Fiordland New Zealand

The Baseball Cap Incident

When we looked out the window this morning we were in Milford Sound. So that everyone could get to see the sound, they opened up the front of decks 5 and 6, but it was jolly cold and windy, so we decided to watch our progress from the indoors. We dashed up to the already crowded Commodore Club to watch us sail up the sound. What a beautiful sight. The sound is narrow, with steep sides, and a snow covered mountain peeking through at the end. The day had started out cloudy and foggy, but by the time we reached the end of the sound, we were in brilliant sunshine. There were very high waterfalls cascading down on either side of us, and it was like something out of a movie. One of the Fiordland Park rangers, Ross Kerr, had embarked with the pilot, and gave a running commentary on what we were seeing, and the fauna and flora of the sound. It turns out that it is not a sound at all but a fjord (well fiord), but the early explorers didn’t know their sounds from their fjords so called all of the New Zealand fjords sounds. By the time someone noticed the mistake, everyone was calling them sounds, so they never bothered to change the name.

In a very nifty piece of design, the sound, which is very narrow, widens up at the end, giving just enough room for a large cruise ship to turn around. Very clever. On our way out we had a very up close and personal experience with one of the waterfalls when we pointed our bow right at it. I bet our bridge cam looked amazing, if not wet from the spray. I was concerned that we were a wee bit too close, when the man next to me started making comments about the Costa Concordia. Then it struck me – one difference between Costa and Cunard is that the Costa ship ran aground in the name of showing off, but we were about to crash into a waterfall in the name of scenic beauty. Both would have the same outcome, but at least ours would be for a good cause. I didn’t need to worry however, despite being really, really close, we didn’t crash, and backed gracefully away after we had all had time to marvel at the sight.

We then headed out of the sound listening to the excellent commentary by Ross Kerr. Once out in the Tasman Sea again we found window seats in the Commodore Club and settled in for a morning of reading and sewing, watching the New Zealand coastline go by. At 11:10 our whistle blew 3 times. There were no other boats in sight, so that seemed to be a bit odd. Then the Commodore announced that we had a man overboard situation. The CCTV had captured an image of something or someone going overboard, so we were retracing our steps and lowering our rescue boat. We all headed out on deck to look to see if we could see anything in the water. The water around here is very cold; we hoped that if there was someone in the water we could rescue them soon.

Then the Commodore announced that everyone should go to their staterooms so they could do a head count. We were then told to wait in our staterooms until there was the all clear. Meanwhile we had issued a May Day signal, and the coast guard and 2 helicopters assisted in the search.

Most people went to their staterooms, but an announcement was made that there were still some people in the Lido and they were holding the whole process up.

Finally the Commodore announced that one of the rescue boats had sighted a baseball cap. When the cap was brought to the ship the Commodore made an announcement describing the cap, and requesting that the owner contact the Pursers Desk. Sure enough a few minutes later, he announced that the situation had been resolved, and we could leave our cabins. There was a stampede to the Lido – horrors, they were late for lunch.

So an hour and a half later the baseball cap incident was resolved, and we were underway again. The only casualty was that now there wasn’t enough time to go to Doubtful Sound. Big disappointment. I had really been looking forward to seeing this sound. The good news was that we were all safe and sound on board, and the Commodore Club bar was open for business. It was time for an ice cold Coke.

We spent the afternoon sailing down the coast, and finally we arrived at Breaksea Sound, which leads to Dusky Sound. I decided to watch our progress up the sounds from indoors, Brian chose to try the open decks, and armed with his camera he headed outside.

He returned as we were heading out of the sounds, not looking happy at all. He had taken his QM2 baseball cap with him, and it had blown away! Concerned that he was about to be the cause of another man over board affair, he headed down to the Pursers Office to report this. They thanked him for his report, but informed him that the previous errant cap was NOT the cause of the man over board incident because the thermal imaging system had been alerted. Alas, he missed the opportunity to ask – so what was the cause of the incident? There is a media account at https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/passenger-overboard-false-alarm.

But who knows the rest of the story?

Now it is the Senior Officers’ Party tonight, and of course we are not invited, having been invited to one over 2 months ago. This makes me really mad. I am missing the golden opportunity to find out exactly what transpired with the baseball cap incident today, but alas I will not get the exposure to the senior officers in the know. I will have to use secondary sources, but am at risk for providing fake news. This is exactly why I need to be at the parties.

Stewing over the current state of affairs I realized I had missed lunch, so ordered a glass of Prosecco because it comes with a bowl of crisps, and sat back and enjoyed the view.

I am doubtful that I will ever know what Doubtful Sound is like, but I think that Milford Sound is much superior to Dusky Sound. The history of Dusky Sound is fascinating – Cook and Vancouver were both here, it is the site of the first settlement in New Zealand, and of the first ship building enterprise. It is also home to several endangered birds including the kakapo, the worlds largest and only flightless parrot, but while the scenery is very pretty, it lacks the splendor of Milford Sound.

Thinking about our 70 days on board, this really has been an amazing itinerary – the cities we have visited have been really interesting, especially Sydney, but it has been experiences like sailing up the Amazon, going through the Magellan Straits, seeing the Chilean Fjords, and today’s passage through the Sounds, that really makes it special for me. Having Brian at my side all day every day is also pretty cool.