The Milford Sound dive tour
Awaken the explorer...
Scuba Diving New Zealand- The Milford Sound Dive Tour
Your day starts at our meeting point at the Deepwater Basin road boat ramp where we sign you in and don our drysuits for the day. We then hop on the boat for a cruise that takes out all the way through the entire Fiord to open ocean/ the Tasman sea.
From here we choose our first dive site of the day and after a thorough equipment and dive site briefing we don our dive gear and go for a scenic dive for generally a max of 40 min to a general max of 18-22 meters depending on your qualification level.
Once returned from the dive, a hot drink will await you and while we do some cruising you can enjoy a vegetarian wrap and snacks for lunch.
Some days we can do a landing in Milford Sound to go for a short bush walk leading to a secluded waterfall.
After your little adventure we will head to dive site number two and you can enjoy a second dive for a max of 40 minutes exploring the unique deepwater species that live and grow in the Fiord.
Once back on the board, we will head back to base, taking in a few more scenic views.
Shortly thereafter we will cruise back to our start point to Deepwater basin where we get off the boat, take off suits and fill out logbooks before we say our goodbyes.
The total experience from meet and and greet at 9am to our goodbyes takes around 7-8 hours depending on group size.
The time on the dive vessel is between 5-6 hours.
We meet at 9am and are finished by around 4pm-5pm depending on group size.
Equipment Options
Drysuits
Our tours for divers who are either experienced/qualified drysuit divers or participating in our drysuit course include the provision of Scubaforce drysuits. By choosing the drysuit option you can enjoy the days diving by increasing comfort, warmth and add the extra learning experience to maximise your great Fiordland diving adventure. Drysuit options are as follows:
Tour including drysuit rental if you hold a drysuit certification already (NZ$ 445)
Tour including SSI drysuit specialty course and certification (NZ$ 595) which includes some online learning prior to your trip
standard tour equipment included
Our standard tour price ($395) for qualified divers includes equipment rental including
Scubaforce backplate wing style BCD and high quality regulators, spg
8mm Aqualung SolaFX wetsuit including undervest, hood, gloves and booties
Jetfins, Mask, Computer, handsfree torch
Our Basic Diver tour for unqualified divers includes equipment rental including
Scubaforce backplate wing style BCD and high quality regulators, spg
8mm Aqualung SolaFX wetsuit including undervest, hood, gloves and booties.
Jetfins, Mask, handsfree torch
Milford Sound / Piopiotahi marine reserve
Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) marine reserve was established in 1993. It became one of the first marine reserves in Fiordland and covers 690 hectares along the northern side of the fiord from the head of the sound to Dale Point. Fiordland's marine system is considered to have the highest concentration of black coral trees in the world (the trees are actually white). Normally growing at depths of 100 metres plus, due to the large amount of rainfall draining into the fiords and the high mountains blocking light from the water these beautiful giant corals have migrated to shallower depths perfect for viewing by lucky divers.
Our vessels
We have two dive vessels in our fleet. Westbay, our 9m NAIAD takes up to 10 divers plus 3-4 crew and Pacific Runner, our 6m Maitland Catamaran takes up to 6 divers plus 3 crew. Both vessels have dive ladders and toilets on board. Naturally oxygen and a first aid kit are kept onboard for safety.
Vessel Westbay - 9m NAIAD
Vessel Pacific Runner - 6m Maitland Powercat
Travel Information Milford Sound
Getting There
Arriving by car is the easiest option. Plenty of parking is available at our meeting spot in Deepwater Basin.
Drive Time from Queenstown is 4 hours one way
Drive Time from Te Anau is 2 hours one way
Drive Time from Invercargill is 4 hours one way
Bus connections available:
For our 9am start time tour you can book the Tracknet bus option. The bus leaves Te Anau at 7:15am and arrives at 9:15am in Milford Sound which is fine for our trip meet time and leaves Milford Sound at 5pm.
You can also book transport with Trips and Tramps from Te Anau to Milford Sound in the morning at 6:30am, arrives at around 8:15am in Milford Sound. You can then go back to Te Anau after the dive tour with Tracknet who have a departure at 5pm.
If you come from Queenstown you will need to take a bus the previous day to Te Anau, overnight in Te Anau and then take the above option back to Queenstown or alternatively come to Milford Sound the day beforehand, stay in the Milford Sound Lodge and then return with Intercity the following day back to Queenstown.
Accommodation options nearby
The Milford Sound Lodge is the only accommodation in Milford Sound which offers riverside chalet accommodation and a campervan park. The PioPio Cafe and Restaurant offers dining from breakfast till dinner. Books out well in advance so reservations are essential.
Cascade Creek is the closest DOC campground to Milford Sound which has 120 non-powered tent sites and is about a 50 minutes drive from Milford Sound.
Knobs Flat offers eco-based accommodation in the Fiordland National Park including studio units and campsites. Knobs flat is about a 1 hour drive from Milford Sound.
Te Anau is the closest town to Milford Sound and offers a multitude of accommodation options including a supermarket and many shops and restaurants. Most of our divers choose Te Anau as their base due to the variety of accomodation opttions. The drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound is around 2 hours.