A Fiordland Charter.

I was fortunate enough to tag along on a charter recently on the Cindy Hardy operated by Fiordland cruises.
It started with the 11.5 hour drive from Nelson to Te Anau.

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A bloody excellent meal at a local bar/restaurant and a night at the top ten holiday park,6am I was off to buy some coffees, This far south in june it was still dark at 730am and didnt really lighten up properly till 830-9am if overcast so lots of my photos are shit due to low light.
We had a bit of time up our sleaves before catching the helicopter so went out for a cooked breakfast and a look in the local sports shop.
Dont plug your barrel boys and girls.

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Into the bird.
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Once on board and settled in/safety briefed we steamed off out into Dusky sound and put two racing sardines in the water who were champing at the bit and picked up some cray pots, the boys were only in the water a minute no more and already one was holding up a good sized cray!
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Forcast was a bit average with the next morning being the best so we anchored up in a we shelterd cove for the night and headed for the open sea in the morning.Attachment 70812

Part two to follow.

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We caught stacks of blue cod and a few Terikihi and then the cuda turned up, Nigel the skipper got a bit grumpy with the loss of taclkle and that was somehow our fault:wtfsmilie:
First time I have heard the skipper blame the crew for catching cuda :thumbsup:...eventually we moved off far enough to get away from the snakes and then his demeanour improved....With a heap of fish to fillet we headed into some shelter and I got in for a dive.
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I am pretty bloody unfit at the moment so my breath holds were non existant but there was no need to dive deep with what had to be 10m plus vis....it was simply the clearest salt water I have ever been in.
It didnt take long to spot my first cray as I swam around a virticlal rock wall there was one just sitting in the mouth of a crack about 2m deep, dam all I got was a handfull of feelers, another couple of meters and I spot another in the roof of a hole.I didnt think I would be able to get that one with my gasping so gout one of the pros over to have a go and he also ended up with only feelers.
heading around the rock wall there was quite a few different species of fish I had never seen before and a couple I had some literally only in a few 100mm of water hiding back in little holes,getting around into a bay the bottom came into veiw and some Kina barrens,The ones I could reach were bigger than my outstreached hand and the ones I could see down deeper were the size of large dinnerplates!
I cruised around in the shallows looking for crays and grabbed a pretty big one just sitting in the weed on a smooth bit of bottom in about 3m of water but she was in berry....goin a bit further another was spotted in only 2m and just like that I had my first takeable cray:thumbsup:
150mm Paua in half a meter of water just sitting there in plain veiw, the water clarety was just amazing and I was poked,Good barstard Stingray had lent me some dive gear but my little chicken legs are not used to powering fins and his big barstards had my calves cramping in no time.

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More to come

I'm as envious as hell.

Docs told me no diving for 6-12 months. :(

I have heard good things about the diving in Fiordland with Crayfish and Blue Cod being my number 3 & 4 most favourite seafood after paua and scollops.

Cheers
Pete

After another night in a sheltered cove we fished around Resolution Island apparently New Zealands 5th largest island, its size height and proximity to the sounds means that from the boat you just dont even recognize it as an island.
more fishing/cray potting and diving and steamed threw Ackeron passage to Breaksea sound, memory is a bit hazy on when we fished for what where after that but here is some photos.
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Topping up fresh water tanks from a handy waterfall.Attachment 70841Attachment 70842Attachment 70843Attachment 70844Attachment 70845Attachment 70846Attachment 70847Attachment 70848

Some schooly groper from in the sounds.Attachment 70849Attachment 70850Attachment 70851Attachment 70852Attachment 70853Attachment 70854Attachment 70855Attachment 70856Attachment 70857Attachment 70858Attachment 70859Attachment 70860Attachment 70861Attachment 70862
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Awesome pics, it's on the bucket list :D

It was a great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed myself,It is a great way to see more of Fiordland as opposed to flying into a block for ten days and basicly being stuck in the one area.
A couple of points were a bit annoying tho.
They supply all fishing gear,I dont think Nigel is much into the sport of line fishing.Most of us are avid line fishermen and the gear on board was pretty substandard.....if we had known we would have brought our own gear with us, quite a few of the guys wanted to target bluenose and grouper but the boat had no gear capable of fishing that deep....which was a piss off as we had our own gear we could have brought for that.
Secondly pre trip emails said our catch could be frozen on board then shipped to us for a reasonable cost,so we didnt bring any chillybins but then had to fly our catch out with us as he didnt have room which ment trying to find/buy cheap chilly bins and ice in TeAnau on a Sunday afternoon :pissed off:

Other than that it was Awesome, some of the spots we anchored up in where mindbogglingly beautiful the pictures dont do it any justice at all.

Looks awesome (and cold [emoji3])!

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Originally Posted by P38

I'm as envious as hell.

Docs told me no diving for 6-12 months. :(

I have heard good things about the diving in Fiordland with Crayfish and Blue Cod being my number 3 & 4 most favourite seafood after paua and scollops.

Cheers
Pete

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There was permanantly a bucket full of cooked cray legs on deck for snacking on,I didnt think it was possible but by the end of day three I had almost had enough of crayfish:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by MightyBoosh

Looks awesome (and cold [emoji3])!

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The water was surprisingly pretty good (around 11deg I think) but yes the air temp combined with the sleet and wind was pretty bloody bitter at times....the phone only came out for pictures in the breaks in the rain.

Good shit VC :cool:

:thumbsup: see any Moose :o

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Originally Posted by Sideshow

:thumbsup: see any Moose :o

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No, Did see some deer threw the thermal imager one of the guys brought along tho.

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

There was permanantly a bucket full of cooked cray legs on deck for snacking on,I didnt think it was possible but by the end of day three I had almost had enough of crayfish:thumbsup:

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I haven't touched crayfish since our trip earlier in the year, just so over it at the moment :(
Still have tails sitting in the freezer.
Oh, and if the cabin downstairs on the right was a bit smelly, Philipo was sleeping there.

Looks bloody great VC.

Ill eat ypur crayfish then !!!!:thumbsup:

Definitely a bucket list trip

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Originally Posted by Mohawk660

Ill eat ypur crayfish then !!!!:thumbsup:

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Rack off, I can still trade it :P

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Originally Posted by Barefoot

Rack off, I can still trade it :P

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Oh wheres the love.....you maoris will trade anything.!!!!

Glad to see the wetsuit came in use, those photos are epic and I am speechless at the beauty of the place, I cannot imagine what it would have being like being there and diving that kind of vis. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this adventure with us all. From the rooted rifle to the fish n crays to the scenery ....truely epic!

Saving starts on Thursday....

Its on the bucket list for me, if any of you guys are one or two people short for a trip let me know.
good on ya VC

Man that looks like an outing. Stunning country down there.

One of these days, ... this body will hang together enough, ....

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Originally Posted by Barefoot

Rack off, I can still trade it :P

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Had blue cod and a tail tonight for tea, was bloody good:thumbsup:

Is this the same one Phillipo went on and the skipper was bombing the deer and missing or something ?


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Originally Posted by Smiddy

Is this the same one Phillipo went on and the skipper was bombing the deer and missing or something ?


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I believe so .

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I believe so .

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Great place but sounds like the charter could improve on a few things

I tell ya that water is something else ah so freaking clear its unbelievable, I guess it gives you plenty of time to think of wtf to do when you see a great white ah


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Originally Posted by Smiddy

Great place but sounds like the charter could improve on a few things

I tell ya that water is something else ah so freaking clear its unbelievable, I guess it gives you plenty of time to think of wtf to do when you see a great white ah


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Saw one shark but it was just a very big spikey dog :thumbsup:
Just keep in spear range of someone else :thumbsup::D

epic trip/photo's and yarn. Thank you for sharing with us VC

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Originally Posted by Smiddy

I tell ya that water is something else ah so freaking clear its unbelievable, I guess it gives you plenty of time to think of wtf to do when you see a great white ah

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You can ask @Mohawk660 about the sharks

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Originally Posted by Barefoot

You can ask @Mohawk660 about the sharks

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Do tell !!