September'11

Eelco has had a productive time in Holland.  First he could visit with his mom and did little maintenance chores for her like all good sons do for their mums.  And then he attended a Ship Security Officer course to add yet another paper to his file.   His captain job waited for him and he boarded m/v Jeanette in Terneuzen.  From there they went on anchor out of Zeeland, in the south of Holland.  Freight however is slow for the time being.  In the meantime weather is not the best.  Very windy and rainy conditions with poor holding ground makes dragging a constant and frustrating issue.  Mylady here in NZ are also experiencing gale conditions but we are surviving well.

TASMAN SEA JULY ‘11

We left Australia in front of bad weather coming. We knew it. The advantage was that we would be on the topside of the low pressure system making use of favourable wind directions for half of the way. Well the low caught up with us three days out of Coffs Harbour. Humongous seas chased us. Wind was horrific but direction was good. Thus, we survived it well. The rest of the trip we had unexpected favourable winds or no wind and relatively calm seas. We even had lovely sunshine and not hazy skies when we passed the top of New Zealand. So for the first time after having been here many times, we actually had a beautiful clear panoramic view of the northern tip of New Zealand with the lighthouse at Cape Reinga balancing on the highest, sharpest point of steep ranges.
Thanks for all the messages that came in. We appreciate.