Chalky Inlet

Date: 12/03/15 Time: 18.00 Position: North Port Anchorage, Chalky Inlet

On Wednesday the sun shone all day in a cloudless blue sky. It was just the weather we needed to dry all our wet gear and give the boat a good airing. We spent the morning paddling among the labyrinth of numerous small islands around our anchorage at Inner Luncheon Cove. There were huge kelp forests surging up and down with the incoming ocean swell and the water was clear enough to see a huge variety of different fish swimming below our kayaks. But the real highlight was the hundreds of seals we encountered. They covered most of the rocky shorelines of the islands and there were lots of young pups about. We don't think the seals are use to kayakers because they seemed quite agitated by our presence and would leave the sunny rocks and dive into the water or scamper back into the forests. So we kept our distance as much as possible so as not to unnerve them. Once in the water they obviously felt more comfortable and weren't bothered too much by us. We saw quite a few groups of seals porpoising out ahead of us. Behind each rocky area we could see their well worn tracks into the forest. Their repertoire of sounds was huge. At times they sounded like dogs barking, brakes screeching, elephants trumpeting and a coughing, burping and dry reaching sound just to name a few. It was like being in a jungle. It was wonderful to be out paddling in the warm sunshine again and be able to look back at Dusky Sound's magnificent skyline.

Inner Luncheon Cove was a great anchorage as there were no sandflies to speak of which meant we were able to enjoy the sunshine on the foredeck after our paddling trip. We're not sure why there aren't sandflies there, perhaps they are all off bothering the seals instead? After dinner we went ashore to Anchor Island and walked along a short track to Lake Kirirua. On dusk the crayfishing boat 'Loyal' came over to our boat. We had seen Loyal earlier in the day tending its pots while we were paddling. We had a nice chat and the crew were going to have to be up early to have their crayfish ready for the helicopter to collect at 8am. There was a barge and helipad just outside our anchorage for this purpose.

Today (Thursday) we were on our way at first light leaving Dusky Sound and heading south to the next fjord, Chalky Inlet. As we left our anchorage we could see the bright lights of Loyal as they prepared their crayfish for take off. We enjoyed a brilliant, red sunrise over Dusky's mountainous skyline as we sailed out with the northerly wind behind us and the headsail unfurled. The sea was rough and lumpy with a SW and NW swell colliding. We rolled a fair bit as we were heading downwind. But once offshore the lumpiness eased and we quickly covered the 20nm with a 15-20 knot northerly behind us. Chalky Inlet was named Chalky due to the island at its entrance having distinctive white cliffs. After sailing past many rocky reefs, then three large forested islands in the entrance we turned into 'North Port' between Great Island and Little Island. We dropped anchor behind a small islet in 16m of water and picked up the permanent stern line.

We are noticing that the southern fjords are much more open at their entrances with many islands dotted throughout and are much lower sided initially until you travel further up the arms where the sides become steeper and more mountainous. Chalky Inlet travels 15km inland where it then breaks into two sounds which are 12km long.

All is well on board. Kathy and Wayne

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