Fjordland, Oct 21.... Milford Sound

8 PM. Captain Cook, the famous explorer in the 1700s, said that the waters of the straits between Stewart Island and South Island are not fit for sailing. Nevertheless, our intrepid captain is going to take us through there tonight. He has told us to secure our belongings and to make sure that nothing fragile is left out to fall off tables or such.

3 AM. Well, the seas have not been as rough as expected. Still, we are at 47 degrees south latitude, which puts us between the “roaring forties” and the “filthy fifties”, so the weather is filthy – cold, fog, and rain and the wind is roaring.

7 AM. Seas are 18 feet and the wind is 45 knots from the north. The fog is almost pea soup. It is raining sideways. The captain has just announced that we will not be going into Dusky Sound. That is certainly the correct decision. We would have been crossways to this strong wind in a narrow channel with rock walls. The thrusters on this ship are not very powerful. Twice so far, they have had to use tugboats to push us up against the docks because of wind. These thrusters would not be powerful enough to keep us off the rocks with the wind blowing sideways. We will try for Doubtful Sound, but that is doubtful, too.

9 AM. Doubtful Sound will not be attempted. We will proceed to Milford Sound.

1 PM. Milford Sound is a GO! The wind, rain and fog are still a problem.

4 PM. Milford Sound is spectacular, even in the rain. The wind was fairly calm inside the sound and the fog lifted somewhat. All that rain caused hundreds of waterfalls down all sides of the fjord. The colors in the photos are really muted. It was a bit more colorful in reality. Some of the waterfalls were blown away sideways by the wind.

I am convinced that we almost had a much more memorable passage through Milford Sound than was intended. As we were nearly to come out of the Sound, we came within one shipwidth of the rocks at the surface. Below the surface it had to be just feet if not inches. A strong gust of wind had just come up sharply – maybe that was the cause. At the same time they were letting the pilot get off onto the pilot boat. As I looked back at the wake it was obvious that a very sudden sharp correction had been made. You can see it in the photo. I bet somebody on the bridge had to change his pants. I like memorable trips, but doing a “Titanic” right here in this 52 degree water is not what I had in mind.

5 PM. The captain has just announced that he is changing course to try to get us out of this storm system. It will make the trip to Sydney a bit longer, but maybe gentler. He can go a little faster to make up the time. They have rescheduled the show for tonight because the rough seas are a danger to the dancers. We will have singers instead.