Doubtful Sound

My ability to arrange photographs should improve, but for now, enjoy this random look at my overnight boat adventure. Doubtful Sound is not a sound at all, but a fjord. It got it's name from sailors being doubtful they would ever get out if they entered. A fear well-founded. Prevailing inland winds made it impossible to sail out. Too narrow to tack, sailing ships were dragged out by rowboats.





Real penguins, as seen in the morning, taking a break from their early AM ritual of bathing in the 12° water. We saw two varieties of penguins, this being the most boisterous type. Of course I can't remember the names of either breed. The other type, which I have only one bad photo of, is the second rarest type of penguin in the world, and a bit more camera shy. I should have been taking notes, but I was too busy trying to stay warm to do anything but click the shutter.






I have never considered myself much of a fisherman, but when the crew set us up to fish for our dinner, I caught the biggest one--a blue cod. It was delicious.













An attempt to photograph scale, height, and grandeur of this fjord. The trees, moss, and ferns that grow on the steep walls, actually exist on a bed of tangled roots. There is no soil. It is a rain forest where they expect 8 meters of rain annually. Nine days of no rain is considered drought conditions. I always thought rain forests were warm and muggy, but I was cold the whole time.







A school of bottlenose dolphin swam alongside the Tutoko in the morning.











Eating a kiwi with a Kiwi. Jason was our chef for the journey, and he made sure we did not go hungry. We started with a lunch of homemade macaroni and cheese--and the food kept coming.

Come evening, he suited up in diving gear and went under water to collect what they call cray fish, which are actually lobsters with no claws. Big and red when cooked, they tasted too much like lobster for me to enjoy.






The Tutoko-where I spent the night with five other passengers: a dutch couple, an American father with his Wellington-dwelling son, and my horse back riding companion, Julie.