Fishing Reports

As another summer rolls into view we find ourselves contemplating our 10th season of guiding divers in Milford Sound with amazement and enthusiasm.

As usual, October has seen a mixed bag of weather but we seem to have struck lucky as most of our trips have been on the fine side.  Milford's really turning it on at the moment with snow capped peaks (a lingering remnant from winter) supplying the perfect backdrop to a special dive site.

The wildlife both above and below the waterline is putting on a good show too.  We've been seeing lots of Fiordland Crested Penguins (or 'tawaki' in Maori), seals and even some pods of dolphin already.

Today's divers saw the first spiny spotted dog-shark of the season (normally a deepwater species), a sea-horse (not that common in Milford), a goat fish (North Island species!) and four Spiny Sea-Dragons (yes, FOUR!).  This is one of very few places in the World where these deepwater fish can be seen at diveable depths; it is thought that they live at around 200m in the open ocean.  Also saw all the usual suspects - heaps of black coral (one that's 4m across!), some red coral, 4 species of nudibranch, some deepwater invertebrate species - feather stars, snake stars, gorgonian fan and plenty of fish life - jock stewarts, scarlet wrasse, blue cod, red banded perch, butterfly perch to name but a few.

One of our new instructor/guides for the season has arrived - he comes from a busy dive centre in Oxford, UK (and they want him back!).  With a good sense of humour, plenty of temperature water diving experience and many other diving adventures around the world he'll be a great addition to the Tawaki Team.

So, if you're thinking of heading down this way, give us a call (we do get booked up a few days in advance during the summer) and we'll get you diving in what must be one of the World's most spectacular spots.

See you soon!

Sarah, Dave and the Tawaki Crew