Milford Sound Dive Trips - Scuba diving Milford Sound

Dive Trips – Milford Sound Diving Trips

Milford Sound is breathtakingly beautiful both above and below the water

‘Descend Dive are based in Milford taking guided dive trips into Milford Sound that offers a unique diving experience in this renowned world heritage marine reserve.

Descend Scuba Diving provide guided diving for all levels of experience from first time diver to experienced professionals. Descend is committed to an approach of high safety and level of service to your experience to make for a fantastic, memorable day.

Diving New Zealand’s Milford Sound / Piopiotahi marine reserve is an experience that can not be found any where else on Earth.

The Dive trips starts Milford Sound at 9 am at the Deepwater Basin road boat ramp and boat returns to shore by 4 pm.

Shuttle Service From Te Anau

Divers staying in Te Anau without their own transport will need to organise your own shuttle Transport that operates from Te Anau’s lake front departing at 7-15 am for the scenic road trip into Milford, the scenic Fiordland National Park passing through spectacular forests, soaring mountain peaks, passing reflected mirror lakes and numerous waterfalls along the way and plentiful birdlife and in particular the local cheeky Kea parrots.

Milford Sound Diving Experience

Unique to the Milford’s underwater world are sheer cliff faces, which provide for the most spectacular Fiord wall diving and a totally unique eco system of black coral trees. The coral trees have a stunning white appearance over a jet black skeleton and are normally only found in deep water trenches. Thanks to Milford’s heavy rainfall making for a mix of fresh and salt water on the surface with huge mountains casting their shadows over the waters, enough light is blocked to allow these beautiful coral trees to call Milford’s Piopiotahi marine reserve home.

Whilst diving you may also see dolphins, seals, sharks, eels, octopus, stingray, crayfish, nudibranch and over 150 different fish species.

Qualified Diver Trips on Milford Sound:

Milford Sound morning double dive tour for qualified diver – $345

Meet time: Milford Sound at 9 am at the Deepwater Basin road boat ramp and boat returns to shore by 4 pm.

First Time Diver Experiences on Milford Sound.

Unqualified divers are able to do a single private dive directly taken care of with one of our instructors. You are able to scuba dive to a maximum depth of 12 metres dependent on personal confidence during the dive. You must be a very confident swimmer and have good medical fitness. Milford Sound is a fantastic opportunity to experience scuba diving for the first time. If you are diving in Milford you are seeing all of the Fiord’s beauty and wonder..above and below.. Make friends with the fish, get your photo taken with the black coral trees and feel the amazing sense of weightlessness that only a diver knows. The total Milford experience. We generally take a maximum of 2 first timers per trip.

Milford Sound morning dive tour For fist time diver – $345

N.B. We generally take a maximum of 2 first timers per trip

Meet time: Milford Sound at 9 am at the Deepwater Basin road boat ramp and boat returns to shore by 4 pm.

Milford Sound Diving Trip Itinerary:

Black Coral Milford Your dive trip starts at Deepwater Basin with a thorough briefing before we board our boat, a stable 7 metre catamaran ‘Pacific Runner’ purpose built for diving with an extended dive platform with drop down ladder making it easy for entering or exiting the water.

‘Descend Scubadiving’ provide top quality diving equipment with warm 8mm semi dry suits, under vests, gloves, hoods and booties and you will be thoroughly briefed on any unfamiliar equipment. We provide everything you will need for your dive on Milford Sound.

We will be cruising Milford Sound for approx 4 hours with two dives on sites that are chosen depending on divers experience level, weather and wind direction. Most likely we will dive in the marine reserve on the Northern side of Milford Sound taking the time to enjoy these majestic surroundings, seeing seals, penguins and occasionally we may meet a pod of dolphings along with numerous species of birdlife birdlife.

Whilst diving Milford sound you will experience many species of fish and the opportunity to see the legendary black coral trees (actually they are white) that can be as tall as 6 mtrs high, along with red, white and numerous other soft corals and a chance to see marine life completely unique to the area of Fiordland that is regarded as world class diving area.

Hot drinks, soup and cookies are provided for your surface interval between the dives with gourmet sandwiches for lunch, whilst getting a close look at some of the thundering high waterfalls that plummet down the steep mountain faces of the Sound. We can even let you off the boat onto land for a short walk through native bush to a freshwater pool where you can experience one of the Fiords largest waterfalls.