Doubtful Sound

We toured Doubtful Sound for three delightful hours onboard the Patea Explorer:

Doubtful Sound is more properly called a fiord (or fjord), since it was created by glacial action. Much of our cruise was on narrow waterways between steep hills, as in the photo below. It was unusual, however, to see another ship:

We saw many, many waterfalls. Some of the waterfalls were permanent because their source was a lake. But many of the waterfalls were temporary, as it had rained the day before, and they would dry up in a few hours.

You can see still more waterfalls behind us:

Below are fur seals basking on an island. We watched one poor seal try to climb up on the rocks and get washed back by the waves at least half a dozen times.

We saw Fiordland crested penguins both in the water and on land (Wikipedia entry, NZ DoC link). You can just barely see one in the crevice:

Here is a better photo from Google Images:

Before humans came to New Zealand (Maori in the 1200s, Europeans in the 1700s) there were no native land mammals. There were many, many birds. Humans and the small mammals they brought caused the extinction of many bird species. Stoats (ermine) have proved particularly bad for birds, and hard to get rid of. We saw many stoat traps on the road over Wilmot Pass. In Doubtful Sound near the Tasman Sea is a large island called Secretary Island. The New Zealand Department of Conservation has engaged in a substantial project to rid Secretary Island of all mammals and make it into a bird sanctuary.

We cruised along Secretary Island out toward the Tasman Sea, and turned around near the Nee Islands. The wind and waves picked up considerably here. This was as far out to sea as we got:

On the way back the boat crew handed out cups and positioned the boat under a small waterfall. It was delicious!