Planning a trip to New Zealand with a stop in Cairns

Just starting to plan a trip to New Zealand for mid-April and wanted to get some input into my plan so far. I will be travelling with my (hopefully) pregnant wife @ the time so she won’t be diving, but she’ll probably do some snorkeling instead. I’ll also be meeting up with some non-diving family members, so I want plan on doing some morning dives and then meet up with everyone else for the rest of the day.

Just for some background on me, I have about 40 dives under my weightbelt My dives are mostly in the cold low viz conditions of the BC coast and AB mountain lakes in Canada. I dive with a drysuit in these conditions. I also have about 15 of my dives in Playa Del Carmen area of Mexico. I am comfortable with depth up to around 100’, but only have my SSI OW cert. (don’t know how sticky they are on the certs in AUS / NZ) I don’t feel like I need to do the deeper dives, but have no aversion to them either, just want to see the best stuff!

I’m planning on flying into Cairns, Australia to start the trip (didn’t want to come this far without hitting the great barrier reef). Arrive @ 10:30 am on Sunday, and just spend the day exploring town. Go do a liveaboard for Monday/Tuesday. I’m leaning right now towards OceanQuest, although I’m open to suggestions. My plan though is just to do a 2 day trip as I don’t want to spend a lot of time in AUS. Fly out on Wednesday @ 2PM to Auckland. I think this should give me my 24 hours time to fly.

From Auckland I’m planning on heading up to dive the Poor Knights Islands for the Thursday and Friday Mornings. I have’nt really looked @ who does weekday charters to the Poor Knights, but any suggestions would be appreciated. From there I want to hit Volkner Rocks as we work our way south , and possibly Goat Island if I have time.

I’ll be spending some time around Palmerston North as that is where my wife’s family is from. I definitely want to hit Kapiti Island, and maybe spend a morning further south around Wellington.

Anyone thinking I am missing any must see dive sites? Open to any comments or suggestions.

hi, your NZ choices are pretty much spot on. Most people seem to think Dive Tutukaka is the best outfit for day trips out there or if you are on your own, they also cater for the non-diver.
If you come to Wellington def recommend splashgordon.co.nz as it happens they run regular charters to Kapiti Island, have done a few with them now and has been fabulous. Wgtn diving is pretty reliable, there is always somewhere you can get in the water either from shore or on a boat. Splash can cater for both and have good hire gear. Lots of people through the shop so there will always be someone wet.....
hope you enjoy our amazing country!

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check to see if splashgordon will meet me closer to kapiti so I don't need to come all the way down to wellington. Shouldn't need much in the way of hire gear other than tanks and weights. Just trying to decide what to do for an exposure suit. My compressed neoprene drysuit is to big and heavy for travel, and it seems like anywhere south of poor knights is looking like it will be drysuit temps. Just have to decide if I'm renting a 7mm or bringing a my dad's trilam. What do you typically dive?

Hi sounds like your going to have fun, couple of things tho, if you have the time and money try to get to the Marlborough Sounds at he top of the South Island and do a charter, reall good diving and brilliant scenery.
I used to work at a dive centre in Wellington before I moved overseas and can tell you that alot of the operators run trips where the guide stays on the boat so you can buddy up with someone and dive within the perimeters the guide suggests. Most won't have a problem with the 30m(100') issue as long as you have an up to date log book proving your experience (not sure if that's still the case, I've been away for several years now ), however, what you should consider is if your insurance company will also accept this, if your qualified to dive to 18m and you have an accident and have been diving beyond that limit you may find yourself without coverage.
Hope you have fun.

Hi Mark. Have a look at Sea Conditions at Goat Island
In NO way am I trying to put you off but consult that website before looking to dive goat island.
As you will see theres been a big clay slip that gets washed into the water on the high tide and when its been raining a lot.
When they say POOR vis it means about 6 to 8 feet vis.
You can hire all your dive gear from the Padi dive shop 1 mile from the dive site or from Seafreinds.
If doing a shore dive at goat island its a bit of a hike to the water and a reasonable surface swim to the actual island but I think its well worth it.
You'll encounter a LOT of fish.
If I can help in any way feel free to give me a yell. --Im off to Rarotonga april 21st for a week of diving but before and after that happy to help .
On the Poor Knights front . I've only heard good things about dive Tutakaka.

As to your Q as to how sticky they are as to certs here... NZ is a self regulated SCUBA industry, no govt regs so strictly speaking you don't really need ANY to be legal. For liability reasons however dive ops do require you have Something to show them that you can dive, SSI is active here in NZ, so a SSI OW will be fine to show the dive op to let you on the boat without their worrying about your committing suicide by stupidity/inexperience.

As to who I dived with, I did a lot of my training dives at Poor Knights aboard the Pacific Hideaway. Scuba dive the Poor Knights New Zealand.Scuba diving with Pacific Hideaway NZ
Good guys.

in QLD you will most certainly be required to show your certifiction (card or online if SSI do this) and you may be required to dive with a guide for deeper dive sites to ensure you don't breech your depth limits.

I would suggest getting the advanced or the deep component of it signed off (again, if SSI can do this, PADI can I am lead to believe)

if your budget stretches, I'd strongly recommend spirit of freedom or Mike Ball over OceanQuest.

hi, re meeting you at Kapiti yup Splash can arrange to do that for you, have helped out with taking gear up to the Kapiti charters myself as it happens! if you check out the newsletters on their website you will find what charters they are running and if nothing suits your timetable drop them a line telling them what you want to do, very helpful bunch.
What suit? how hardy are you? some kiwi divers (me included on some days!) use 7mm one piece wetsuits all year round, around Wellington the water will get down to 9 or 10 degrees celcius. For comfort and repeat dives the trilam is prob your best bet though.
Pacific Hideaway is an excellent outfit but will only take groups. If you want a day trip with you and pregnant wife Dive!Tutukaka does seem to fit the bill.
Decent operators will want to see something by way of certification but so far as depth is concerned there is plenty to see shallower that 20m.
If you are in Wellington after the easter weekend yell out, would be happy to help out.

Dive! Tutukaka are fantastic - I must have done over 20 dives with them by now and would cater perfectly for your pregnant wife. Obviously there will be limits on where you can go at the Knights with a pregnant wife, so don't expect to be diving the most famous sites. They often have several boats going out each day, divided by experience. The other charters are more likely to take you to the signature sites (Northern Arch etc) but wouldn't be suitable for your wife. Wouldn't be anything wrong in dedicating 2 days for the Knights though!

I really recommend checking out the SeaFriends site of the Knights - an amazing reference: Poor Knights marine reserve

I was at Goat Island just a few weeks ago and vis was fine. Great for photography as there is so much to see within a few metres of the surface. I did, however, find lugging all of my gear and my girlfriend's gear into the water pretty exhausting in 25 degree sunshine! My plan of putting on my newish 7mm wetsuit on the tarmac so it didn't get sand damaged BEFORE lugging the gear was very, very misguided!

I reckon you should hire you gear off of SeaFriends for the Goat Island dive out of appreciation for the site they maintain

Hmm - very timely information. I will also be headed to NZ in the 3rd week of May and will be working there for 2 months. I will definitely research the sites mentioned in this thread. Also, there are apparently several divers among the group that I will be working with and I will be looking to them for advice on dive outfits and sites. Will report back when I return in July.

Just madly rushing to put together a kit around my newly purchased 7D in time for the trip. I agonized over choosing between the better built Aquatica with it's xtra large port and its cool options like remote trigger/pole cam/hydrophone etc and the less expensive but still very flexible Ikelite housing. I already own a DS160 leftover from my G10 system and I've pretty much decided on going again with the Ikelite housing and will likely spend the difference on more glass. Pics to follow along with a review of this camera/housing combo.