Doubtful Sound

We spent about ten days making new friends in Northern Otago and Southland before journeying into Fiordland. Fiordland is in the southwest corner of the South Island and is often considered the most beautiful part of New Zealand. The area gets its name from the deep valleys carved by glaciers during the last ice age.

Doubtful Sound is one of the deepest fiords in New Zealand with a maximum depth of over 500 meters. To get to the sound we had to take a water taxi from Manapouri across Lake Manapouri to the West Arm power station (check that out on wikipedia if you like feats of engineering) and then a bus across Wilmot Pass to Deep Cove mooring. The views getting to Doubtful Sound were impressive, but they certainly had not prepared us for the incredible beauty of the sound.

The boat we were got on, Tutoko II, is operated by Fiordland Expeditions and has three crew members who service a maximum of twelve tourists on each overnight cruise. There were nine others on the trip with us and we quickly got to know them over lunch as we cruised through the sound. We checked a couple of cray pots on our way out to the Tasman Sea. The sea was a bit rough so we were not able to go out as far as the skipper had hoped. When we got back into the sound we found a spot to do some fishing to catch the rest our dinner. There were a number of small rock perch caught as well as a dog shark and a groper.

After catching enough for dinner the skipper took us to an anchorage near Blanket Bay. We went for a short paddle in kayaks before jumping in for a refreshing swim. Our dinner was incredible. It started with a curried squash soup followed by half a crayfish and then potatoes with rock perch and groper before finishing with a sticky pudding. By the time we went to bed the wind had died down and there was not even a hint of a wave on the sound.

It showered over night so in the morning we got to see Doubtful Sound blanked in low clouds. It is one of the few times that we have been disappointed that there was not more rain because the rain makes the sound even more beautiful. The small shower we experienced created a number of new waterfalls, but if there is real rain waterfalls cascade down the steep slopes throughout the sound. After breakfast the boat started heading back to Deep Cove.

Along the way we saw a pod of bottle nosed dolphins, were able to dip our heads in a waterfall from the front of the boat and went a short distance up one of the sound’s arms. It was sad when we finally docked and took the bus and water taxi back to Manapouri. We are already planning our next trip to Doubtful Sound, but we need ten other people to come along. Any volunteers?