Inner Luncheon Cove, Anchor Island

Date: 10/03/15 Time: 18.45 Position: Inner Luncheon Cove, Anchor Island, Dusky Sound

On Sunday morning we went for a nice walk from Fanny Bay to a lake about a kilometre up the river that flows into the head of the bay. It was easy walking through open forest with tall beech trees, man ferns and a variety of many smaller ferns covering the ground. Everything looked lush and green. We saw some evidence of deer, like branches snapped at antler height and hoof prints in the softer earth, but our only encounter with wildlife was with an inquisitive little bird. This little, dark coloured bird with sharp, alert eyes hopped all around our feet then flew to higher branches and continued to flit from branch to branch around us. We thought that at any moment it was going to land on us and we even put our arms out hoping it would but it chose not to. After walking back to the gravelly beach where we had left our dinghy we rowed over the still, tannin stained water and untied our shorelines and not long later, we were on our way heading for Cascade Cove.

We spent Sunday and Monday night at Cascade Cove tied up alongside a barge which looked like a garage on floating pontoons. It was filled with all sorts of leftover stuff from a spare kitchen sink and a clothes dryer to rusting tins of curry pastes. Obviously many people have visited this barge over the years and left their mark. It also had other more useful items like a table and chairs, bunks and a water hose filling from a nearby stream. Monday was spent on board as the rain fell all day.

On Tuesday morning we planned to go paddling no matter what the weather gods dished out. They dished out rain again! Never the less we had a lovely paddle around Cascade Cove and around the corner to Pickersgill Harbour. Pickersgill Harbour is where in 1773, Captain Cook in the Resolution, set up a base to carry out repairs and take observations to determine a more accurate position. He was able to take the ship so close alongside the shore that they used a leaning tree as a gang plank for easy access from the ship to the shore. We went ashore here and walked up to Astronomer Point which still had a clearing where Cooks Observatory was. Now all that is left in the clearing is a trigonometric surveyor's point which appears to have been set up by a New Zealand Survey team for their more recent hydrographic survey of the area. The rain continued to fall as we paddled back around and to the head of Cascade Cove and followed the river up to the first rapid. At the entrance to the river we disturbed a flock of white kelp gulls that screeched into the air. Kelp gulls are quite lovely and the younger birds even more so with their mottled soft brown and grey feathers. As beautiful as the fjords are it is sad to see hundreds of lengths of rope left tangled in tree branches or washed up along the shore. Perhaps the sheer quantity of discarded rope we have seen throughout all the fjords, is a result of fisherman storing craypots in holding areas within the fjords when not being used. With the weather conditions here we imagine that many a craypot would break free from the rope and buoys. We collect any rubbish we find as we paddle around but we'd need a bigger ship if we wanted to collect all the rope we've seen.

After a hot shower and a bite to eat we left Cascade Cove and headed to our next anchorage at Inner Luncheon Cove on Anchor Island. It was a short motor across the sound of 5nm to Anchor Island which is one of many small islands and reefs in this outer coastal area of the fjord. We had to be careful coming in as there are many submerged rocks, reefs and shallow areas. It has a different feel to it here with low lying islands, heaps of seals and the ocean not far away. The sun broke through as we anchored in eight metres of water with one line ashore. We then rowed over to where we could see a couple of seals on a rock and there we saw a very young pup about the size of a small dog. It looked like it had boundless energy just like a puppy as well. We also had a chat with Peter who works on the charter boat 'Pembroke' which is also anchored here for the night. Pembroke looks like an old fishing boat and accommodates about 10 people. Peter told us about an area a short paddle from here where there are lots of young seal pups. We plan to go and have a look tomorrow.

All is great on board. Kathy and Wayne

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