some bights and southern lights

Alligator

Tarini

20 Dec 17

 

 

There is pleasure in pathless seas 

There is a rapture on the lonely shore

There  is a society where none intrudes

By the deep sea and the music in its roar

I love not the man less but the nature more

It is always a surprise when nature catches you unaware just when you are lost into its mesmerising beauty such was our awe when we witnessed AURORAS the southern lights.. mind you ...only a lucky few get to witness this at sea,let me share some wonders of nature we witnessed on our way to lyttelton new zealand our second pit stop and some wonderful moments we had over there..we were fortunate to have witnessed auroras three consecutive nights on our way to lyttelton... they were these green streak of lights strewn across the sky glowing dark somewhere and not so bright elsewhere we were smitten watching them and even tried to capture them but i guess we need special lenses for that..no wonder people plan a trip to ice land to witness the northern lights ...some wonders of nature can only be experienced .it is supposed to happen because of the high magnetic forces that exist at the poles and at that time around we were at the southernmost tip of leg 2 just about to climb our way up to lyttelton. when we were climbing our way up and were quite close to the shore hugging the coast to gain some speed one pleasant morning, we saw some dolphins from far closing in on us upon closer examination we discovered that they were quite huge in size and fins located closer to the tail they were so huge that their proximity  the boat was got us worried but smart mammals that they are one wandering dolphin dived below the boat and surfaced on the other side as we watched it dumbstruck.  a little research on the internet a while later told us that these were pilot whales which are a kind of dolphin found usually in the region this part of the year. i feel  like alice in the wonderland narrating all the wonders i get to witness here,  you wouldn’t need a magnifying glass to look though

coming to our brief sojourn in lyttelton and christchurch it went like a breeze ..thanks to many people starting with our Director Indian Naval Sailing Association Cdr neel manjooran who came as our shore support and was true to his word a  great shore support planning ahead our activities and being a great support in facilitating repairs on board we also celebrated his birthday in NZ in a very special way also.. had long intellectual talks and debates regarding various internal and external aspects regarding our voyage probably  driving him to wits end..also joining him was Capt Jayant Mhadik an experienced seafarer himself for being with us every step of our stay in new zealand we also enjoyed great company of his good lady mrs sharyu and of course our Defence Attache Capt Chetan Chandagawe  yet again joined us and we became a great gang of ten to tango..

moving on..difficult to start but let’s start with first dignitary to visit our boat  mr sanjeev kohli the high commissioner of new zealand and his team at the high commission of india NZ..over dinner on the day of our arrival we realised that he was the same government official who helped coordinate the “ Airlift” in real...if you don’t believe me then invoke the google god and you will get your answers ..

mr sandeep sachdev his lovely wife ruchika and their most adorable daughter Aria for our stay and all the events in the lovely city of christchurch we had the most memorable time all thanks to them.. 

our agent peter shanklan for being best friend who’s always a phone call away both to us and to tarini and help out with anything and everything we wanted for our next leg as he said looking at us work on board  “ you take good care of the boat and the boat takes good care of you” 

All the indian families at christchurch who hosted us and also took good care of us reminding of our families across boundaries 

all the kiwis and their families for making us feel at home wherever we went and of course we also learnt a lot about their rich maori culture and heritage and how they still keep these traditions alive just like how we do  back in our country we discovered it on the day of our arrival where they

welcomed us in their traditional way “kia ora”   accepting us as their friends and keeping a memoir of us with them i guess they did the same for our mentor Capt Donde when he visited littleton in2009 a de ja vu for indian seafarers visiting littleton i believe we learnt a lot about their rich culture and how they always narrate story of their ancestors and tell about what everything replicates and represents it was a unique experience so we consider it good luck and best wishes for rest of the voyage
Andrew who coordinated our tie up with the navy and newzealand navy for their support
we also met the mayor of christchurch and it was a delight to meet the kids from school

  Viki moore president of little ship club of canterbury  yacht club for being secret santa leaving us gifts on the boat and hosting us both at the yacht club and at her homework had a great time interacting with fellow seafarers..something she said that really intrigued me was she was visiting her parents for the weekend and she was going to sail 8 hrs by sea to her parents place lovely isn’t it?guess it will take a while for us to take our boats and go out on holiday and visit family or even consider it a mode of transport-come and think of it less traffic,no pollution,fresh oxygen,starlit dinners and moonlit bedtime stories wouldn’t that be just amazing to find solace at sea?food for thought ...

Mrs Archana Tandon for hosting us with “shakti” and all the women across newzealand who volunteer to support the cause for women and for what they do for women all across newzealand and finally to ARA institute for inviting us over..forgive me if i am missing out on someone but we had a truly memorable time at our second pit stop every place we halt at teaches us something new some wisdom gained..

Another nature’s wonder that we witnessed during our stay was one day when we were working on board and this beautiful Halo appears around the sun it’s called a sun bow and forms when the sun rays fall over ice crystals in the atmosphere at an angle of 23degrees precisely we managed to take a photograph making it look like halo on our heads 

During our stay in New Zealand we also celebrated the Navy Day and dressed Tarini for the occasion and were fortunate to talk to our honourable defence minister who conveyed her best regards to us 

our stay in new zealand was also strange weather wise as on the day we entered the weather turned out sunny and hot which was otherwise cold and surprisingly became cold the day we were leaving probably to let us warm up before we head out to touch the southernmost tip of our voyage and maybe because the love and warmth we received from people there made the weather also warmer  

we set Asail from newzealand after Deepti from the indian community conducted a small prayer for strength and courage at sea just after which a very large gathering gave us emotional and teary eyed farewell we guys are hands down most emotional people when it comes to farewell ...the bonds that we developed in a very short span of time were so strong and loved showered over us was overwhelming but it gave us strength and courage to step ahead with determination 

we thank our DA’s good lady mrs chandagawe for staying up all night a day before our departure and preparing the most delicious meal of methi ke paranthe  that we devoured for next 2 days at sea it’s not everyday that someone goes out of the way to do it for you and this blog is the only way we can thankyou for all the efforts put in by you 

so here we are out in the southern ocean...stay tuned for more updates on our leg 3 and significant milestones achieved and some magnificent creatures we saw from so close...we publish this blog today as we celebrate 100 days after our departure from goa (a reminder from gators dad as he strikes of each day in calendar....to indicate how long she’s gone or how long before she gets back?she wouldn’t dare ask..) also coming up.. some celebrations and another poem from skippers mom (no wonder why she’s secretly munching on heaps of chocolates that are supposed to be souvenirs and also treating us to her skipper famous pasta these days) finally this blog might have seen light of day much later had it not been for skipper who did not publish something that’s going on in her mind for a while (she might after reading this) and i publish after exasperatingly waiting for her and as always our nag master puko my watchmate who kept on nagging me to write the blog (gosh! time to change watch) and someone whom i guiltily say “i will soon” so pledge to self is to keep the blogs coming rapid so readers might find it repetitive that’s probably a new years resolution what’s yours?happy reading folks cheerios!