Doubtful Sound was named by Captain Cook because he was doubtful that if he sailed in he could get out again, so he gave it a pass. He left the exploration of the sound to the Spaniard Malaspina. Both Cook and Malaspina visited both New Zealand and Alaska and I am encountering some of the same names, Bligh, Cook, Vancouver, Resolution, Turnagain, and, completely unexpected for me, Malaspina Arm of Doubtful Sound. The terrain is familiar and so are the names. The flora is completely different and I do not get to look for bears on the shore but I can look for penguins!
Doubtful Sound is a little more visited than Dusky, but not much. Unless you come on ship you have to travel by road to a lake, take a ferry across the lake to the power station and then a bus down to the town of Deep Cove on the sound, which has a permanent population of two.
By the time we reached Doubtful Sound the sun was out in full. We cruised into the sound and around Secretary Island and out via Thompson Sound. The sheer steepness of the mountains rising from the sea was breathtaking.
