February 26, 2020 – We were supposed to have been hiking the Milford Sound track, but recent storms have closed the track due to landslides. We used this opportunity to investigate another famous sound in New Zealand – Doubtful Sound.

There are several options for cruises, but we chose RealJourney’s Doubtful Sound Wilderness Cruise as it was the only one that actually went out all the way to the Tasman Sea. Doubtful Sound is a beautiful fiord – Yes a Fiord! Not sure how it got its name of “Sound” but this valley of water is glacier carved. It is three times longer than Milford Sound, with twisting arms, and it has a surface area ten times larger. With its rugged peaks, verdant rain forest and twisting, hidden inlets, Doubtful Sound took our breath away.

There’s no direct road access, so the only way you can to get to Doubtful Sound is a cruise across the picturesque Lake Manapouri, followed by a bus trip over Wilmot Pass - New Zealand's most expensive road. After passing through the dense Fiordland rain forest and we arrive at fiord arm and boarded the catamaran Patea Explorer for a 3 hour cruise on Doubtful Sound. Along the way we did get to see Hector’s Dolphins playing tag with the boat, a few Fiordland Crested Penguins diving for lunch, and a colony of Fur Seals basking in what little sun was peaking through our cloudy day.

The turn around point took us just into the Tasman sea, which was choppy and tossed our little boat around considerably. It was fun, and an adrenaline rush on its own, but a better highlight was in store. Traveling back to our starting point, the captain took the boat into an arm of fiord and shut off the engines. Asking everyone to observe a moment of stillness, we stat quietly between two towering mountains, each with a waterfall careening down as the gentle caws of birds filled the silence. We felt completely at peace here.

Back at the transfer point to Lake Manipouri, we toured the visitor center and learned about the Manipouri Power Station. A marvel of engineering, the builders of this station tried to address concerns from all sides, keeping the lake at its current level, while causing minimal disruption to nature. Drilling hundreds of feet through the mountain, the water from Lake Manipouri falls downward through pipes to turbines before entering Doubtful Sound. The result is over 15% of all power for New Zealand being generated in this one plant.

The entire journey was just under 7 hours, with three of those spent on Doubtful Sound. The crew and staff were friendly, helpful, and informative. At a total of $265 NZ ( $167 US) per person, this cruise was a value for the duration and scenery. Now if we could only get New Zealand to understand its summertime.

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