It rained hard all night long and the wind was rocking the motorhome. Our temporary repairs are holding up well to the deluge. We got ready to go, doubting the wisdom of taking a cruise in the weather. We arrived at the parking lot for the cruise terminal. It was raining even harder and we had a 300 meter walk to the terminal through the rain. It was a wet walk. David’s rain coat has developed leaks in multiple places and our pants were soaked. After checking in, and paying the $30NZD for the parking, we got in line to board. Milford sound is really a Fiord since it is glacier carved. Being one of the first boats out in the morning, there were not as many people as the later in the day boats. We were on the Southern Discoveries Spirt of Milford. There was the usual rush onto the boat to secure the all important window tables. We first headed up stairs but saw all the window tables were already taken and we headed back down stairs against the flow and secured a window table! If anything, it was raining even harder as we headed out. The good news was that all the rain had created thousands of waterfalls coming off the mountains all around us. As we headed up the fiord, the wind picked up and in places it was actually blowing the waterfalls up. The rain pelted the windows of the boat and many of our pictures through the rain streaked windows are blurry from the water or have reflections of the cabin lights. But there was no way we were going out on the open deck in this maelstrom. After going briefly out into the Tasman Sea, we went back into the fiord where we were dropped off at the Discovery Center. There we went down thirty feet under the surface to see the underwater world of Milford Sound. There was not a lot of light that far down due to an unusual phenomime. There is so much fresh water flowing into the fiord, that there is a 10-15 foot layer of fresh water on top of the sea water. This fresh water is brown with tannins from the run off. There is very little soil in the mountains of Fiordland NP due to the glaciers. Instead, lichens and moss grow on the rocks and provide a place for trees and bushes to grow. But when it rains, the water draining through the “forest” picks up a lot of tannins. It rains a lot here, between 7-10 meters of rain per year! The dark freshwater reduces the light down to a level of the deeper ocean environments. So, it’s a deep ocean environment at much shallower depths in Milford Sound. After viewing the starfish, black coral (which is really white), perch and spotty fish, we went back upstairs and waited for the next boat to take us back to the dock. After we got on board, we collected our cold lunch and had a quick bite while returning to the dock. Then we hiked back out through the still torrential rain to our motorhome and drove back to our site. The rain finally let up about 5pm and the clouds broke up.
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| Our Cruise Boat |
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| Waterfalls Everywhere |
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| Looking back up into the sound from the Tasman Sea |
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| Starfish on window of the Discovery Center |
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