The Mighty Tasman

The Captain lied!!!! You might recall at the end of our last post that the Captain had just said we would be sailing in 4 - 14 foot swells. Well he missed his estimate. By a factor of close to three!!! The sail out from Hobart started out fairly smoothly, but Hobart is at the end of a long bay. By the time we had reached the top of the bay things had started to get shaky, and by the time we rounded the point we knew we were back in The Mighty Tasman!!!

Reaching the end of the bay

Out at sea

             

We had dinner at Umi Uma, the Japanese restaurant, which was delicious as usual.

Nobu new style sashini

The special tuna tempura roll. This needs to go on
the regular menu!

Tuna sashimi and house special rolls

Vegetable tempura and rock shrimp

Monica's main course - Nobu's famous miso sea bass

Larry chose beef tenderloin with a trio of sauces

               

Fortunately the show for the evening featured a comedian, so he didn't have too much trouble up on stage. Afterward, we settled in for a good night's sleep. Or so we thought! For the most part, the ship was moving and we were comfortable. Then at about 4:30 we figured the ship must have entered the Bass Strait because A) we both woke up from a sound sleep, and B) things really started to get bouncy and we could hear the wind! You might remember from an earlier post that the Bass Strait is in the Roaring Forties and when we crossed it on the way down, the combined wind speed on the outer decks was almost 60 MPH. Well, now we were sailing straight into that wind!!

We awoke early, we didn't actually sleep that much, or that soundly after 4:30, to a surprisingly bright and sunny day, at least what we could see of it. The balcony door and window were streaked with salt spray all the way to the top, there was water running down both, and water from ocean spray was dripping from the ceiling of our balcony. And keep in mind we are on Deck 11!!! At his 9:00 report, the Captain advised the winds across the deck were just above 70 MPH, as an aside, hurricane strength is 75 MPH (!!), the outer decks were closed (!!) and please do not open your balcony doors!! Like we were even going to think about doing that!! He said we were sailing in 15 to 20 foot swells, and he expected that to increase to 25 - 30 feet once we left the Bass Strait and entered the Southern Ocean. And even better, as we would have to turn north toward Kangaroo Island, the swells currently straight on the bow would be coming from the port (left) side at about a 45 degree angle to the bow. So in addition to going up and down. we would now be rolling from left to right!!

 

The view from the Cove on Deck 5

After our first breakfast in the suite of this trip, Larry went to the 10:00 lecture and Monica went first to the 9:00 Yoga class, and then stayed for the 10:00 knitting group, all in venues at the front of the ship, where you really tend to feel the motion. The good thing is the lecture was on Deck 6, the bad thing is the yoga and knitting group were on Deck 12. Larry joked with Gary Hunter, the Cruise Director that he hoped he had a safety harness for Ken Rees, the lecturer, in case he fell off the stage!! The theatre was rocking, and we could hear the waves crashing into the hull, and Ken showed off some pretty good dance moves while giving his lecture!! Walking along the corridor after the lecture was interesting. The ship would lurch one way or the other and everyone in the hall would do a two-step to the left and then the right like a line dance in a country and western bar!!!

Meanwhile, after 90 minutes in the Palm Court, Monica decided she had had enough rocking, and adjourned to The Cove, down on Deck 5 and midship to continue knitting. Much to her consternation, she had discovered that even after all these cruises, it is possible to have a queasy stomach when the ship is bouncing all day! After a light lunch and a couple of hours of down time, Monica headed for the art class. After spending 90 minutes at the FRONT of Deck 12 in the morning, she spent another hour at the very BACK of Deck 12, where the motion was worse, leading to some more quiet time, a light dinner and an early night.

Oh, and that "factor of three" we mentioned at the start? During dinner in the Dining Room, which is on Deck 5, we witnessed a swell that broke so high we had to look UP out of the windows to see the top of it!! We guesstimated it later at about 36 feet!!

Was everyone looking forward to reaching Kangaroo Island? You betcha!!