Marinas, Mail Boat and Mussels in the Marlborough Sounds

 Marinas, Mail Boat and Mussels in the Marlborough Sounds

One of the locals in Pelorus Sounds

TUESDAY 17 JUNE 2025 - WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE 2025

When we arrived in the South Island in February obviously we landed in Picton but we were so intent on starting our big trip that we stayed one night and bolted for the west coast without exploring what Picton had to offer. Leaving Blenheim it was time to put that to right. We booked into the Waikawa Marina campground which was nicely placed to allow us to get to the town, the marina and Queen Charlotte Sounds.

For our first afternoon in Picton we headed down to the Waikawa Marina and reminisced about owning Moonlight Lady as we walked around the moored boats. We were joined by two huge stingrays as we made our way to the end of the marina. They were just cruising the edges of the breakwater looking as majestic and graceful as ever. Before we headed back to The Beast it would have been rude not to have stopped for one bevy at the bar / restaurant at the marina aptly called “The Jolly Roger”

There had been a lot of rain in this area before we got here so the bike and walking tracks were pretty wet and muddy but this didn’t deter us from donning our tramping boots and heading off to explore. Behind the camp was a hilly headland that ventured out towards the sounds called “The Snout” It was named after the nose of the Sand worm, a large pink worm which sometimes grew to 30 cms in length and was relished as a food by the early Maori. It is said that at some time in the ancient past the worm became a Taniwha and was called upon to separate the headland from the mainland. It started burrowing through the sand of the tidal lagoon at Waitohi Pa but became trapped in mud. This is how the Waitohi Valley was formed between Picton and Waikawa Bay and why the headland remains joined to the mainland.

The terrain was steep and the track was muddy and slippery in places but the glimpses you got of the Sounds and the boat traffic was just enough of a distraction. Once we reached the tip of The Snout we were rewarded with magnificent views of Queen Charlotte Sounds. We even saw the Interislander ferry actually working! As we returned along the track we spotted what looked like a reject project from the maths table and had to ask Mr Google to identify it for us. Known as a Basket Fungus it is only seen in Australia and New Zealand. Apparently the fruit shell that it grows inside is edible - sadly we didn’t see any of that, just the weird shaped fungus.

The weather in Picton continued to be kind to us and with another clear sky day we headed toward the beach at Waikawa Bay. Just a short walk away, this sleepy little bay  looked so peaceful on the Friday of Matariki but I bet it is super busy in summer. 

The road we were walking on continues on for quite some distance becoming very twisty and turny and eventually gets to Port Underwood. Everything I had read about the road did not make it sound like something we would want to take The Beast on so I had to content myself with a photo taken with the road sign. I know Underwood was my maiden name but not even that was enough to convince me to take that road!!

To break up the trip back toward Nelson we decided to book four nights at Havelock. We had driven through this town on our way to Okiwi Bay back in February and it had proclaimed itself as the Green Shell Mussel capital of the world. That alone sounded like something we wanted to check out. The wee town was nowhere near as busy as it had been in summer and a few of the better looking eateries close over winter but with a few more days of sun promised we thought we would be able to keep ourselves busy.

As Havelock is the gateway to the Pelorus Sounds there is also a fairly large marina here that is not just for pleasure crafts but big companies like Talleys and Sanfords also have a large presence. On our first walk around the marina we noticed that there was a Mail Cruise you could go on to deliver mail and supplies to the remote residents of the Pelorus Sounds. During winter it only leaves on a Monday and a Friday. As we had arrived on Sunday and would be gone on Thursday we promptly booked for the full day cruise the next day. 

When we woke we knew we had ‘lucked in’ with the weather for our boat trip. It was still, the sun was out and the sky was blue, just perfect. The benefit of visiting in winter was there were only a few of us on the trip but Ross the Captain and his first mate, Mark still did a fabulous job of keeping up a running commentary of interesting facts about the area, the sealife and the mussel industry. As we were on the boat from 10:00 am until 3:30 pm Dave and I both felt like we came away from the trip with quite a few snippets of new, interesting information. Things like the difference between a Fiord and a Sound, the history of Pelorus Sounds and how Mussel farms work and boy do they work!!. In the Marlborough Sounds a minimum of 200 tons of mussels are processed per day!! Some are for the local market, some for export and some are freeze dried and made into capsules to make use of their anti-inflammatory properties for humans and animals. We even saw a veteran of the mussel industry adding the mussel spat to the special ‘Christmas Tree line’ that is used to set up a farm.

On two separate occasions Ross spotted two HUGE pods of dolphins and slowed the boat so we could watch them play. The first pod were HUGE Bottlenose dolphins and one is pictured directly above. I had never been that close to one of these dolphins and they are a massive bundle of fun and muscles.

The second pod were Dusky dolphins that like to visit the Sounds in the cooler months. They are known for their acrobatic displays as you can see in these videos. They had babies with them but I didn’t manage to capture any footage of the babes.

As my friend Pauline said, “You can not help but smile when you see dolphins, they are such happy creatures!” We certainly ended this trip smiling and would heartily recommend doing a Mail Boat cruise if you get the chance.

Obviously after learning so much about the Mussel industry we NEEDED to sample some of the products which in winter is not as easy as it sounds. A lot of hospitality places, like the restaurant called The Mussel Pot, close down over winter and the ones that remain open only operate from Wednesday to Sunday. We did find one, though, Mills Bay Mussels that was opened on a Tuesday and we were not disappointed! You’ve gotta love a mussel pot and the Mussel Croquettes were delicious too.

The weather today is ‘Maaahhh’ and the forecast is for it to deteriorate further so I will finish this post with some more photos of the beautiful Pelorus Sounds.