Monday morning we were up early to go kayaking in Milford Sound with Rosco’s Milford Kayaks on their half-day, guided rentals they call the “Sunriser Classic.”

We headed down to the meeting point at Deepwater Basin where the commercial fishing boats dock. They mostly haul lobster pots.

There were eight couples signed up to go kayaking this morning. We were divided into two groups of four couples and a guide after changing into thermal underwear and fleeces and donning our spray skirts, waterproof jackets and lifesavers, all provided as part of the rental.

Our guide was Riley, in the photo below, a Kiwi from the South Island. The weather started off nice enough, although the forecast called for rain later in the day.

The water at the start tasted fresh, but became increasingly brackish the further into the sound we paddled. That’s Bowen Falls in the distance, below.

It was an easy paddle along the southern shoreline, getting up close and personal with the landscape. About an hour in, it started to sprinkle.

Riley kept the four kayaks in our group close together at the start. We noticed that we were the eldest by at least 30 years, everyone else being in their late 20s or early 30s. Where does the time go?

It also became apparent that we were the only experienced kayakers in the group, as evidenced by the wandering paths taken by the other couples, two from Germany, the other from America. Smiles all around, though. The universal language.

At the halfway point, the rain came down in buckets, as our British friends say. We raced across the sound to the north bank.

Land Ho! (Those white marks are raindrops hitting the water surface; the bigger splash is a Fiordland Crested Penguin diving.)

The rain eased as we paddled back east toward Bowen Falls.

This was the first waterfall we passed on our boat ride the day before. I like this vantage point a lot more.

By the time we paddled back across the mouth of Freshwater Bay to Deepwater Bay where we pulled out, everyone was soaked to the bone, rain jackets notwithstanding. But that didn’t put a damper on the experience. We all had a great time.