In the footsteps of Captain Cook

As planned we set off last Monday and headed back out of Kenepuru Sound and anchored back in Ketu Bay in Pelorus Sound overnight. Then on Tuesday in reasonably fair weather we headed out around Cape Jackson for Queen Charlotte Sound. The wind was light and so we motor sailed the whole way. Despite the calm weather when we left Pelorus, the wind picked up a bit as we headed out and the sea was quite turbulent around Cape Jackson, where the tides sweep around the shallows of the Cape. The Sooty Shearwaters didn’t seem to mind and gave us a great demonstration of how to take the blustery conditions in your stride.

Farewell to Pelorus Sound

Sooty Shearwaters enjoying the breeze around Cape Jackson

As we headed into Queen Charlotte Sound, we had the wind behind us and we passed Motuara Island doing 8 knots. Then it was into calmer waters of Ship Cove to anchor in one of Captain Cook’s favourite spots. He visited here a total of five times, once on the Endeavour and four times on the Resolution. With shelter from the blustery conditions and freshwater from a nearby waterfall it’s not hard to see why this was a favourite. Apparently the fishing was also good in the bay when he was here, but not anymore.

At anchor in Ship Cove

Captain Cook obviously liked it here!

The Cook memorial

One of New Zealand’s best known long distance walks starts at Ship Cove and so on Wednesday we headed ashore to do a walk on the Queen Charlotte track to Resolution Bay. The track is very steep in parts as it negotiates the mountains, which separate the Sounds and so that gave us a good workout. The whole area is maintained by the Department of Conservation (DOC). We have visited many DOC maintained areas now and one thing that strikes you time and again is that their main approach to conservation seems to be to kill anything they deem invasive. The part of the Queen Charlotte track, which we walked, is lined with hundreds of rat traps, attempting to eliminate the rats from the headland and create a protected environment for the native residents. One of those native residents is the ground nesting Weka, which is a very inquisitive bird, which we have come across on many of our walks. Ironically, conservation groups could see the Weka as a pest as they feed on invertebrates, reptiles and the eggs of other ground nesting birds. Migration in the animal world appears to be as contentious as in the human!

On the Queen Charlotte Track

One of hundreds of rat traps on the track

The inquisitive Weka

Captain Cooks water supply

From Ship Cove we headed around to Endeavour Inlet and attempted to anchor in Dryden Bay, just at the entrance to the inlet. Conditions were blustery and, unusually, the charted depths seemed to be completely wrong. We were going to anchor in an area charted as 10m deep but in reality it was over 30m deep and impossible to anchor in. We headed around the corner to Mint Bay and encountered a similar situation. Fortunately, there was a single mooring in Mint Bay and despite some severe gusts of wind blowing across the bay, Debi managed to steer us beautifully up to mooring.

It was during our mooring manoeuvres that Pat looked back down the boat from his position on the bow, to see the dinghy upside down in the water, with the outboard motor still attached. The gusts had been so strong that they had flipped the dinghy over. We were convinced that that was probably the end of the outboard and felt very down. The dinghy and outboard motor are your lifeline to the shore when cruising and without them you are very restricted in what you can do. We managed to upright the dinghy and hauled the engine back on board X-Pat. On opening the engine cover it was surprising how dry things seemed inside. Pat removed the spark plug and turned the engine over a few times, filled the chamber with oil and left it overnight to decide what to do next.

In the morning we decided to move anchorage as a southerly change was forecast and so we headed further into the Sound and found a lovely peaceful anchorage called Carey Bay just across the water from Picton. As we headed up the Sound we were greeted by a pod of about forty Dusky dolphins. They were being very playful and an absolute pleasure to watch. Once anchored, Pat got to work on the outboard, put it all back together, filled the carburettor with carb cleaner and she started without too much protest! We were somewhat relieved.

The Picton to Wellington ferry passes Waikawa marina, our destination tomorrow

Our beautifully peaceful anchorage in Carey Bay

Yesterday we took advantage of the fact that the outboard was working and took the dinghy up to the head of Torea Bay. There is a wharf there with ferries and water taxis bringing people across from Picton to the Queen Charlotte track and to get across into the Kenepuru Sound, where we were last week.  We tied up and had a nice walk across the Torea Saddle and down into Kenepuru Sound and the village of Portage. It was a rare windless day and the water was like glass.

Intrepid explorer finds Kenepuru Sound

A very still Kenepuru Sound

Today we are chilling out onboard and tomorrow we are heading across the water to Waikawa marina, which is just outside Picton. We have been offshore for more than two weeks and have run out of bread, fresh milk and eggs.  More worryingly, we are onto our last bottle of red so it’s definitely time to go shopping.  We plan to have a few days exploring Picton and the surrounding area and then start preparing for the voyage across the Cook Strait and back up north.