Volendam day Nine Tuesday 1/11/11

No hurry to get up today as we are at sea all day. We did go and see how  to do a six plait bread in the culinary arts theatre. Also demonstrated flowers and a crocodile made from dough. Late breakfast then sitting watching the grey mist go by. Much rain and low cloud obscured a lot of the scenic cruising in the fjords. Spectacular waterfalls tumbling hundreds of feet directly into the sea down very steep wooded slopes. The lunchtime chipping challenge proved rather more difficult than before, though I gained another badge! Just emerging from the shelter of the land proved a little more lively and the 'fun and games' poolside were abandoned as there were pretty big waves in the pool. Still windy and overcast but brightening up a bit mid afternoon. Very remote countryside, hardly seen a dwelling all day, and definitely no phone connections. Dusky and Doubtful Sounds were dismal as far as the weather was concerned but in the afternoon our visit to Milford Sound was much brighter. The scenery was stunning with waterfalls running down from glaciers to the sound and the plus side of the earlier poor weather was that we were treated to hundreds of waterfalls down the sides of the mountains. There are apparently only two permanent falls and the rest depend on recent rain which we'd had plenty of. As we left the shelter of the sound the swell became noticeable again and the captain gave us a weather briefing for the thousand mile crossing - head winds around F5 and swells of 3 metres, so not too bad, though the motion during the evening had many people weaving about as they walked round the ship. The evening show was an Australian classical guitarist who managed to put on a great recital despite the rolling.