CROSSING THE COOK STRAIT
Two companies run regular ferry services between Wellington, on New Zealand’s North Island, and Picton in the Marlborough Sounds on the South Island: Interislander, with three ships, and Strait Shipping, under the Bluebridge brand, with two ships. Both companies run services several times a day. Roughly half of the crossing is in the Strait, and the remainder within the Sounds.
The journey covers 43 miles and usually takes about three and a half hours. The seas across the Strait are often rough, with heavy swells from strong winds, especially from the south. New Zealand’s position, directly in the line of the ‘roaring forties’, means that the Strait funnels westerly winds and deflects them into northerlies. As a result, ferry sailings are often disrupted, and Cook Strait is probably one of the most dangerous and unpredictable stretches of water in the world.
