“Look out to starboard” Karl said excitedly at 350 the morning. Thinking it might be a celestial surprise I climbed the ladder and looked to the west. A collection of dark islands loomed in the predawn greyness. Karl starts singing a Christmas carol, “We three kings...” We have sailed to another remote New Zealand wildlife sanctuary, the three kings island. Three gifts were delivered today.

The first gift was a lesson: beware of the seas close to islands. I headed well south to avoid the islands but found lumpy tidal seas. No wind was making these seas but rather upwelling water hitting the islands. Upwelling happens when flowing water hits obstacle like a rock or water with diffferent temperature or salinity. Driving over the Hudson River on the George Washington bridge often there is a line of surface foam to the north caused by upwelling as the ocean meets the river as the tides change. I hear the sound of running water, the upwelling. We hear these gurgling noises in the Gulf of Maine where the ocean currents hit the shallow banks. Today the seas were steep and came in annoying sets of threes, slowing us down and waking Karl up. Met bob suggested we stay in the deep water to the north. The lumpy seas just slowed us down and taught us a lesson.

The second gift was the wild life. At dawn, flying penguins, more commonly known as the diving petrels, floated on golden water disappearing as we approached. The black and white fluttering petrels danced across the water surface, catching plankton with their feet. As they turned the wings to the sun, the morning light painted the undersides of their wings pink. Later a huge black bird, a northern giant petrel, an albatross and whale passed by.

The third gift was Sunday pancakes. Our six hour watches can be long, especially when we are not making great progress or the seas are lumpy. Karl promised pancakes today if I woke him early but I am always reluctant to sacrifice his sleep for food. Without me waking him at 930 I hear humming in the kitchen followed by the sounds of the salt grinder and the flour sifter. Soon I can smell the frying pans heating up. Golden Sunday pancakes are our early three kings cakes.

By late afternoon the islands nameshape appears. From the East these rocky lumps resemble a line of camels with their humps and heads showing above the water. I am not sure what the opposite of a landfall is but perhaps at last we will put the hills of Ateoroa over the horizon.