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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Wild weather strands ships in Wellington


Don't let the blue sky fool you.

Wellington is currently experiencing one of its infamous southerly gales.

The Oceania Marina -- the extremely luxurious ship with the flat stern -- arrived here a couple of days ago. According to the schedule, she was supposed to leave at six last night. As you can see, she is going nowhere.

The ship being held in place by the tug is the Pacific Pearl. A notoriously unhandy ship, she evidently keeps on bouncing against and away from the wharf.  She was supposed to sail for Napier last night, but as you can also see, she has lingered to see what a real gale feels like. The wind must be moderating, though, because when I first had a look this morning, there were two tugs working to keep her in place.

I hope the passengers on both ships are being well entertained.  I know that the passengers on the Marina are being extremely well fed.  It is worth going onto the Oceania site to view the ship interior by video, an experience most of us could not possibly afford in actuality.

I wonder, do tug skippers ever get tired of holding ships in place, for hour after hour after hour?

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