At Anchor,Croiselles Harbour

The Adventures of the Good Ship Equinox
Cate and Chris Galloway
Thu 17 Feb 2011 05:27
Position at 1800 NZDT: 41.03.2100S 173.40.973E
 
Hi All,
 
A busy day, which started early when we motored across to the small settlement of French Pass. We went ashore for a walk mid-morning with Wayne to go and have a look at Te Amuti/French Pass. This is te narrow channel which passes between the bottom end of D'Urville Island and the South Island. The Gap is only a few hundred metres wide and the navigable chanel is less than 90m wide. It was discovered by Dumont D'Urville, of the French Ship ASTROLABE in the mid-1700's. We left a bit early before the and had a challenging push through the narrow channel against a 3.5 knot current. Too much earlier and we would have been pushing against the full 7 knots! Pctures tomorrow, we are not in an internet coverage area tonight.
 
The other thing this area is famous for "Pelorus Jack", a rare white dolphin which for 20 or so years in the early 1900s used to escort steamers making the passage between Nelson and Wellington.
 
With a favourable weather window opening up for the 3-day trip up the west coast of the North Island we have decided to bring forward our arrival in Nelson to tomorrow.
 
Photos tomorrow, until then, TTFN.