Day 53: Milford Sound, South Island … New Zealand

Tuesday, 28 February 2017
At Sea — Crossing the Tasman Sea

Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:45p (NZDT) … UTC 8:45a (28 February)
Temp: 58.8F (14.9C
Position: 44.09.08S / 166.45.64E

Cruising has two pleasures.  One is to go out in wider waters from a sheltered place.
The other is to go into a sheltered place from wider waters.
~ Howard Bloomfield ~

Our last day in New Zealand … and what a spectacular day it was.  Expecting rain — which tends to be the norm half the time in this part of the country — we had no complaints about the cool-to-cold temps, sunshine, and blue skies we got instead.  Add grand scenery into the mix … well, what more could one ask from a day at sea?  Not much, really — although those who were returning to the ship from their overland trip would probably say that less wind churning up the waters would have been good.  But that was their luck of the draw …  earlier in the afternoon, conditions were quite calm.

Overnight, Insignia rounded the bottom of South Island to sail into the Tasman Sea.  But before making the crossing to Australia, it veered up along New Zealand’s southwest coast to one of the many beautiful sounds of the Fiordland.  Our destination was perhaps the most well known of them all — Milford Sound … or Piopiotahi [single thrush] as the Māori know it.  According to their legends, the sound was created by Tu-te-raki-whanoa, who was called away before he could carve a route into the interior, thus leaving this body of water surrounded by high peaks … the highest of which is Rahotu … or Mitre Peak.

Having visited Milford Sound from Te Anau on a day trip in 2015, we knew what fantastic landscape was in store for us.  We had enjoyed a beautiful afternoon of sunshine during our small boat cruise of the sound then.  As towering as the cliffs on either side of us were today, they were even more impressive from the vantage point of a much smaller boat that day.  Nonetheless, Insignia was dwarfed by the cliffs and our sail-in was magnificent.  I wandered up to deck 10 to take some photos, but quickly concluded that with no good forward vantage point, our aft-facing veranda — fume-free this afternoon — was the best place from which to re-experience Milford Sound.

We entered the sound on schedule around 1:00p.  The destination expert, Peter Croyle, provided commentary from the bridge … information that added to our appreciation of what we were seeing.  Once the ship reached the head of the sound, it took up position there to await the overlanders who left in Dunedin yesterday to see some of the inland attractions of the country.  They were not due until later in the afternoon, however, so we had plenty of time to relax … and even enjoy the company of a pod of dolphins that came right up to the stern of the ship … probably attracted by what was being churned up from the bottom by the ship’s slowly rotating propellers.

As the afternoon wore on, the sky remained blue and bright, but bands of clouds started to decorate the mountains.  The big change, though, was the wind that started to pick up — to the point that it was blowing 45-50 knots for a while.  The surface of the previously flat water became laced with whitecaps.  In the midst of these conditions, the overlanders arrived on one of the small boats that take visitors on cruises around the sound.  The boat approached the tender platform, then sped away and came back around the stern to try a second time.  The ship repositioned slightly, and the boat approached again … still to no avail … it came back around to the stern of the ship again.  Conditions were too rough to transfer the overlanders.  So Captain Luca backed Insignia up to Harrison Cove, where the tall cliffs afforded slightly calmer conditions.  By this time, we could not see the boat so I am not sure how many more tries it took to get those passengers back on the ship, but obviously they were successful as the next time we saw it, the transfer boat was speeding to shore and it was empty.

Around 6:00p, Insignia’s bow was pointed toward the mouth of Milford Sound.  As the ship began its exit, we got dressed to to go to Toscana for dinner with friends.

Overnight we will gain an hour … yay!  Ahead of us are two days at sea … double yay!

For a few more photos from Milford Sound, click here.

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