Dagg Sound

Date: 27/02/15 Time: 5.55pm Position: Head of Dagg Sound

We left Doubtful Sound early yesterday morning with a cool, fresh south easterly behind us. We set a poled headsail and full main (wing and wing). We flew out of Doubtful Sound at 8 knots with the tide under us and the wind behind us. It was exhilarating. As we headed south down the coast in the sunshine the wind died off and we motored the 7nm to Dagg Sound. No matter how far off the coast we are we are always visited by a bumble bee. They give the boat the once over and then head off again, perhaps they are attracted initially by our bright yellow sea kayaks.

As we neared the entrance to Dagg Sound we could see a large white fishing vessel heading north up the coast. Not long after sighting the vessel, it altered its course and started heading our way. When it got closer we realised it was 'Jewel' the fishing charter boat that had kindly offered to fill our gas tank. They were on their way back to Doubtful Sound and as we dropped our mainsail they came alongside and handed over a full gas tank. Thank you Rob, the skipper of Jewel! It looked like they had had a successful fishing and hunting trip as they had a deer hanging from the back rail.

We have met some very kind and generous people in Fiordland. The people who make a living here are a close knit community who look out for each other. We have decided to join in with the community and keep a regular evening sched with Meri from Bluff Fisherman's Radio. After listening to Meri give the weather forecast each evening she then conducts a roll call of all the boats on her list including us now. Each boat gives their position and intentions and some give their weather observations. She is very friendly and likes to end each call with 'Good as gold'

As we entered Dagg Sound we had our own opportunity at a bit of game fishing. There was a bird feeding frenzy happening as the birds followed a bait ball around the entrance. We put out a shiny lure and headed for the feeding frenzy that kept us going around in circles for quite awhile of us chasing the birds and the birds chasing the fish. We finally had a huge fish on the line and as we wound the line in, the fish in turn would run the line out again. This fight went on for about ten minutes. It looked like a large kingfish when it came up near the boat. But you guessed it, it got away by straightening the hook. It was disappointing but it was lovely to watch the seagulls, terns and shearwaters diving for fish.

Dagg Sound is a very pretty place with two arms at its end. We were lucky enough to see three Fiordland Penguins swimming around as we neared the head of the sound. We dropped our anchor in 15m of water at the head of the fjord by mid afternoon.

We are only 1km across the land from the head of Crooked Arm in Doubtful Sound and this morning we attempted to follow 'the well marked track' from our anchorage to Crooked Arm. The beginning of the track was easily identified with the usual orange triangular markers. But after entering a clearing we were not able to pick up the track again so we did our own exploring of the area and returned to our kayaks. There is a grass plant that grows here and it sheds its seeds in the most annoying way. As you walk by its seeds grip hold of your bootlaces, socks and hairy legs (which is very painful, it feels like your hairs are being pulled out). We managed to remove the seeds from ourselves even though we were being attacked by a swarm of sandflies in the process. After escaping the sandflies we had a very satisfying paddle around our arm as well as Anchorage Arm in the gentle rain. We saw another two penguins swimming about and collected mussels for dinner. The water in the inter tidal zone is really clear and as we paddled along and looked down we could clearly see lots of 11 armed starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins(kina) and small fish.

We plan to sail to Breaksea Sound tomorrow. All is well on board with the sound of steady rain on the cabin top. Kathy and Wayne

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com