best time to dive NZ

[Lynn CA]

We are planning a combined hiking/diving trip to NZ in late 2006 / early 2007 and want to do 4 to 6 days on a liveaboard in the north. Any reccomendations as to liveaboards, and any advice about which month to plan to go? We can do the hike in the south anytime from Nov thru March, so we want to pick the best time to dive.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Azza]

We are planning a combined hiking/diving trip to NZ in late 2006 / early 2007 and want to do 4 to 6 days on a liveaboard in the north. Any reccomendations as to liveaboards, and any advice about which month to plan to go? We can do the hike in the south anytime from Nov thru March, so we want to pick the best time to dive.

Thanks for any advice.

Any time of the year is great depending on your exposure protection or tolerance to cold.
In the North the temperatures can reach 24-25 degrees celcius in summer (December to March) and 15 in winter. The Poor Knights Islands are a great spot to dive and I recommend checking them out. No dive trip to New Zealand should miss the Knight.
Check out http://www.oceanblue.co.nz/ for a great livaboard that focuses on the Poor Knights and nearby Islands. This used to be my old stomping ground before I moved south.
The Bay Of Islands is also another great spot with the wreck of the Rainbow Warrior sitting in 26 metres in Matauri Bay. This ship was a former Greenpeace Flagship that was blown up by French Terrorists in the 80's and was then salvaged and towed to it's final resting place.

The further south you go the colder it will get. Where I live in Wellington is great diving and the temp is 10 degrees in winter to 18 degrees in summer. That also applies to the top of the South Island and the Marlborough Sounds which also have great diving. If you are into wrecks then the Marlborough Sounds have a great wreck called the Mikhail Lermontov which was a russian cruise liner that hit rocks and sank in 37 metres of water. See my trip report here. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=106297 and see http://www.freewebs.com/cossackdivetours/finalcruise.htm for more info.
The bottom of the South Island can get to about 2 degrees celcius but there is fantastic diving to be had in Fiordland. The top 10 metres in the Fiords are all fresh water because of the massive amounts of rain that frequent the hills and mountains. That results in Black Coral growing at depths of 12 metres instead of the normal 50-100 metres elswhere in the country.

All in all we have some great varied diving here and IMO some of the best in the world.

Edit: Winter, May-September, is best for visability. In the north it can exceed 40 metres but the south, well, maybe 15-20 on a good day.
Summer it can reduce a lot due to algal and kelp blooms

Also our hiking is fantastic no matter which Island you are visiting. I have spent most of my life wandering around the countryside here and it still fascinates me to this day.

Hope this helps
Azza

 

[alijtaylor]

Hi Lynn
I would second Azza on oceanblue being a great company for liveaboard in Poor Knights and I think that really is the best place in NZ, not that I have been to all of them. Ocean blue (boat is called muzurka) isn't fancy - 6 divers, 1 head and shower and not large palatial cabins you can retire to, but for great diving, excellent knowledge of the conditions and good and food and friendly people fantastic and for three of four days you don't need luxury - right?
Alison

 

[AndyNZ]

Another option for a Poor Knights liveaboard is Pacific Hideaway (http://www.divenz.co.nz/) - new owners this year, so I'm not sure what the quality is like as I've not been out with them.

For my tuppence worth, a 4-6 day liveaboard probably won't give you a taste of the variety of diving in New Zealand. My top spots to visit would be the Rainbow Warrior, the Poor Knights, White Island (a live volcano), Pupu springs, the Lermentov and Doubtful Sound.

For the Poor Knights, I can seriously recommend Bluzone (http://www.bluzone.com) for day trips - the owner will take you to the sites of your choice, whereas Dive Tutukaka (who are an awesome charter) are focussed very much on bulk traffic and you won't get to see the best spots. Bluzone will only go out with a group greater tha four, but I know half a dozen people who are always keen and the skipper puts on a fantastic buffet lunch for $15.

White Island is a definite must! My favourite charter is Dive White (http://www.divewhite.co.nz)

I have to say, re: Azza's post... water *can* reach 24-25 degC in summer, but you'd probably be wise to expect it to be around 21 degC to be on the safe side.....

If your window is November to March, I'd say sometime after Xmas. The last couple of years have seen some big algal blooms around Nov-Dec which has brought the viz down to around 5-10m at the Poor Knights. Jan-Feb is generally peak season so accomodation and charters (liveaboard or not) will be busy. March has been a great month for the last couple of years - warm water, stable weather and is starting to get quieter.

If you opt for the day trip thing and want a local guide, let me know as I work flexi and often slip away in the week for a dive.