Overnight Cruise in Doubtful Sound with Fiordland Expeditions

When booking our Airbnb in Te Anau, our host wisely advised us to schedule activities in advance due to the high season rush. He also recommended visiting Doubtful Sound and, if possible, staying overnight. Taking his advice, we adjusted our dates, even though this meant one less night in Te Anau.

Doubtful Sound is less accessible than Milford Sound, so offers a profoundly different experience. Doubtful Sound is a rain-drenched paradise, receiving 12 meters of rainfall annually, with 200 days of rain, 100 cloud-covered days, and only 65 sunny days. Fortunately, or unfortunately if you want to see waterfalls, we were there on one of those rare sunny days, with not a cloud in sight.

We chose Fiordland Expeditions because their boat accommodates just 12 passengers. For our sailing, we were joined by nine other people including a family of four from the US (though living in Korea), two ladies from the UK, a couple from the UK, and a solo traveler from Italy. I don’t know if we were just lucky, or if Fjordland Expeditions attracts a certain type of traveller, but they were certainly a great group.

Our journey began in Manapouri about 30 minutes south of Te Anau. The hour-long ferry ride across Lake Manapouri was as calm as could be and it was hard to believe the weather considering the rain and wind the previous day. The ferry services a few different boats which operate in Doubtful Sound, though still had fewer people than the boat in Milford Sound. You can also do this as a day trip, but it’s a long day and you miss the best part (the overnight!).

Once in West Arm, passengers boarded a few different busses for the 30-minute drive to Deep Cove. We stopped at a viewpoint for pictures, but kept it brief due to the relentless sandflies.

Arriving at Deep Cove, we boarded the Tutoko II and received a briefing from the captain.

The boat is 20 meters long and has three types of cabins: Premium (with a double berth below and single berth above and private bathroom), Standard (same bed configuration but shared bathroom), and the bunk room (which is located on the top deck, has four single berths, and a private bathroom). The bunk room was by far the coolest, but for two people the Premium cabin was fine.

Our first activity involved checking a lobster pot, where we found 15 lobsters but responsibly took only eight larger males. The lobsters were boiled in a massive pot on the back bar-b-que.

We then ventured out to the Tasman Sea, where it got a little rolly but we saw seals. I’m still not sure if they were NZ seals or NZ sea lions, but I learned that NZ sea lions and Hooker sea lions are the same thing.

From there, we found a sheltered spot for some fishing. I hadn’t been fishing since probably grade school, but I dropped a line in and caught a blue cod. Our collective haul for the boat included eight blue cod, which were later cooked for dinner, two terakihi, and several jock stewart, which were thrown back. I don’t eat fish but everyone said they tasted great.

After fishing, some passengers chose to kayak, while others enjoyed the thrill of jumping from the helicopter deck into the sound. Dinner was a feast of tomato soup, fresh lobster, blue cod or steak, and sticky toffee pudding—we ate entirely too much and called it an early night.

The generator buzzed to life before 7 AM, starting the day with a breakfast as large as the dinner the night before—lobster eggs, ham, sausage, and hash browns. I spent some time on deck photographing some gulls – another example of something I completely ignore at home but suddenly become fascinated with when travelling.

As we made our way back to the dock, the scenery intensified, with a group of Bottlenose dolphins playfully riding the bow wake—a magical end to our unforgettable stay in Doubtful Sound. For those considering this unique experience, we can not recommend Fiordland Expeditions highly enough.