Eco-Cruise Options

The Marlborough Sounds is an ideal place for bird watching trips, a sheltered inland waterway that offers an amazing diversity of bird life. We can visit off-shore island bird sanctuaries in Marlborough Sounds.

Takutai will guide you to see some of the rarest of New Zealand native birds. Even experienced bird watchers are amazed at Takutai's uncanny ability to hear and identify all the diferent birds by their song. She has amazing eyesight and sees the birds long before anyone else.

Takutai instinctively knows the hierarchy or pecking order of the birds and knows you have to wait for certain birds to fly off before others will show. She will show you birds you would never see on a freedom walk.

There is a whole range of native sea birds and land birds to encounter including the little blue penguins, gulls, terns, oystercatchers, fluttering shearwaters occasionally albatross, cape pigeons and southern ocean petrels. Some birds like the Australasian Gannet and Cormorants have colonies.

The New Zealand King Shag is one of the rarest birds in the world and is only found in the Marlborough Sounds.

The island sanctuary walks usually take between 1 and 2 hours, sometimes longer for bird photographers. One island is called Oruawairua which means mind, body and soul. There are WW2 gun emplacements which have wonderful panoramic views.

Some people prefer to go for a bush walk in a catchment that has some of the biggest and oldest podocarps in NZ, giant rimu trees reputed to be 2000 years old, were standing at the time of the birth of Christ.

Two popular short walks on the off-shore islands of Marlborough Sounds are the Oruawairua Walk on Blumine Island Scenic Reserve and the Motuara Island Lookout Track.

We also visit sites of historical significance like Ship Cove (Captain Cook's favourite Pacific base) - it has an interesting monument, flanked by ships cannons of the period and informative signage, a very good beach for swimming and diving off the wharf, a bay steeped in history.

For those who are interested in endangered animals we can take you for a cruise of East Bay, which for Maori is the spiritual heart land of the Sounds.

There you'll find Arapawa Sheep that Maori say were left behind by Portuguese sailors, generations before Captain Cook. There are also Feral Goats (old English milch goats left behind by Captain Cook). They were the only ones left in the world and were saved from extinction by a wonderful American Eco Warrior Betty Rowe. When Betty passed she left half her farm as a sanctuary for the sheep goats and other biodiversity.

We can also visit a Marine Protected Area to feed the magnificent Blue Cod, or for those who are interested in the history of the whaling era, we can steam down Tory Channel and visit NZ's very first shore-based whaling station in a bay called Te Awai iti. See the whale bones on the beach and whale oil in the banks, as well as tombstones of some of NZ's very first European settlers.

Then visit the remains of the Perano Whaling Station, a sunken rock called Wheke Rock, which Maori say is the remains of Te Wheke o Muturangi - the giant octopus that Kupe (the famous Maori explorer) chased from Hawaiki and killed it at the entrance to Tory channel.

We offer a number of tour options and there is a 2-person minimum. For larger groups, we will negotiate a price depending on numbers, Tutanekai has a survey for 30 paxs. [Prices quoted below are in New Zealand dollars.]

Depart 9:30 am from Waikawa Bay Wharf (NOT the Waikawa Marina) and return 5:00 pm (full day cruises) or 12 noon (half-day cruises).

Click to find out how to get to our departure point in Picton by land, sea, or air, and the associated travel times.

NOTE: We reserve the right to cancel trips if the weather conditions are too severe.

We've had the pleasure of leading eco-tours and eco-cruises for a lot of wonderful people - individuals, couples, school groups, business groups, etc. - over the last 20+ years. Here's just a sample of the photos we've taken to capture those memories.