Korokareka - April 1

Woke up early and got to the meeting location for the tour I wanted which had been sold out. Every company has rules that make sense to them, but to me, not so much. So yesterday I was waitlisted, that list vanishes the night before. So now I had to get put on the stand-by list at the check in location. Someone canceled that morning and I got on the trip.

Took the tender to a small dock and then a boat to Russell (Maori native name Korokareka).

While on board they took our lunch order, Fish, Venison or Lamb. I chose the lamb.

We had a little more than an hour to walk around the little town. We got dropped at 9AM and how to be back at 10:10 AM. Most of the stores open at 10, and I really liked some of the locally made products I could see through the windows.

Back on the boat we had a tour of some of the islands and cove and learned bout some local lore. The grilled Lamb, cooked on the boat, was great. The weather was spritzing, until we got back to the dock to take then tinder back to the ship. It started pouring, thankful for some coverage on the dock and the tender.

When I got back to the ship we discovered a change in the evening plans because we were headed into a storm. After the Captain's introduction there was a show from the ships performers. I have been jaded by Las Vegas shows, singing and dancing is fine, I was expecting acrobatics.

Dinner was Lobster tail and since they now know me the Sommelier paired with wines that I like.

The ship had been under way for about 7 hours and we hit the storm and the ship was rocking. I, went to bed. Seas Days the next 2 days