Poor Knights in February

[g2]

Hi All. I'll be headed from NZ back to the states in mid-Feb and plan on stopping at the Poor Knights for a few days of diving.

Are there particular must-see dive sites I should ask for? Other places in the Tutukaka area I should visit while I'm there? Any tips or recommendations would be welcome! Gosh, I hope three days is enough...

Cheers.

 

[frankzeg]

I just returned from NZ and the Poor Knights and can heartily recommend the diving there. We dove with Tutukaka Dive and they generally run three boats a day- two of which go to the Knights. Diving is split between a boat for beginners and one for more advanced divers. If your skill meets the latter get on that boat.

DIving is a lot like diving in Southern California but with a lot more interesting life and much better water clarity. I wore a drysuit and it was worth it. But water temps climbed from 13C in December to around 18C in late January. So a 7 mil would work. Vis is typically 20m conservatively with some local areas of awesome 30m vis. My favorite sites were Tunnel Arch" and "Maumau Arch". But most of the dives were interesting. Lots of rays in the Tunnel especially below 70 ft. Wonderful schooling fish along the shadow line. Weird salps and jellyfish. They have a species of short kelp that must be often pushed aside to see the cool stuff. There are great nudibranchs, anemones etc.

We also dove the Tui and Waikato which are very close to the harbor. The Tui was OK but we really liked the Waikato and wished we could have spent more time there. We dove on all three dive boats and met most of the crew and we can say without reservation that they run one of the best damn day boat operations in the world. Nice, clean, fast boats with good quality gear and a super positive attitude by all. We really liked Jury and Michelle and some friends had a great open water class out at the knights. They have a great Kiwi attitude and you will get a kick out of their admonishments about "swamping" their rental wetsuits.

BTW we stayed in a cabin at the Tutukaka Holiday camp and it was very reasonable and had a great gear rinse and dry area. It is a 5 minute walk from there to the dive shop and dive boats. There is a communal kitchen so you can avoid endless restaurant meals. Schnapper Rock is OK for dinner but their fish sandwich for lunch is truly great. ANd they make a mean Cappucino that you can get before boarding the boats. The local "dairy" (convenience store) also will make you bacon and eggs in time to make the boat.

Although it is practically on the other side of NZ I can also recommend diving in Milford sound. Dive Tawaki runs trips there and although they are very restrictive on the dive profiles since they have to drive back over a 1000m pass to Te Anau the diving was amazing. Lots of fish in clear water- 15-20m vis conservatively. Big black coral trees and lots of unique critters on the sheer walls. Not to mention a boat trip through what is essentially Yosemite Valley- flooded! If I went back I would stay at the lodge at Milford and do at least two days of diving- thus avoiding the long trip back to Te Anau.

 

[g2]

Wow, what a great answer! Lots of good info there.

I didn't bring my drysuit this trip (drat!) so I'll have to wait on Milford sound. Sounds like I should have brought it for the PK's as well, but I'm sure I'll survive without it at this time of the year.

Thanks again,

g2

 

[Mako Mark]

I didn't bring my drysuit this trip (drat!) so I'll have to wait on Milford sound.

you are not a REAL kiwi diver until you have shaken the frost off your wettie before you put it on, on a fine Milford morning....



If you plan the last days dives as a 1000m altitude dives, the trip over the hill is not such a worry.

 

[Valwood1]

The Pacific Rendezvous Hotel/Condos are very nice. The facility is set on the ocean, at the top of the hill overlooking Tutukaka's harbor; views are spectacular. And there are nice places to walk along the cliffs. Some of the best units, from a view standpoint, might be 5 and 6.

Doubt you'll need a dry suit. Dive Tutukaka provides, I think, a 7mm farmerjohn, jacket and hood, and they'll keep you reasonably comfortable, after the first shock of the cold water is gone.

Drives along the coast are fun and offer some nice vistas, but are slow going.

 

[ECR]

The Pacific Rendezvous Hotel/Condos are very nice. The facility is set on the ocean, at the top of the hill overlooking Tutukaka's harbor; views are spectacular. And there are nice places to walk along the cliffs. Some of the best units, from a view standpoint, might be 5 and 6.

Doubt you'll need a dry suit. Dive Tutukaka provides, I think, a 7mm farmerjohn, jacket and hood, and they'll keep you reasonably comfortable, after the first shock of the cold water is gone.

Drives along the coast are fun and offer some nice vistas, but are slow going.

Wife and I will be with Dive Tutukaka! (don't forget the exclamation point -- it's part of their name ;-) and staying at Pacific Rendezvous on March 1st. Choices all from guidebooks I've come to respect ... Travelin' Divers Chapbook and Lonely Planet Guide.

We'll have our 5mm one-piece wetsuits + 5/3 hooded vests + a prayer to the thermal gods to keep us warm. Hell, March 1 in NZ is like Sep 1 in the northern hemisphere, just about the warmest water time of the year, fer chrissake. (God, I hope.)

Anyway, just posting here to thank you all for reinforcing our choices, even though it's kinda too late to do anything about bad ones.

--Eric Ressner
--St Louis

 

[g2]

Hello All,

I'm back in the states after a couple of great days of diving in the Poor Knights. I ended up diving with both Dive! Tutukaka and a smaller charter operation, the Yukon. Both were excellent. Dive Tutukaka got the advantage of better weather, which let us go to some of the more exposed dive sites. The Yukon was smaller and more personalized because there were fewer divers on board. I'd happily go with either of them again.

For people without a car (Kiwis will thank me for *not* driving), Dive Tutukaka runs a shuttle from Whangarei to Tutukaka every day. They'll also take divers for other operations if they have room on the bus, but charge NZ$10 for it.

I stayed at the Bunkdown Lodge in Whangarei and had a great time. It's friendly and clean, and about a 20 minute walk from all the restaurants and shops downtown.

Photos from my trip are at: http://60south.com/pk/

Cheers,

g2

 

[El Orans]

Dive Tutukaka provides, I think, a 7mm farmerjohn, jacket and hood, and they'll keep you reasonably comfortable, after the first shock of the cold water is gone.

What cold water? On the boat each buddy pair was warned about the "cold" water (january). We just laughed and told him that this was the warmest water we had ever dived.

Laurens