STAD AMSTERDAM
3RD FEBRUARY AT SEA
The waves are huge today and we’re rolling more than ever.
But at least it’s still nice and sunny. I saw my first wandering
albatross today — what an amazing bird! It looked so
graceful, riding up and down over the massive waves; I’m
sure it felt much more comfortable than we did smashing our
way through them!
5TH FEBRUARY AT SEA
When I arrived on watch in the afternoon several little
beetles were running around on deck. They must have been
blown all the way from New Zealand, 200km away.
We’re still sailing too fast, so we’ve set a new course of
285 degrees, towards Lord Howe Island, where we can
anchor for a couple of days. It’ll be nice to have some land to
look at and to switch from sea watches to day watches.
7TH FEBRUARY ARRIVING AT LORD
HOWE ISLAND
As we neared Lord Howe Island the sky filled up with birds
and the flying fish were skimming all over the place. The
island looks amazing — at one end there are two big
mountains, very steep and impressive, while the other end is
flatter and more inviting. From up in the rigging you can look
down and see the coral reefs all around us — it’s beautiful.
8TH FEBRUARY AT LORD HOWE
ISLAND
At 14:30 the side platform was lowered and we were able
to have a swimming break. Later, a boat came and dropped
off a guy called Clive Wilson — a very interesting man. He’s
seventy-seven years old (but he doesn’t look it), and he’s
lived on the island his whole life. (His ancestors settled on
the island in 1850s.) He told us about how he helped to
eradicate all the wild pigs that had been set loose on the
island — people said it couldn’t be done, but after four years,
they managed to hunt down every last one, even high up
on the mountains. Now it’s much better for all the ground-
nesting birds. Good job!
10TH FEBRUARY LEAVING LORD
HOWE ISLAND
Lord Howe Island looked even more beautiful as we
sailed away....I’ll have to come back here. See you
next time, Lord Howe!
11TH FEBRUARY AT SEA
During the night-watch the ocean was lit up with
bioluminescence. There were billions of tiny pinpoints of light
all around the ship, and then, at 02:00, I saw big balloon-like
balls of light. They were at least a metre wide and they lit up
out of the blue, illuminating the water all around them. I have
no idea what it was, but it was incredible to see.12TH FEBRUARY AT SEA
At 17:00 a big, thick cloud appeared on the horizon and the
barometer started dropping fast. Straight away we were
ordered to stow everything except the storm-sails, the lower
topsails on the fore and main masts and the inner jib, and to
check that everything else was tightly stowed — it looked
like we were in for some strong winds. Inside the bridge, I
could see the storm covering the whole of the radar screen
ahead of us — the biggest I’ve ever seen. There was no way
to go around it. Outside, everyone was staring at the huge
dark cloud that was rolling down towards us. (It was
extremely dark and dangerous-looking, and there seemed to
be a strange green glow coming from the top of it.)
The instant the cloud passed overhead, the world went
dark, and the wind shot straight up to forty-five knots. The
rain was blowing almost horizontally across the deck and
lightning was striking the sea all around us. The thunder was
deafening! It was quite a show, but we had done our job well
and the sails handled it all just fine. After about an hour, we
passed out the other side of the storm; everything cleared
up and the sun came back out again, as if nothing had ever
happened.13TH FEBRUARY ARRIVING AT SYDNEY
As soon as we entered Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, we
were joined by a great welcoming party. There was the tall
ship the James Craig (an original from the 1880s), a steam
tugboat from 1902, a fireboat spraying its water-canon, and
dozens of smaller boats and yachts as well as a couple of
helicopters. It was a fantastic sight as we sailed beneath the
famous Sydney Harbour Bridge (with just a few metres of
clearance) and came alongside the old dockyard just behind
‘the Rocks’. All I can do is smile — I can hardly believe we’ve
just crossed the great Pacific Ocean!Bart and Anthony’s stunning book Stad Amsterdam is
available at £35 from stadamsterdambook.comAbove left:
Dolphins jumping
at the bow.
Right: Heeling
with the breeze,
the shot taken
from the mizzen