This post will cover the highlights of the final two days (out of three) of our transit from Wellington to Sydney.

7 Feb

Tuxedo Junction

Tonight was another dressy night – which requires only a collared shirt for men.  Nevertheless, it was hard to spot anyone not wearing a tie, and there were quite a few tuxedos.  Grand Voyages, and particularly World Voyages, tend to have much higher numbers of people dressing up than on shorter cruises.

While tonight was dressy, there wasn’t an officially published theme.  I filled the vacuum and declared this night “Black and Gold” on our Cruise Critic roll call.

Two great-looking jackets in the Ocean Bar on Dressy Night!

Pete and Judy in The Tuxedo Junction!

You can find all the activities and themes on my website HERE

Zuiderdam Singers and Dancers

The Zuiderdam Singers and Dancers performed “Your Song” featuring hits from Elton John.  These shows get better and better every time.

Michael Roach, Sveva Petruzzellis, Cole Cloutier and Kiana Bell singing “Benny and the Jets”

Sveva out in front singing “Philadelphia Freedom”

The finale of Your Song!

8 Feb

The Tasman Sea can be pretty rough – however, this crossing was relatively mild.  Although there has been significant deck motion, there wasn’t any time when we felt we needed to put our glasses on the floor to avoid them from sliding off our desks.

There are a couple of useful websites where you can see the global wave and swell forecasts.  The first one – Storm Surf, is HERE. It’s privately run and is described below:

STORMSURF provides surf forecasts, surf reports, wave models, weather models, buoys reports and buoy forecasts all with research grade accuracy.  Our buoy reports update hourly highlighting individual swell trains and surf height with pinpoint accuracy.  Our weather and wave models update 4 times daily zooming down through 5 levels to cover the spectrum from global to true local weather coverage, all at professional grade resolution.

STORMSURF also offers a full lineup of custom Surf Forecasts, QuikCAST’s and an El Nino forecast.  Our Chartroom houses tools that link you to our favorite marine weather sources across the planet.  And our Tutorials provide learning opportunities for beginners to experts.  It’s all here, quick, easy and always free

Here is a screenshot from STORMSURF showing the wave forecast off the coast of Sydney

The US Navy manages a global weather forecasting site HERE.  Their security certificate is not kept up, so you will get a warning, but the site is safe to visit.

This is a screenshot from the Navy Site – the darker the color, the higher the waves.

We enjoyed another Sea Day Brunch – Menu HERE.

DINNER GUESTS

Table 89 was joined by Tom and Mary from Oklahoma – We had a great time chatting and catching up.

Tom and Mary join table 89

Cantaré

Cantaré was the headliner on the World Stage – performing their show called “Timeless”  featuring love songs from over the years including:

• Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
• Lay Down Beside You
• Higher Love
• Love Can Move Mountains

Serge, Ceasar, Chris, Michael

Their show was wonderful as always.

We will arrive in Sydney tomorrow for an overnight port visit.