Date: 4/04/15 Position: Little Glory Cove, Patterson Inlet, Stewart Island
We were in Bluff for a week waiting for a good weather window so we could go down to Stewart Island. Bluff was a friendly but very, very windy place. The coastal weather forecast for the area of Foveaux changed constantly even within the same day. The three day outlook wasn't the same once while we were in Bluff. However, the gales that swept through over the week allowed us to do a full engine service and carry out the annual clean and service on our Canadian made diesel heater. We also did a resupply for the boat and had two trips into Invercargill and several visits to Bluff Library to use their internet service. We also got our ice cream fix with a few trips to the dairy (the local corner store). They sold a huge variety of ice cream flavours and for only $2.50 we got two huge scoops on a cone with our choice of any two flavours.
Yesterday we were fortunate to sail across Foveaux Strait with a 15 knot north westerly and relatively calm seas and sunshine. It felt strangely warm as we have had cold blustery weather for the last week. Around lunchtime we left the fisherman's wharf where we had been tied up for the last week and we motored to the ferry terminal wharf. At the diesel bowser on the ferry wharf we finally filled up with fuel successfully having tried five different credit cards. We left Bluff at one o'clock just before the high tide. As we left the harbour entrance we could see Stewart Island in the distance only about 15nm away. We enjoyed the smooth sailing and sunshine and were joined by a small pod of very large bottle nose dolphins as we passed Ruapuke Island on our port beam. There are several small forested islands around the north east corner of Stewart Island and as we passed between two of these we caught yet another barracouta. When we threw it back overboard the albatrosses that had been tailing us for quite some distance took full advantage of the barracouta's dazed state and pounced on it. Before long there were five albatrosses all trying to get a piece of the fish.
Last night we anchored in Little Glory Cove within Patterson's Inlet. It was a lovely, quiet place until we heard gunshots break the silence. From looking at the topo map there are several hunter's huts positioned around the inlet and there is one at the end of Little Glory Cove. Hunting appears to be very popular here in southern New Zealand and we saw a lot of hunting shops in Invercargill. In fact the fishing boat that came alongside opposite us at the wharf in Bluff had a deer carcass hanging up. The wind picked up during the night and in the early hours of the morning we got up to check that the anchor hadn't dragged. We were fine and still in the same position but another yacht that had been anchored in the cove nearby us had had to move around to more protected waters.
This morning we woke up to the sound of rain but it didn't last for too long. When we were having breakfast in the cockpit we saw a deer walking and grazing along the beach only about 200m away. We hope he survived the day. We decided we would go exploring by kayak within Patterson's Inlet. First we paddled along the craggy shoreline out of our cove and around the Boat Passage Islands. The water was clear enough to see plenty of shellfish and fish below our kayaks. We then continued further along the shoreline to check out another very sheltered anchorage called Sailor's Rest. As we entered this anchorage we saw many black starfish with about six pencil thin arms radiating out from a small round centre. After leaving Sailor's Rest we paddled out to Bravo Island and as we were crossing the short stretch of water we saw a group of Little Blue Penguins fishing. Occasionally a few would porpoise (leap clear out of the water). They would all surface in unison to breath and dive back under at the same time. Synchronized swimming penguin style. Throughout the rest of the day we saw a few more groups and individual penguins busy fishing. From Bravo Island we paddled onto Goat Island where we saw three small, flightless brown birds foraging along the rocky beach at the water's edge. At first we thought they might be kiwis but after later consulting our bird books we think they were some type of Rail. After enjoying watching these birds happily forage undisturbed only metres from our kayaks we set off across a large stretch of water to a long sandy beach called The Neck. Arriving at the beach we pulled our kayaks above the high tide line and decided to walk the length of the beach and back to stretch our legs. Behind the beach there was a lot of tussock grass and as this was an isthmus we decided to follow what looked to be a sandy track through the tussock grass to the ocean side of the isthmus. When we emerged on the beach on the ocean side we were confronted by four sea lions (we think they are Hooker Sea Lions). We then realised what had made all the tracks we had seen going different directions in the tussock grass! The sea lions gave us a curious glance and then ignored us. It was fantastic to see these huge beasts close up and we kept a safe distance from them. There were two huge males about 3m long with big, thick manes and huge upper bodies and two smaller females. One female was a whitish colour and looked tiny in comparison to the males but was still about 2m long. One of the males kept asserting himself against the other male and they lunged and breathed heavily at each other until one of them lied down and appeared to doze off as he covered himself with sand by flicking it over his back with his front flippers. Not long later another male appeared in the surf zone but remained in the water keeping an eye on the four sea lions on the beach. We walked to the end of the beach enjoying the many sea birds congregating at the spit that led to the shoal which adjoins Cow Island. As we walked along another male came out of the tussock grass and made his way down to the water. It was fascinating to watch the behaviour of these sea lions and wonderful to see them in their natural environment. As the tide had began to rise we crossed back over the isthmus to our kayaks and after we collected several plastic bags and bits of netting along the beach we set off paddling again. We followed once more another craggy shoreline back to Little Glory Cove. There were many small cave formations that had been caused by erosion, some were big enough for our kayak to go in. As we made our way back across the cove to Ambler we watched the terns diving for fish and heard more gunshots in the distance.
All is glorious on board. Kathy and Wayne
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