Poor Knights diving, Tutukaka, Northlands New Zealand.
The Poor Knights islands are reputed to be in the top ten of all dive sites globally and I jumped at the chance to join a charter out of Tutukaka on Saturday. Having taken a 5 hour road trip from Tauranga to Tutukaka on Friday night I arrived at my cheap and cheerful accommodation for the next two nights before getting my head down.
Bright and early the following morning I wandered down to the dive centre for about 0730 and had a look at the marina, some guys were already preparing the dive boat for the day. I chatted to the guys on the boat and established the centre was just across the carpark and was also open. I checked in at the dive centre paid my dues before obtaining my equipment for the day which was put in a large bag and left for the dive crew to sort out. The guy that was sorting my gear, Steve Helstalk, is from Sheffield.
The trip out to the Poor Knights usually takes abiout 45 minutes however, due to numerous sitings of dolphins the trip took slightly longer and we arrived at the island some 90 minutes later. The Kiwis are a pretty laid back crowd!!!
Excellent dive briefings were given beofre donning our wet suits and jumping in. Out tanks, BCD's and reg had already been assempled by the dive centre staff !! 1st class service..
Dive One: The Magic Wall. This was a stuning little dive shallow to begin then the wall drops off to about 18 - 20 metres. The colours of the corals were fantastic in the shallow waters where burstsof sunlight lit up teh whoel reef. Spotted morays, carpet sharks, rays, an abundance of fish and so many different coloursed nudibrachs it wwas awesome. I finished our dive with one of the dive guides in a huge cave swarming with fish before getting out. Max depth 19m dive time 75 mins.
.... Between dives the crew changed our tanks for us and made hot drinks whilst we ate lunch.. Another big plus
Dive two: Fruitcake Rock. A stunning little dive with the same culprits as the first dive. Lots of very colourful hard and soft corals, an abundance of fish and to complete it all we were joined by a very playful seal, so playful that our safety stop extended to 25 minutes just to watch the seal mimicking divers. Great fun.
I have some photos that I will try and upload soon. I also have some realy good viedos of the seal playing.