Why Dive Milford Sound?
Why should anyone want to dive Milford Sound? That’s the question I asked myself as we waited to be picked up at 6.00am for our long journey from Te Anau to Milford Sound. (Located in the south of the South Island in New Zealand, for those that don’t know.)
According to the tourist literature Fiordland's unique marine environment results from a combination of dramatic mountains and intense rainfall. Massive volumes of water flow into the fiords, causing a freshwater layer to overlay the seawater, thereby creating an environment where deepwater species can live at unusually shallow depths. One of the major contributing factors to Fiordland’s unique marine life is the narrow temperature range of its salt water, approximately 12-16OC throughout the year.
We were specifically on the lookout for spiny sea-dragons and black coral. The spiny sea-dragons are actually a very deep water species and Fiordland is one of the few places in the world where they can be seen at diving depths. These normally deep-water creatures are generally found at 200m below the surface where it’s cold and dark. They however successfully live in the fiords at around 15m, which just goes to show how cold it is!
The dives are very carefully co-ordinated. Safety being of prime consideration of the dive operator as there is a high altitude mountain pass that has to be traversed to and from the dive site. This means that the dives are short, averaging 30-35 minutes and the surface interval long. The water temperature was 14OC on the day. The 7mm suits provided made the water temperature bearable. Hot water was poured into our suits between dives was also a nice touch.
Two excellent dives were made. The first dive was a boat dive and we spotted our elusive spiny sea-dragons at 9m in the last 10 minutes of the dive. Other species of sea life such as carpet sharks, daisy anemones and of course masses of black coral. Confusingly the black coral when viewed was white. It however takes its name from the distinctive black or dark brown colour of its skeleton.
The second dive was a shore dive in what was aptly named ‘the aquarium’ where the abundance of sea life was overwhelming. Marble fish, blue cod, telescope fish & large crayfish to name a few. The dive operator, Tawaki Dive, (www.tawakidive.co.nz) were a professional and organized crew. Although the day was long, twelve hours door to door all told.
Seeing sea lions resting on nearby rocks and a pod of bottlenose dolphins on the way back was a nice close to the day.
Greta Derrick
Free Flow divers 2006.
