Fanny Bay

Date: 7/03/15 Time: 18.00 Position: Fanny Bay, Dusky Sound

After spending three days and nights at Stick Cove sheltering from strong winds and rain we ventured out this morning under blue skies and light wind and reached Fanny Bay this afternoon with a blustery 20 knot headwind from the south west and storm clouds building.

From Stick Cove we had a wonderful day paddling half way down Wet Jacket Arm to Oke Island and back. The paddle began with drizzly rain opening and closing the views around us. But by lunchtime the rain had cleared and we had a sunny afternoon. Along the shoreline covering the rocks were lots of tiny mussels which groups of sooty oyster catchers were enjoying at low tide. We saw several seals throughout the day tucked right in next to the rocky shoreline. Most of them were quite small so perhaps they were females. They were repeatedly spiraling around on the surface like they were in a trance. Occasionally they would poke their head out and stare at us with their round eyes and sticky out ears. Then resume their spiraling. We paddled by some shallow estuaries where we could see the fresh water layer sitting on the salt water layer which looked like the shimmers you see on a hot day especially when our paddle strokes disturbed the fresh layer. Along the northern shoreline on our return there were lots of small islands and hidden harbours tucked behind small headlands. As we were coming out from behind a small group of islets we spotted the boat Jewel which had kindly helped us with our gas tank a week earlier. We paddled over to say hi and Rob generously gave us two crayfish. Fiordland hospitality is unbelievable. We had had a marvelous day and to top it off three dolphins came over to check us out as we paddled across the arm on our way back to our anchorage. They are such powerful creatures.

The following day it rained consistently so we spent the day on board reading and baking two loaves of fresh bread and brownies.

This morning we motored through the calm waters of Acheron Passage where we saw a group of five Little Blue Penguins (also known as Fairy Penguins in Australia), our first sighting of these penguins in Fiordland. We then turned east into Dusky Sound and were able to sail along the northern side of Cooper Island with the Code O. We sailed downwind to Supper Cove at the head of Dusky Sound to have a look around. We then motored back into the growing headwind to Fanny Bay along the southern side of Cooper Island. It was great to turn into the calm, sheltered waters of Fanny Bay after the cold, south westerly headwind. After motoring a couple of kilometres to the head of Fanny Bay we dropped anchor and took two stern lines ashore just before the rain started to hit the deck. What we could see of the mountains around us before the roof of cloud started dropping looks pretty speccy.

From listening to the weather forecast tonight we think the worst of the bad weather has passed so we are looking forward to more settled conditions over the next few days. All is great on board. Kathy and Wayne

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