Huge swells cause ferry travel chaos
Cook Strait ferry passengers face further disruptions after strong winds and swells cancelled weekend sailings. Photo Mark Mitchell/Courtesy of The Herald
Ferry passengers have been left stranded as huge swells continue to affect sailings.
Hundreds of people have had their travel plans thrown into chaos as strong winds caused huge seas over the weekend.
And while some services are running, large 4metre swells in Cook Strait have delayed some sailings today.
Ferry bosses say the sailing schedule will continue to be impacted for the next few days as high winds continue.
“This will disrupt our schedules for the next few days and passengers are being informed directly of their new departure times,” the Interislander website says.
The 6.15am sailing from Wellington and the 11am from Picton have been cancelled at this stage.
Making the decision it was too unsafe to travel, ferry bosses canned all scheduled crossings.
A late night sailing last night from Wellington saw passengers vomiting as the ferry traversed rough seas.
Interislander staff apologised for the inconvenience in an email sent out to all passengers.
The continued delays come after sailings were cancelled over the weekend.
The Kaiarāhi, which had 500 passengers on board, was also delayed for hours before setting off from Picton just before midnight yesterday.
Around the same time, Interislander posted an update on its website saying all sailings were being paused due to the weather.
“Swells in Cook Strait are currently higher than forecast, leading to a pause in all sailings until conditions ease.
“This will disrupt schedules for the next few days, and we will be in contact with all passengers once we have a clearer picture.”
“Large swells in Cook Strait have delayed some sailings. This will disrupt our schedules for the next few days and passengers are being informed directly of their new departure times.”
Bluebridge staff say large swells and strong winds in Cook Strait continue to cause significant disruption.
Services are likely to remain unsettled until Monday evening. With the Wellington to Picton sailings at 2am and 1.30pm cancelled.
The Picton to Wellington sailings at 2.30am, 7.45am and 7.15pm have also been cancelled.