One of the best things about cruising is that you see things that you can't see any other way. There was a great example on our New Zealand cruise on "Voyager of the Seas", when we went through Milford Sound. Sound is the NZ name for fiord, a deep valley that was carved by a glacier ages ago and flooded by rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age (small bears are very interested in geology and history). We arrived at the entrance to Milford Sound just before sunrise. Naturally, the Oldies dragged me out on deck before I was awake but the scenery soon had me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. As the sky lightened we could see jagged, snow-capped mountains with cloud drifting across the tops. There was a spectacular strip of cloud coming along the sound, rolling as it poured out of the entrance. The entrance to the sound looked far too narrow for our huge ship to enter, and once we were in the sound the waterway looked too narrow for the ship to fit. It did though and the trip down to the head of the fiord was magical; cloud across the top and waterfalls everywhere on the steep walls. The Voyager is the largest ship to cruise the sounds and I can see why.
Labels: boats, cruising, New Zealand
# posted by Bart Bear @ 11:57 am
