Doubtful Sound

I decide to see some more of Fiordland National Park, so I sign up for an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound, which is the second-largest of Fiordland National Park’s 14 fiords. Doubtful Sound has a sea surface of about 10 times that of New Zealand’s most famous fiord, Milford Sound, as it has 3 ‘arms’ in addition to the main channel. At its deepest point it is 430m deep.

Captain James Cook named this stretch of water Doubtfull Harbour, as he was doubtful that if he sailed The Endeavour in, there would be enough easterly wind to sail out again.

I, and about 70 other people, arrive at the ferry terminal at Manapouri at midday. Due to fact the trip is quite expensive, the group is mainly made up of middle-aged couples. This is not a phenomena I have experienced yet on my travels. There is one extended Indian  family of  8, who are very excitable and take no end of pictures of each other.  In fact the only two single people on the trip are myself and a guy called Bob of about my age, from Colorado, who seems to attach himself to me, as if we should pair up. Oh dear.

The trip starts with a ¾ hour trip across Lake Manapouri, in a small ferry. It is hard to think that this scenery is not the main event. The weather is cold and bright and a layer of snow, which fell last night, covers the tops of the highest mountains. 

Views of Lake Manapouri

The weather changes rapidly in small patches. Just off to one side of the boat a small storm starts up, swirls around then stops just as suddenly as it started.

Micro Storm

We get off the ferry on the far side of the lake and then we have a ½ hour bus ride over the Wilmot Pass to Deep Cove, which is at the end of the Sound. The road was made for the building and servicing of an underground power station here on Lake Manapouri. It is the most expensive road to be built in New Zealand. On the way, the bus driver gives an informative commentary, cracks corny jokes and stops a couple of times for us to take pictures. Here is one of the permanent waterfalls in the area. Other waterfalls start up and stop depending on the rainfall. Doubtfull Sound can have up to 12m of rain a year, spread over 300 rain days, so often the sides of the mountains are just pouring with water.

Waterfall

As we go over the Wilmot Pass we stop for our first glimpse of Doubtful Sound. We all pile off the bus for the photo opportunity.

First View of Doubtful Sound

Me and Doubtful Sound

Our boat is called the Fiordland Navigator. I don’t really know what I was expecting, but I am surprised how nice it is. It is like a little floating hotel. We are welcomed on board by the very professional Captain and crew and we make ourselves at home in our cabins and find our way around the little ship. I am in a 4-share cabin. It’s me and a nice couple from Minnesota, and guess who? Bob. Tea and fresh warm muffins are served, as we set off from Deep Cove. We are steaming down the whole length of the Sound, which is 14km to where it joins the Tasman Sea. I wrap up warm and sit out on the deck. The scale of the scenery is astounding. Mountains of over 1000m rise almost vertically from the water and I recall my secondary school physical geography lessons as we pass hanging valleys and other glacial features.

Fiordland Navigator

Captain on the Bridge

View of the Sound

Clouds in a Hanging Valley

The forest grows on the almost vertical, smooth rock faces of the fiord sides, even with an absence of soil. Moss takes the place of soil and leaf mould provides the nutrients. The trees cannot grow tap roots, so the whole thing is held in place by a thin layer of matted and interlocked roots. When even one tree ‘lets go’, a whole swath of vegetation will come crashing down the side of the mountain and fall into the fiord.

Tree Avalanche

We stop in a sheltered area for some water sports. There is the option of going out in two small motorised tenders, or kayaking. About 20 of us go for the kayaks and we make a colourful sight in our little boats against the black water. The top layer of water is fresh from the rainfall and it is full of dark nutrients washed from the mountainsides. Underneath this is the salt water layer and this configuration allows species that usually live at great depths in the sea, to live closer to the surface in the fiord. The dark top layer prevents any seaweed growing, but the vegetation that falls into the fiord provides food for the marine life. A fully grown tree will be eaten up within a year of landing in the water.

Kayaking

After the kayaking there is the option to swim and as it is a rare opportunity to swim in a fiord, I and a few other brave souls go for it. The top layer of water is surprisingly warm and I try not to think about what might be living further down!

Swimming in the Fiord

After the water sports we are served homemade soup and bread rolls to warm up and the ship continues out towards the mouth of the fiord, where it meets the Tasman Sea. As we approach, I can see waves crashing against rocks and small islands and albatrosses swoop gymnastically over the waves. Here the water is relatively shallow, as there is an underwater sill, created by the debris dropped by the fiord. The captain gets the boat right up close to a small island where there is a seal colony. Hundreds of seals lie lazily on the rocks, stretch occasionally and take no notice of us. Around the side of the island there is a small rock pool, filled by the tide. This is the crèche and here the seal pups are learning to swim and dive in safety. As they catch sight of us they stop playing and come and line up along the edge of the rock to look at us, looking at them. Then a bigger than usual wave crashes into their pool and they scurry away higher up the rock.

Seal Colony

Seal Pups watching the Boat

The ship turns back into the fiord and a rainbow hangs in the entrance from the mountains down to the sea, marking the entrance back into the fiord.

Rainbow

It has been an amazing afternoon and the day is rounded off by an excellent 3-course dinner, followed by an informative slide show from the nature guide.

Dinner

By 10 o’clock everyone is ready for bed, as the Captain has told us that we will be woken by the ships engines starting up at 6.30. The water is so still that the ship does not move at all. In our cabin Bob snores loudly.

Before first light we are up on deck watching the crew wind up the long anchor chain. Gradually the sky becomes streaked with light and the shapes of the mountains start to stand out against the sky and are reflected in the sill water. 

Morning Light

The smell of bacon cooking draws us into the dining room, where a full breakfast is served and the Indian family are enthusiastically celebrating a birthday.

Indian Family Celebration

The Captain unfurls the sails to give some slight assistance to our passage and we head up through a narrow gap in one of the arms of the fiord, which is renowned for its beauty and whose peaks feature in many paintings.

Sails

Still Water and Clouds

At the end of the arm, the captain shuts down the engines, all machinery is turned off and we have 5 minutes to experience the ‘Sound’ of silence. We can hear birds singing in the forest, waterfalls, a fish jumping and ….nothing else.

Then it is time to cruise back through the narrow gap, to Deep Cove, where we started from yesterday.

Mind the Gap

We say goodbye to the crew and as we repeat the bus ride over the pass and the ferry across the lake, the group is quiet and rather subdued. We are tired from a short night’s sleep; but more than that, I think we are all quietly reflecting on the magic of the experience, the grandeur of the scenery and trying to fix those images in our memories.