Here is a dive report from a trip my Fiancee and I did last November from our home in Wellington to my old stomping grounds in the warmer northern waters of New Zealand. I really miss living just down the road from the Poor Knights as they are my all time favourite dive spot. The sheer plunging walls, black coral forests and beautiful archways and swimthroughs make this a very special location. I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we enjoyed diving them.
Diving the Poor Knights Islands, Northland, New Zealand
We rocked up to the Dive! Shop half an hour before anyone else, keen as mustard to get some premium New Zealand diving in on our first diving holiday together.
For me it was a return to an old stomping ground after a 9 month stint diving the shallow turbulent coastal waters of Wellington's South Coast. For my girlfriend Katie it was a diving first and she was glowing with excitement as she anticipated her first dives at what Jacques Cousteau named one of the top 10 dive sites in the world.
After signing all the releases and handing over the cash we grabbed all our gear and headed off to board El Tigre. Once aboard we checked all our gear was in perfect working order for the 3rd time that morning and then stashed it all carefully away. We were taking no chances of anything ruining our first diving holiday together.
Slowly, in dribs and drabs with excited looks painted on their faces, people started arriving for our big day out clutching bottles of sunscreen and water. It was certainly shaping up to be a beauty spring day and the possibility of sunburn was, for me a welcome respite from the dismal windy cold sub-Antarctic weather of my home in Wellington for the last 9 months.
After chatting with various other divers we came to the conclusion that we were the only Kiwis on the boat and everyone else were tourists, which we should have known by the absolute lack of equipment and tanks brought with them. I had forgotten how prevalent the tourist industry was in these warmer northern shores as we chatted with our new found friends from all four corners of the globe.
Shortly after our crew, Luke, Michelle and Donna, arrived for the day arms laden with gear and tanks for the rest of our boat. My partner and I moved to give them a hand unloading the tanks and other gear from their little truck to the dive boat. I guess once a Divemaster always a Divemaster.
We received a thorough safety brief from Luke, along with all the requisite one liners and funny stories he is well renowned for, and then we were off eastward to the Poor Knights!
The Poor Knights Islands are approximately 12 Nautical Miles from the Mainland and are made up of two main islands, Aorangi and Tawhiti Rahi, and various smaller islands and pinnacles. Access to the Islands themselves is strictly prohibited and for 800 metres surrounding the Islands no fishing of any kind is allowed. No commercial shipping is allowed within 8 Nautical miles of the islands themselves as an oil spill or other contamination could devastate the sanctity of these islands.
We anchored outside of Riko Riko cave, the worlds largest sea cave, on the island of Aorangi and began suiting up. Luke, the skipper, gave us a very detailed site brief on not only the dive site but the Islands themselves. During World War Two a Japanese submarine actually surfaced inside of Riko Riko cave and over a period of a week conducted vital repairs undetected.
Most of the people on the boat were fluffing around like old ladies so my partner and I had a quick confer about our dive plan then finished gearing up and with a giant stride we were off.
With a quick smile and a signal to descend we were off freefalling though the clear blue oceanic water to the distant bottom and within a minute we had flared and halted our descent just above the bottom at 33 metres (100 ft). I signalled OK to Katie and she returned the signal with a goofy narcosis induced grin on her face.
Looking up we could just make out the boat far above and all around we were surrounded by beautiful big kelp filled bommies rising between 2 and 6 metres from the fine sand bottom. Swimming off in the general direction of the cave entrance we almost immediately came across a huge eagle ray with a wing span of maybe 1.5-2 metres nestled into the sand. We cautiously edged closer as any sudden motion toward it would likely induce the flight response that Orca, their natural enemies, would inspire. Katie had never seen any ray before let alone an Eagle Ray of this size and her eyes were bulging out of her head as she gestured our own private this is fricken great signal to me. I gave her the ole yeah yeah this nothing signal back but inside I was also loving this close up view. One of us must have got a little close because the ray levitated out of the sand and with gentle flaps of her wings was soon airborne over our heads, giving us a great view of her underside.
Continuing on toward the giant cave mouth, which was now moving into view, we came across various Wrasses including the extremely territorial Sandagers Wrasse. These little beautys have a pretty black, purple and yellow stripe just behind the gills and stick right with divers until they leave the edge of their territory just to ensure you dont try to steal one of young ladies they keep in their sizable harems.
We were at the cave entrance now and the sea floor was now curving a little more sharply upward, reducing our depth to the 20 metre range, and extending our No-Decompression Limits. As we moved into the cave the light was slowly fading so we switched on our torches and proceeded to explore all the little cracks and crevices we could find. We found countless blennies and triplefins, all looking at us if to say what do think you are doing poking your nose into my home, beautiful Tambja verconis nudibranchs, resplendent in their bright blue and yellow colours, as well as more common Ceratosoma amoena, or clown nudibranchs, with their white bodies and clown like orange spots.
We made our way over to the eastern wall of the cave and proceeded to follow it out of the cave as we wanted to explore more of the walls outside whilst undertaking our minimal decompression stops. Almost as soon as we got to the wall Katie was excitedly flashing her torch at me in an urgent signal to come look, yet again. As I approached I could see a beautiful mosaic moray poking his head out of a hole on the wall, warning us to keep a respectable distance. As I approached closer for a good look his jaws opened wider displaying prominent rows of needle like teeth. As I backed away the mouth closed more so I kept moving in and out and watching the opening and closing of his mouth. Katie gave me a good slap for teasing the Eel and with that we moved away. One of these days Im going to push my luck with a moray and he is going to latch onto my face and teach me a lesson.
As we approached the outside of the cave we saw Michelle, one of the boat instructors/Divemasters, approaching with a huge gaggle of divers following closely behind. We gave lots of waves and smiles and moseyed on our way around the entrance of the cave to the outside wall.
We saw a huge school of Trevally and Blue Mau Mau up near the surface chasing and nibbling at some kind of krill on the surface and their reflective silver and blue scales flashing, in the sun above, gave a stunning twinkling and flashing effect. We also came across plenty of Leatherjackets, Perch and a few Red Moki mooching around the reef, nibbling at the sea lettuce that adorns the reef in these shallower depths. Another little beauty we came across was a Dwarf Scorpion fish. These are close cousins to the deadly Australian Stonefish however as with everything in this beautiful country of ours is no more venomous than a bee. At first glance you dont see them as they have rough mottled skin and look rather like the rocks they lay in and wait for easy prey to come into reach. The Dwarf Scorpion fish is what is known as an Ambush predator and with its perfect camouflage I would imagine is a rather successful Ambush Predator at that.
Looking at my watch it was time to move up to our last stop for the dive and then exit the water. As we were sitting at 3 metres I discovered a Jasons Miribalis nudibranch sitting conspicuously on a hydroid tree. These little rippers are a pretty purple colour with two dozen white finger like extrusions on their backs and are pure joy to spend a stop admiring.
Before long it was time to go and we started swimming of in mid water to the boat out in the bay. Within a minute or two we could see the hull of the boat sitting lazily on the surface above and moved in toward the long steel ladders that extend from her stern. Next minute a huge splash and white bubble filled water appeared in front of us and gave us a fright. It was a diver entering the water with the same Giant Stride Technique we had used. We had been down for just over an hour and there were still divers getting in the water?! Unreal!
We ascended to the ladders, one each, and proceeded to climb out and flop onto the back of the boat. The crew gave us a nice warm steaming cup of hot chocolate as we stumbled back to our dive stations to get our gear off.
What a fantastic first dive back to the Knights.
Diving the Poor Knights Islands, Northland, New Zealand
We rocked up to the Dive! Shop half an hour before anyone else, keen as mustard to get some premium New Zealand diving in on our first diving holiday together.
For me it was a return to an old stomping ground after a 9 month stint diving the shallow turbulent coastal waters of Wellington's South Coast. For my girlfriend Katie it was a diving first and she was glowing with excitement as she anticipated her first dives at what Jacques Cousteau named one of the top 10 dive sites in the world.
After signing all the releases and handing over the cash we grabbed all our gear and headed off to board El Tigre. Once aboard we checked all our gear was in perfect working order for the 3rd time that morning and then stashed it all carefully away. We were taking no chances of anything ruining our first diving holiday together.
Slowly, in dribs and drabs with excited looks painted on their faces, people started arriving for our big day out clutching bottles of sunscreen and water. It was certainly shaping up to be a beauty spring day and the possibility of sunburn was, for me a welcome respite from the dismal windy cold sub-Antarctic weather of my home in Wellington for the last 9 months.
After chatting with various other divers we came to the conclusion that we were the only Kiwis on the boat and everyone else were tourists, which we should have known by the absolute lack of equipment and tanks brought with them. I had forgotten how prevalent the tourist industry was in these warmer northern shores as we chatted with our new found friends from all four corners of the globe.
Shortly after our crew, Luke, Michelle and Donna, arrived for the day arms laden with gear and tanks for the rest of our boat. My partner and I moved to give them a hand unloading the tanks and other gear from their little truck to the dive boat. I guess once a Divemaster always a Divemaster.
We received a thorough safety brief from Luke, along with all the requisite one liners and funny stories he is well renowned for, and then we were off eastward to the Poor Knights!
The Poor Knights Islands are approximately 12 Nautical Miles from the Mainland and are made up of two main islands, Aorangi and Tawhiti Rahi, and various smaller islands and pinnacles. Access to the Islands themselves is strictly prohibited and for 800 metres surrounding the Islands no fishing of any kind is allowed. No commercial shipping is allowed within 8 Nautical miles of the islands themselves as an oil spill or other contamination could devastate the sanctity of these islands.
We anchored outside of Riko Riko cave, the worlds largest sea cave, on the island of Aorangi and began suiting up. Luke, the skipper, gave us a very detailed site brief on not only the dive site but the Islands themselves. During World War Two a Japanese submarine actually surfaced inside of Riko Riko cave and over a period of a week conducted vital repairs undetected.
Most of the people on the boat were fluffing around like old ladies so my partner and I had a quick confer about our dive plan then finished gearing up and with a giant stride we were off.
With a quick smile and a signal to descend we were off freefalling though the clear blue oceanic water to the distant bottom and within a minute we had flared and halted our descent just above the bottom at 33 metres (100 ft). I signalled OK to Katie and she returned the signal with a goofy narcosis induced grin on her face.
Looking up we could just make out the boat far above and all around we were surrounded by beautiful big kelp filled bommies rising between 2 and 6 metres from the fine sand bottom. Swimming off in the general direction of the cave entrance we almost immediately came across a huge eagle ray with a wing span of maybe 1.5-2 metres nestled into the sand. We cautiously edged closer as any sudden motion toward it would likely induce the flight response that Orca, their natural enemies, would inspire. Katie had never seen any ray before let alone an Eagle Ray of this size and her eyes were bulging out of her head as she gestured our own private this is fricken great signal to me. I gave her the ole yeah yeah this nothing signal back but inside I was also loving this close up view. One of us must have got a little close because the ray levitated out of the sand and with gentle flaps of her wings was soon airborne over our heads, giving us a great view of her underside.
Continuing on toward the giant cave mouth, which was now moving into view, we came across various Wrasses including the extremely territorial Sandagers Wrasse. These little beautys have a pretty black, purple and yellow stripe just behind the gills and stick right with divers until they leave the edge of their territory just to ensure you dont try to steal one of young ladies they keep in their sizable harems.
We were at the cave entrance now and the sea floor was now curving a little more sharply upward, reducing our depth to the 20 metre range, and extending our No-Decompression Limits. As we moved into the cave the light was slowly fading so we switched on our torches and proceeded to explore all the little cracks and crevices we could find. We found countless blennies and triplefins, all looking at us if to say what do think you are doing poking your nose into my home, beautiful Tambja verconis nudibranchs, resplendent in their bright blue and yellow colours, as well as more common Ceratosoma amoena, or clown nudibranchs, with their white bodies and clown like orange spots.
We made our way over to the eastern wall of the cave and proceeded to follow it out of the cave as we wanted to explore more of the walls outside whilst undertaking our minimal decompression stops. Almost as soon as we got to the wall Katie was excitedly flashing her torch at me in an urgent signal to come look, yet again. As I approached I could see a beautiful mosaic moray poking his head out of a hole on the wall, warning us to keep a respectable distance. As I approached closer for a good look his jaws opened wider displaying prominent rows of needle like teeth. As I backed away the mouth closed more so I kept moving in and out and watching the opening and closing of his mouth. Katie gave me a good slap for teasing the Eel and with that we moved away. One of these days Im going to push my luck with a moray and he is going to latch onto my face and teach me a lesson.
As we approached the outside of the cave we saw Michelle, one of the boat instructors/Divemasters, approaching with a huge gaggle of divers following closely behind. We gave lots of waves and smiles and moseyed on our way around the entrance of the cave to the outside wall.
We saw a huge school of Trevally and Blue Mau Mau up near the surface chasing and nibbling at some kind of krill on the surface and their reflective silver and blue scales flashing, in the sun above, gave a stunning twinkling and flashing effect. We also came across plenty of Leatherjackets, Perch and a few Red Moki mooching around the reef, nibbling at the sea lettuce that adorns the reef in these shallower depths. Another little beauty we came across was a Dwarf Scorpion fish. These are close cousins to the deadly Australian Stonefish however as with everything in this beautiful country of ours is no more venomous than a bee. At first glance you dont see them as they have rough mottled skin and look rather like the rocks they lay in and wait for easy prey to come into reach. The Dwarf Scorpion fish is what is known as an Ambush predator and with its perfect camouflage I would imagine is a rather successful Ambush Predator at that.
Looking at my watch it was time to move up to our last stop for the dive and then exit the water. As we were sitting at 3 metres I discovered a Jasons Miribalis nudibranch sitting conspicuously on a hydroid tree. These little rippers are a pretty purple colour with two dozen white finger like extrusions on their backs and are pure joy to spend a stop admiring.
Before long it was time to go and we started swimming of in mid water to the boat out in the bay. Within a minute or two we could see the hull of the boat sitting lazily on the surface above and moved in toward the long steel ladders that extend from her stern. Next minute a huge splash and white bubble filled water appeared in front of us and gave us a fright. It was a diver entering the water with the same Giant Stride Technique we had used. We had been down for just over an hour and there were still divers getting in the water?! Unreal!
We ascended to the ladders, one each, and proceeded to climb out and flop onto the back of the boat. The crew gave us a nice warm steaming cup of hot chocolate as we stumbled back to our dive stations to get our gear off.
What a fantastic first dive back to the Knights.
