Doubtful Sound

I've based my entire New Zealand trip around a one night cruise on Doubtful Sound.

After winning the Wheels Down Pool in Antarctica, I decided to treat myself to a vacation splurge in New Zealand. Asking around my well traveled residents of McMurdo, the idea of sailing on a ship in one of the fjords on the South Island became a reality.

I was told, however, to expect rain. Lots of rain. So much rain that even the water around the fjords have 2-3 meters of fresh water on top of the sea water that spills in from the ocean or the sea. In New Zealand they spell "Fjords" as "Fiords"--they also can't cook Mexican Food, most likely because they can't wrap their tongues around a "J" that sounds like an "H." Holy Jalapeno--can you tell I spent $43 on the worst mexican food this side of the Equator. Hint: Ketchup should not be used as a base for HOT Salsa.

Anyways, I stayed on proper SHedule by sailing around FIords.

The cruise I chose had a few options. Even though I felt flush with cash when I was booking my tour, I still selected the least expensive option on the ship. Essentially I was going to stay with the rats and possums bunking beneath the anchor chain with three other fourth class citizens.

Then, a funny thing happened on board the Mariner. When I was handed my key to bunk house #19, instead of being lead to the janitor's closet off the wheelhouse, my concierge lead me up the stairs to a suite off of the captain's deck to a room all to my own. I later learned that this upcoming weekend is a New Zealand National Holiday, so everyone is saving their time off for this next weekend--sailing on the Monday before a three day weekend meant the ship that normally holds 70 people, set sail with only 28 on board.

Even though it rains over 50% of the days in the Doubtful Sound area, it was mostly clear skies and smooth sailing on this trip. It was cold. The people who can't say "FJords" also said the temperature was three degrees Celsius. In terms of Fahrenheit this meant it was near or around 40 degrees. It terms of Antarcticans, this meant it was balmy. The others on the ship thought it was a bit too cold to stay outside, so I was usually the only one outside enjoying the view.

I had a lot of expectations for my Doubtful Sound cruise. When the captain who has been sailing this ship for seven years and all the crew came outside to take photographs, I knew this was an unusual day. They said a couple of times a season do people get to see it as smooth and as beautiful as I did.

Then I went back to my stateroom. Next Stop. Cook Islands.

Posted by phil at October 18, 2006 01:51 PM