NSW Australia or South Island NZ

[andreareed2007]

Hello,

I am planning a trip down under that will have me traveling to Sydney and then on to the South Island of NZ (arriving in Wellington, traveling from Blenheim to Queenstown) and I want to scuba somewhere along the trip.

Does anyone have any advice as to which place would be better to scuba- New South Wales or the South Island, NZ? We are beginners and probably want to dive just for 1 or 2 days.

Thanks!

Andrea

 

[Plumb bob]

Hi Andrea.

I lived for 28 years in the South Island (I live in Wellington now) and while I love the place and it has many many beautiful places and some of the most dramatic and rugged wilderness in the World, You will not find the diving in the South Island easy to find if you are only briefly visiting as the weather has a big influence on conditions.

At the top of the South Island (SI) you have the Marlborough Sounds which have some nice diving, the wreck of the Mikhail Lermontov MS Mikhail Lermontov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is in the sounds in a bay called Port Gore.

On the East coast you have Kaikoura which has some very beautiful diving though you need a couple of days NW wind and no rain for a while preceding that for good conditions. Then there's basically no good diving areas till you get down the the Southern most area around Dunedin and lower.

The best diving in the SI is without a doubt in Fiordland. You can do day charters in Milford sound Milford Sound - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diving in Fiordland National Park

But if you are after the premier experience of diving in Fiordland then you need to go on a liveaboard charter which is pricey and involves a fair bit of logistical planning as the fiords lower than Milford (such as Dusky, Breaksea and Doubtful) are very remote and require a helicopter flight to access. But wow are they worth the effort!

The West coast has some very good diving but big seas are the norm.

Thought of heading North? The Poor Knight Islands?

 

[bracko]

when?

sydney has pretty good diving, although i have no idea what the winter conditions are like.

if you are novice divers, then shelley beach near manly offers very easy shore diving, it's a westerly facing beach with a natural reef, so very protected) as well as freshwater beach (when swells are low, as this is an open beach) or you can go on the prodive or frogdive boats.

there is also a navel ship which was due to be sunk in March which now looks to be postponed by idiot residents... pending legal action due to take place early july, it'll be basically september until you can dive it.

 

[thanksforallthefish]

I really cant say which would be better as i have never dived NZ, but i have heard there is some magnificent diving there as there is in Sydney.

A benefit of diving in Sydney is there are numerous good shore dives you can do, so all it will cost is any gear you need to hire. As well there are numerous shore dives within a few hours drive of Sydney also.

A good website to get an overview of what is available in Sydney

Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site

Actually winter is the better time for diving in Sydney ... winds generally tend to be westerly flattening the seas and the visibilty is usually better than in summer.

 

[andreareed2007]

thanks for the advice so far...

We are going in December, so summer...

Seems like we could be happy doing a shore dive in either place. I had read about the cruise ship off the coast of the South Island of NZ, will do a bit more research into that.

THanks again!

 

[bracko]

fantastic then...

you can go down to Jervis bay which is 4 hours drive south, there is some fantastic diving there as well.

fingers crossed the HMAS adelaide will be sunk and ready by then, it is 1 hour north of sydney so that will also be a great dive. the train north is fine, it's probably easier to drive to Jervis bay though.

and of course there are the above options.

 

[Air One]

I went diving in NSW in Feb.
We dived in 2 places with our 2 daughters, they are newbies.
We went North at Forster/Seal Rock, and then Montague Island near Narooma in the south.
We had cold watter and bad viz in the North, warm and clear watter in the south.
Forster is usually much better they said, anyway we saw a lot of grey nurse sharks.
Montague island is fantastic, this is defenately a place to dive.
There is a link just below and few pictures in case you are interested.