NZ South Island – Bligh Sound March 10 – 13

Posting by Barb.

 Click here for Google Map linkBounty Haven

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It was a beautiful motor to Bligh Sound. We cruised all the way to the end of the fiord and anchored in Bounty Haven. This was our first of many  anchorages that required shore lines. With two stern shore lines and an anchor, we were sitting nicely. We woke up to 25 – 30 knot wind on the beam and we knew we had to leave this anchorage. We were not that far from the shore and the wind was trying to take us to it. We decided to start bringing in the anchor and slowly releasing the stern line but we just didn’t have the power to bring the bow into the wind. The wind continued to take us to shore. It was panic mode.

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Bounty Haven anchorage – 35 knots on the port beam almost pushed us on the shore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We scrambled to put out the spare anchor which meant emptying the cockpit locker and jumping into the dinghy with the spare anchor and enough line tied to a cleat on the port to keep the boat from drifting closer to shore. With the boat stable we decided to wait until the wind abated and then leave the anchorage. The wind continued to slowly build! Denny came up with a plan to slowly release the stern line while pulling up the main anchor hoping the spare anchor would hold us off the shore while the wind pushed the stern and allowing the boat to point more into the wind. We powered the boat out of there leaving the shore lines behind and leaving the spare anchor tied to a fender so that we could hopefully retrieve it later. With the wind howling and our nerves frayed we had to find a second anchorage which would give us better protection.

Click here for Google map link  – Amazon Cove

Picture was taken shortly before he fell in the water

Picture was taken shortly before he fell in the water

We backed into a little cove and re-anchored with two shore lines. Denny had to climb up15 feet or more to find a decent tree to tie to and in the process of doing this he did fall in the water with his foul weather gear and boots. It gave me a scare until I saw him climb back into the dinghy. We were both feeling drained and now we just had to wait for the wind to abate so that we could retrieve our lines and spare anchor. The anchor was going to be a problem as it was well set and two people in a dinghy were probably not going to be able to pull it up. As we pondered the situation we saw a large sailboat in the distance heading to the end of the Sound. Denny jumped into the dinghy and headed to the sailboat to warn them about our abandoned tackle.  They then offered to get it for us which Denny quickly agreed to.  So 2 hours later they dropped our spare anchor off. Denny retrieved the shore lines and we could again enjoy the 2nd anchorage.

fiordland penguin

this is the face of the fiordland penguin I came face to face with. Picture from the internet

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This is the only picture we could get of my penguin without harassing him

When we left this neat little cove I did the climbing to release the lines while Denny controlled the boat. While I was hanging on to a tree trying to release the shoreline with one hand I saw the grass move in front of me and thought I would see a rat or possum. Suddenly I was face to face with a Fiordland penguin. We looked at each other for a couple of seconds, both surprised to see each other. He buried his head in the grass and I quietly left it alone and got Denny to come back for a look with a camera. Unfortunately the only picture we could get was with his head still buried in the grass.  Seeing penguins was on our ‘to do’ list and seeing one face to face 2 feet away was more than I could ever hope for! Making the sighting even more special was reading about them later and finding out that the Fiordland penguin was the rarest of all penguins with only 2500 to 3000’s pairs in the mid 1990’s. Not sure what the numbers are today.

We learned something and gained experience from every South Island anchorage. In Bligh we learned to always go for the all-weather anchorages no matter how calm it may be upon arrival, always anchor facing an exit so that we can make a quick departure and that people in the South Island are the greatest and without any hesitation are there to help.

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One Response to NZ South Island – Bligh Sound March 10 – 13

  1. Sheryl Sanderson says:

    We are tying the knot Sunday August 6th, will you be stateside? Hope all is well!

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