These are more photos from the cruise part of our Coach 'n' Cruise tour. I'm in a not-so-great mood today, so I won't be going through the hassle of labeling the individual photos below.
After boating around the fiord and even venturing a bit out into the open, churning Tasman Sea, three of us from the group made a detour to the Milford Deep, an unusual aquarium in which the humans are in an enclosure and the ocean wildlife come and go as they please. This is not like some sad Las Vegas fish tank where sharks swim above and around you but are still trapped and ultimately at our mercy. Here, whatever fishies you do see outside the glass choose to be there. Plants, too.
I've got really bad indigestion right now, so I'll sum it up like this: the Milford Deep experience is as close to scuba diving as you'll get without ever going scuba diving. And the waters here are freezing, so I don't know who would go scuba diving even if they could. But the most unique thing is the water in this region, which is a weird mix of salty ocean and fresh rainwater layers. The result is total ecological wackiness rarely seen in nature. New Zealand seems to strike that theme often, possessing so many natural rarities.
Anyway, I invite you to take a look at their website so you'll realize how uncommon this naturally submerged aquatic observatory actually is.
The last two pictures were taken at The Chasm, a little side stop on the road back to Te Anau.
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