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Kia ora. My wife and I just booked a 2-week trip to the South Island of New Zealand in December. We weren't planning on diving -- tramping, rafting, caving, shagging sheep, that sort of thing.
Anyway, I wear a prescription mask so if we're going to do any diving at all on a lark I'd need to bring it. Does anyone think it's worthwhile? Or should I just get my dive fix on my next trip somewhere?
Generally speaking, we like fish and corals. We live in California and never dive here because it's too cold and we're not excited by kelp forests, so that should tell you where our dive priorities are. Last place I went was Roatan, which I enjoyed, but my favorite sites are all in the south Pacific, just a lot closer to the equator than Sauvignon Blanc country.
I'm not that familiar with the diving down south, other than the wreck of the Mikhail Lermontov in the Marlborough Sounds - which if you were in to wrecks rather than fish and corals would be reason enough to bring all of your dive gear!
Not sure how far north you are in Cal, but don't expect warm water here in December. It's just starting to warm up now, around Marlborough in December I'd guess that water temperature will be around 17 degC maximum, quite possibly less. Further south, it will be colder.
If you are in to your corals, then a dive in one of the sounds in Fiordland would be worth thinking about - the sounds there have a layer of fresh, peaty water above the salt that makes the sites quite dark... but the plus side is that you get deeper water corals (like black coral - normally grows around 50m deep) in water as shallow as 10m. But it will be cold, if it's in double figures in the water I'd be surprised.
Saying that, how much space does a mask really take up? Unless you're really tight for luggage, I'd throw it in. You never know what might take your fancy.
As well as the Sauvignon Blanc, check out the Pinot Noir's from Central Otago - my favorite is Chard Farm, just a few kms south of Queenstown, the vineyard is well worth a visit.
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