Port Pegasus

Date: 6/04/15 Position: Disappointment Cove, Southern Arm, Port Pegasus

On Sunday morning we woke up in the dark at 6am and dinghied across to the south east corner of Little Glory Cove to a jetty. From the jetty we followed the track that goes through to Ocean Beach. The area between Little Glory Cove and Ocean Beach is a kiwi protection area and people are not allowed access to this area between 6pm and 6am unless they have a permit. As kiwis are nocturnal we hoped to be able to see some before the sun rose. We had only walked about 10m along the track when a kiwi appeared. It was knee height with huge feet, a long curved beak and light brown feathers. As it continued along the track in front of us we could hear it's feet thudding on the ground as it went. In the dim light of dawn it looked like something out of a prehistoric cartoon. When we reached Ocean Beach we could see how busy the kiwis had been during the night with all the three toed footprints left behind in the sand. We followed the high tide mark along that was strewn with weed. We were lucky once more to see another kiwi, this one was busy foraging along the high tide mark. We sat down and watched it make it's way towards us slowly. It stopped repeatedly to dig with it's long beak and at times almost had its whole head buried in the sand. As the sky lightened the kiwi made its way back into the bush behind the beach. It was wonderful to see these rare birds in their natural environment.

After returning to Ambler we raised the mainsail and motored out of Patterson's Inlet as the breeze was light. Once outside the southern entrance, Buller's Point, a light westerly breeze allowed us to set the Code 0 and turn the engine off. We sailed 17nm south with calm seas and an overcast sky to Port Adventure. There seems to be a very healthy population of Little Blue Penguins here as we saw many groups of them along the way. We arrived in the early afternoon and anchored in Oyster Cove.

As it was early in the day we went kayaking around Oyster Cove which is surrounded by low scrubby hills. Then we went out and along the south east shore of Port Adventure to Kelly's Beach. Here we were welcomed ashore by some friendly hunters who were staying at the Kelly's Hunters Hut. We went inside their cosy hut that was warmed by a pot belly stove and consisted of three bunks and a stainless steel bench top for cooking. After a good chat we left with enough cockles to cook for our entré. We returned to Ambler and enjoyed our steamed cockles followed by massaman beef curry.

Today we rose early enough to catch a stunning sunrise and not long after the sunrise we were on our way leaving Port Adventure and heading for Port Pegasus 22nm further south. We had a fairly quick trip averaging 6 knots with the help of the current and a favourable north east breeze behind us. It was overcast and cool with an occasional rain shower. We spotted a shark off our beam but it disappeared before we got a good look at it. We also saw a few giant petrels as well as many of our good friends - the albatross. The entrance islands to Port Pegasus were fringed with giant boulders and densely forested tops. We are now anchored in the southern arm of Port Pegasus in Disappointment Cove. We have tied ourselves in well behind a small island with two sternlines out in preparation for tonight's north easterly 40 knots and tomorrow's westerly 50 knots.

All is snug on board. Kathy and Wayne

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