Foveaux Strait

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Overview map

Foveaux Strait is the strait between the South Island, New Zealand on the north side, with the three large bays Te Waewae Bay, Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay, and the Solander Islands, Stewart Island/Rakiura and Ruapuke Island on the south. Its European discoverer was Owen Folger Smith in 1804 and it is named after Joseph Foveaux who was Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales at the time. The strait is about 130 km long (from Ruapuke Island to Little Solander Island), and it widens (from 14 km at Ruapuke Island to 50 km at Te Waewae Bay) and deepens (from 20 to 120 m) from east to west.

Rakiura and Foveaux Strait viewed from Bluff Hill. Foveaux Strait is right in the middle of the Roaring Forties, and is very rarely this calm.

On the north side of the strait is the harbour of Bluff. On the south side is Stewart Island/Rakiura.

The strait is a rough and often treacherous stretch of water. In 2006, six muttonbirders died when their trawler sank while returning to Bluff. During the previous ten years, another six incidents occurred in the Strait, costing eight lives.