Diving worth crossing the world for! Explore the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve, the best diving in NZ, and rated in the top ten dive sites on the planet. Incredible biodiversity, a mixture of temperate and tropical species. Whales and dolphins!
We would need to see you at 8.00am on the morning of your dive at our centre in Tutukaka. Our crew will fit you out with the equipment you require, and then we embark on a 45-50 minute boat ride out to the Islands. On the ride over, one of our instructors will have a chat to you about your experience level and how we can tailor the day to suit you. We will buddy you up with someone of a similar experience level, and you can choose to dive as a buddy pair or part of a guided group. The navigation at the Knights is fairly easy, and our site briefings are very thorough. Our guides are part of the service we offer, and are free of charge – we try to take no more than 6 divers in one group.
Your skipper will give a briefing on the vessel as well as procedures, then tanks will be set out, and you can gear up and jump in!!
The Poor Knights offer a fantastic variety of diving for everyone from first timers through to ultra-experienced instructors. The terrain at the Knights is volcanic rock, so there are lots of nooks and crannies, archways, caves and holes, walls and plateaux - everything you could want! The encrusting life on the walls is legendary and the fish-life is prolific. As the Islands are in the path of the East Auckland Current which branches off the East Australia Current, we are lucky enough to get some unusual tropical species living in harmony with our resident temperate water fish. There are several kinds of moray eels, some big crayfish, thick schools of fish and cheeky, curious wrasse to name just a few.
We do two dives at different sites around the Islands. The choice of which sites to dive is made on the day by the Skipper and crew, and is based on exactly what the weather conditions are doing and the experience of the divers on the day. In between dives we have an hour and a half surface interval during which you'll have time for snorkelling, kayaking, working on your suntan, eating lunch and drinking complimentary hot drinks which the crew will make for you. We'll also take you on a tour around the Islands to see the magnificent archways, caves and cliffs - and into Riko Riko Cave - the largest surveyed sea cave in the world. After the second dive we up anchor and head home, usually getting back to Tutukaka between 4.00pm and 4.30pm. These times can, however, be a bit "dolphin dependent" - we never know just what we'll see on a day that might slow the boat down a little.
Address: Marina Road, Tutukaka Rd3, Whangarei, No State, New Zealand
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