We'd not had very good winds at all out of Auckland and the first few weeks was spent getting used to the watch systen and the crewe and fellow voyage crewe. Your body tells you quite quicky which watch is for you 12-4, 4-8,8-12 for me I prefered the 12-4. Nightime is an intruiging time to be out on watch, when there is no moon, in total darkness you seem to be floating through, with the moon out and full it isstunning on the sea, the shadows and sounds are often quite eerie.
Yes I was sea sick on our first day out, the next day I felt quite rotten but aftern that everything has been OK. I'm amazed how our cooks produce food in these circumstances everythign is swinging and swaying around in the galley and still you get in from a cold wet watch to find hot comforting food awaiting you. And you need to stock up to fire the furnaces to keep you going in the cold.
The Roaring Forties were everything I thought they would be and more! I found the experience of the storm absolutely exhilerating! We even had hail stones! The colour of the waves were this ammazing deep blue, with black, with crashing white water spreading into a green blue. The roar was incessent. The skies were these incredible shades of grey. At the height of the storm the hail was in our faces and did bring the reality of the situation home as you stood on deck trying to steer the ship. As the storm settled to its quiet point the silent skies and flat seas became grey, but an amazing shade of molten grey like mercury, with a gentle swirling. The clouds were every conceivable shade of grey - slate; light, dark, white grey, black grey, purple grey, deep thunderous greys interspersed with patches of bright peach like something out of a Dulux colour pallette. It reminded me of how seas and sands move in the same way, just over a different timeframe.
