Sea Days - Tahiti to New Zealand
January 23-25 and 27-28 - We had 5 great sea days on our way from Tahiti to Bay of Islands, New Zealand. The seas were very calm and we cruised at 16 - 18 knots, without the stabilizers, which was much different than our crossing of the Pacific from east to west. In fact as we sailed south we made such good time that the last day they slowed down so that we didn’t arrive in Waitangi before our scheduled time with the pilot boat that would lead us into the bay. We spent a lot of time each day walking, swimming and using the fitness center. We had some really great meals, as we went to “The Chef’s Table” twice. That is one of the specialty restaurants you need reservations for that has a set menu, with an amuse bouche to start, followed bay an first course, a palette cleanser, a main course, and a dessert. Each of those, except for the pallet cleanser, has its own wine pairing. There are no choices — the only modifications they made were for Cathy’s gluten free restriction —- which usually just mean leaving off some sauce. It was great to try new things, and for the most part we enjoyed it all.
On our last sea day, they had a brunch, similar to what they did on New Year’s Day. The crew puts so much work into it. From the deck staff that moved out all the lounge chairs around the pool and brought in tables and chairs for dining, to the wait staff that served drinks and cleared tables, to the kitchen staff that made/served incredible food and created some amazing displays. There were carved birds, sea horses and sea turtles done with watermelon and artichokes, there were lanterns and flames made from chocolate. It really was incredible.
We also joined an informal “A to Z club”, which meets in the Explorer’s Lounge at 4 PM every Sea Day, and we are going through the menu of cocktails — one a day, from start to finish. Should make things interesting - on the upcoming sea days. Luckily, we don’t have as many in a row going forward or we could have a serious problem.
Looking forward to New Zealand and Australia, the destinations we were most excited about when we booked this adventure.
