The Marlborough Sounds lie at the top end of the South Island and are basically the point at which the faults which created such mighty peaks as Mount Cook meet the water. Hundreds of channels and bays and inlets are separated by spiny fingers of land forming a complex labyrinth of waterways and dead ends. Some the isthmus are so narrow you can walk across them in 20 minutes but it takes about 2 days to sail to the other side!
We left Nelson in early November and have been cruising here for a couple of weeks. Sailing in the sounds is quite difficult because of the steep topography. The winds tend to be deflected along the channels so are either on the nose of on the stern and the bays act as wind funnels making anchoring somewhat challenging. One night in Endeavour Inlet we had gusts of more than 55 knots on the mooring! Hmm, not much sleep that night. On other nights deep stillness in the bay is almost spiritual and it is beautiful to listen to the birdsong in the evening.
The scenery is quite dramatic with steep wooded slopes dropping in to clear bright blue water. The peaceful atmosphere and natural beauty are fantastic, especially in the more remote bays which have untouched native forest and no roads or baches (holiday homes). Much of the land is managed pine forest and almost every bay in the Pelorus Sound has at least one mussel farm, now we know why Havelock is the “green lipped mussel capital of the world”.
We have been doing a bit of fishing with not much success, it’s much harder than it looks! We can see the fish on the fish finder but they just don’t seem to be tempted by our delicious kawahai bait. Even the smelly octopus bait doesn’t attract them to our hooks. We have also been kayaking around the bays in Gummy our inflatable kayak. With no engine it’s a great way to get up close and personal with the wildlife, particularly the birds. We have seen heaps of seals and dolphins – gorgeous.
As you may have guessed from the names this was one of the old stomping grounds of Cap’n Cook. There are many historic sites such as Ship Cove and Resolution Bay and more Cook Islands than you can shake a stick at. It’s interesting to follow in such illustrious footsteps and anchor in a bay where the Endeavour was careened and re-caulked. The area is also very popular for fishing and walking, the famous Queen Charlotte track follows the backbone of the land spit which separates the Kenepuru Sound from QCS and has spectacular views over both.
Inspired by a map which indicated a track from our bay (Tawa Bay) joining the Queen Charlotte track, we did a bit of bush bashing for ourselves while in Endeavour Inlet. We followed a stream up through thick native bush of tree ferns and occasional very large impressive trees which Cook’s chaps must have missed in their search for timber to ships repairs. Snakey black vines proved great for hauling ourselves up step ravines but we never found the illusive QCT. The highlight was an encounter with an inquisitive Weka bird, one of New Zealand’s indigenous flightless birds.
Now we are in Picton marina to re-fuel and re-provision and wait for a weather window to cross the Cook Strait. Next stop is Wellington to celebrate Maya’s 21st birthday at the end of this month.
More soon!
Suzy and Neil