Doubtful Sound

Doubtful Sound is longer and much deeper than Milford, with three distinct arms, and reaching it takes work: a boat across Lake Manapouri, then a bus over Wilmot Pass on a road built to serve a power station and connected to no other road. That effort keeps the numbers down. The fiord is broad and quiet, with forest growing straight off near-vertical rock and a layer of fresh water sitting on top of the sea, stained brown with tannin from the bush. Bottlenose dolphins live here permanently and fur seals use the outer rocks. Most cruises stop their engines somewhere in the middle and ask everyone to stay silent for a few minutes.

What you actually see

• The three arms - the branching fiord, wider and less enclosed than Milford.
• Wilmot Pass - the bus road over the range, with a view down the fiord from the top.
• The silence stop - engines off in mid-fiord, with only water and birds audible.
• Resident dolphins - the bottlenose pod that lives in the fiord all year.

When to go

Trips run year round, weather permitting, and rain is likely in every month; it fills the cliffs with temporary waterfalls, so a wet day is not a wasted one. Overnight cruises leave in the afternoon and give you the fiord at dusk and dawn without other boats around. Book well ahead for summer, and allow a full day even for the shortest option.

Honest expectations

It is expensive and slow: a whole day for a day trip, with three separate stages of transport each way and no road access at all. Weather cancels sailings. Wildlife is not guaranteed and the dolphins keep their distance. Sandflies at the wharves are savage. Anyone comparing it directly with Milford should know it is broader and less sheer, traded for quiet.

Nearby

Manapouri and Te Anau are the bases, with the rest of Fiordland and its walking tracks to the north.