Preservation Inlet

Date: 19/03/15 Position: Coruba Cove, Isthmus Sound, Preservation Inlet

At high tide on Tuesday morning we left from Ambler in our kayaks to paddle up the Lumaluma River at the head of Lake Cove. We were able to paddle about one kilometre upstream where we met with a canyon with a decent waterfall plummeting down. The sides of the rock walls leading up to the waterfall were scalloped out by the force of the water that must pour through there at times. After this exciting find we paddled back out through Lake Cove and down the northern side of Edwardson Sound to a prominent headland and cove about half way down the sound. We had a few squalls pass over and saw a lone seal. From here we crossed the sound to the southern side and discovered a delightful waterfall and plunge pool about 200m upstream in a long, narrow gulch. On the way back to Ambler the wind picked up and we had a tailwind on our return trip with a few wave surfing opportunities. Throughout the day we saw many pairs of what look to be fantails flying out from the bushes to flit about in the air above us. We presume they were catching insects.

On Wednesday we had a terrific day of sailing. After lifting the anchor and motoring a short distance out of Lake Cove it was time to switch off the engine and let the double reefed main and headsail take us down Edwardson Sound. We short tacked our way to windward down the sound with a southerly 10 knot breeze and the occasional gust of up to 20 knots as the squalls and rain showers passed over us. After reaching the main fjord of Chalky Inlet we ducked around into North Port through Ship Entrance and dropped anchor for an hour to have lunch in the calm waters behind Great Island. In the afternoon we only had to do a few longer tacks to cross the main fjord and enter South Port, our objective for the day. We anchored at the head of South Port in Lees Bay and swung on our anchor. The tide was out when we entered South Port which is about two nautical miles in length and a rocky beach was exposed along its entire eastern side. After anchoring, the captain of Ambler stayed on board to repair and service the port side Barlow sheet winch which had a problem with a sticky pawl and the captain of the Gosling (our dingy's name) rowed ashore for a fossick and walk along the foreshore.

This morning(Thursday)dawned fresh and chilly with not a cloud in the sky. After breakfast we went up onto the deck to see if we could see any deer along the beach as there had been many deer prints along and behind the beach the afternoon before. We couldn't make out any deer but were rewarded when we glanced down into the water and saw a large school of kingfish swimming around the hull. We tried to tempt them with every lure we had in the fishing kit and although they showed some curiosity they weren't biting. At about 9am we made our way out of South Port and headed towards the entrance of Chalky Inlet. With a 15 knot south easterly we were able to sail with one reef in the mainsail and a full headsail. Once we rounded the headland that separates Chalky Inlet from Preservation Inlet we were in Broke Adrift Passage and here the wind started piping through at around 20 knots. It got rather exciting when we were tacking our way through the passage between the headland and Belleny Reef because not long after one of our tacks we saw a craypot right in front of the bow. We immediately tacked again to avoid the craypot which we hadn't seen because the float was semi submerged. In the midst of all this action and making sure we were clear of the reef we heard the zzzzzz of the fishing reel which meant we had a fish on the line. It was all action stations for awhile but our hopes of a tuna or kingfish on the line faded as we had caught yet another barracouta. Barracouta seem to be abundant in and around the fjords. They are long, shiny fish but are full of parasites. We usually throw them back but have kept a couple for bait. Preservation Inlet looked stunning as we entered under a cloudless blue, sunny sky and saw several pairs of Little Blue Penguins which were easy to spot as the conditions were very calm since the wind had dropped. We made our way through the many islands to our anchorage at Coruba Cove, at the beginning of Isthmus Sound. We took care to set ourselves securely into the anchorage with two stern lines ashore and sixty metres of chain to our anchor in preparation for Friday's forecast of 40 knot northerly winds. After a short siesta we launched the kayaks as we wanted to take advantage of the calm conditions and paddle around the outlying islands. We spent four lovely hours kayaking around Cording and Steep-To Islands. We saw many interesting rock formations. In places the rock appeared to be of volcanic origin creating deep gulches, overhangs and even a couple of arches.

All is as good as gold on board.(A commonly used expression in Southland) Kathy and Wayne

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