Early morning departure for Akaroa

17^thOctober 2019

Miraculously Ruby Princess pushes away from the berth at Tauranga at 3.30 am, obviously conditions had improved enough for us to leave and catch the slack tide required to exit Pilot Bay. A large freighter that was berthed behind us must have left just before us has also gone, giving us clear passage to reverse out.

At around 9.30am, we were well underway, but not yet clear of the Eastern Cape of the Bay of Plenty when the Captain announced that we had departed as planned, were travelling in an easterly direction at 22 knots and were headed for Akaroa. It is likely we will arrive at 9 am, not 8 am as originally scheduled.

That was the good news. He then went on to say that the current weather forecast suggests winds of 40 – 50 knots are expected at our destination, and if that is the case, conditions will be too rough to launch tenders so we will be unable to go ashore. The weather currently is very pleasant, with westerly winds at around 15 knots, clear skies and slight seas. It is hard to picture that the forecast is correct, so here is hoping they have got it wrong.

As we pass Eastern Cape and start to change our heading South, we see two yachts sailing North inshore of us. Sailing conditions look good but apparently Auckland is still getting strong winds so I am not sure how much further North they can go before finding it very uncomfortable. On Monday when we were heading towards Auckland in gale force winds and big seas, a yachtsman lost his life when his yacht sunk just North of our heading. The rest of the crew were rescued by helicopter in appalling conditions.

Later in the day the weather forecast for our destination is revised downwards to winds of 20 – 35 knots, but that mat still be enough to prevent tenders from being lowered to transport us to land. We will just have to see how it is when we arrive.