though it’s improved since this morning, it is still just too rough to want to be walking around. And besides, I want to read! As soon as this is published, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing.