One of New Zealand’s highlights & no wonder! This is a relatively small, narrow fiord enclosed by steep cliffs revealing spectacularly theatrical views at every bend. It rains a lot down in this part of southern NZ, hence the large number of waterfalls. Most people see it in the rain, but we were very lucky in that it rained the previous day – making the waterfalls even more spectacular, but with brilliant blue skies.

Stirling Falls

I was expecting to see lots of other ships in the Sound. Apparently it is quite crowded in the early afternoon with the “day-trippers”. Because we had an overnight cruise, we didn’t set off until late afternoon & shared the Sound with only one other ship.

We had a good excursion in the late afternoon, an interesting talk & enjoyable dinner on our ship & would recommend the Milford Mariner run by Real Journeys (see Recommendations for details)

The Milford Mariner – The Bridge

A floating underwater observatory we visited after the overnight cruise. Though only 10 meters under the surface, the water conditions at this level mimic those at much deeper levels due to the unique “dirty” fresh water sitting above the sea water. We saw starfish & Black Coral as well as Wrasse fish.

I found it fascinating to find out that when the dominant male Wrasse in a group dies, the largest female changes sex and becomes a male fish.