Hello,

anyone experience in diving in New Zealand?

I read some stuff about the poor knights island, and it should be good.

thnx.

Johan

Hi Johan

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, so most of my diving has been around New Zealand!  In particular, I have frequented the Poor Knights Islands, which offer an excellent dive location (IMHO!).  There are of course, other good dive sites around the country too; here are a few:

- If you like wrecks, there are a number wrecks around NZ in recreational dive depths: 
- Rainbow Warrior (Bay of Islands),
- HMNZS Waikato, HMNZS Tui (Tutukaka - same place as access to the Poor Knights),
- HMNZS Wellington (Wellington),
- scheduled to be sunk in late October - HMNZS Canterbury (Bay of Islands)
- Taioma (Tauranga)
- Mikhail Lermentov (Port Gore, Marlborough Sounds)

- for natural environments, the following are good spots:
- the Poor Knights (boats go from Tutukaka)
- the Alderman islands (boats go from Tairua, Whitianga, Whangamata)
- numerous sites in the Bay of Islands, and the Far North, although charter operations become a little sparse in the Far North.
- White island (an active volcano!) and the Volkner rocks (boats go from Whakatane)

NZ is generally sub-tropical in climate, with water temperature varying between 10C and 22C depending on location and season.  5mm wetsuits (two piece or all in one) are fine for most people for most of the time, especially around the North Island, however, drysuits are not an uncommon sight either, especially in winter.

If you would like more info, let me know when you will be in NZ, what sort of diving / photography you prefer, what general areas of NZ you might visit, and anything else you would like to know, and I’ll tell you whatever I can.

cheers

Graham

Hello Graham,

I would love to see some pictures from the underwater life/landscapes of NZ.

Could you post some pics?

Hi Christian

I’ve been meaning to put up an album or two for quite a while now.  You have provided the final impetus to get me to actually do it.

You can find the two albums here:  Picasa web albums

There’s not many wide angle shots because my camera isn’t the best at it (lacking a wide angle adapter at present - it’s on the shopping list though!).  Hopefully you can get a feel for what diving at the Poor Knights in NZ is like. 

Please note that the Poor Knights are not representative of typical sites around the coast.  They have been a marine reserve for 25 years, and being 12 miles off-shore, are blessed with clearer water.  An oceanic current called the East Auckland current runs from the tropics down the east side of the North island of New Zealand, and bathes the Poor Knights in a stream of larval fish, so you sometimes find fish at the ‘Knights that can’t actually breed there because its too cold.  They can live there though, having been born in the tropics and hitched a ride down the current as larvae.

cheers

Graham

Hi Graham,

thanks you very much for the insight in the NZ waters. For me it was the first time ever
to see the marine live of this part of ou planet! It looks like a miy of med. sea, pacific coast
of northern america and a little bit of red sea.
Very interesting!!!

It seems that you have lot of different morays downunder?!

Thanks again!

Hi graham,

thanks for the information! I will be going to NZ in september.

What kind of climate can I expect in september? And where are the best conditions for diving in that period?
I’m a beginner in photography, so every object is great for taking pictures. Are there types of fish/dolphins/whales/sharks that only live around NZ?

Thanks in advance!

Johan

Hi Johan

In September, which is the beginning of spring here the weather can be a little bit unsettled.  NZ is a small land mass in a very large sea area, so our climate is dominated by the sea, and whatever blows in from around us.  If the weather comes from the south, its coming from antarctica, so is generally cold and dry.  If its coming from the north, its coming from the tropics, so tends to be warm and wet.  Coming from east or west can be a mix of both!  Another feature of the maritime climate is rapid changeability:  The Crowded House song “Four seasons in one day” was actually written about Melbourne in Australia, but could equally apply to Auckland, and to the rest of NZ.

The geography of NZ generates some significant variations in climate.  If you can get a look at the Lonely Planet guide for New Zealand - it contains about as much information as you could possibly want, and alot more than I could type here!

For what the statistics are worth, the average temperature ranges in September are as follows:
Auckland: 10-15C
Wellington:  8-14C
Christchurch:  5-14C
Queenstown:  5-12C
Dunedin:  5-12C

In September you should definitely expect some rain, no matter where you are.  Snow will be limited to mountain ranges (although last week there was a freak hailstorm in north auckland that made it look like it had snowed!)

Water temperatures vary around the coast, with northern coastal waters on the east coast being the warmest (probably around 17C).  The waters around the south island are much colder, surprisingly enough!  Sea conditions are usually relatively benign, although if a storm blows through it can be rough for a few days.  The good news is that it settles down pretty quickly.

I don’t have much experience of south island diving, and I’m sure there’s some wonderful stuff to see, but I would recommend looking at dive sites in the north island, on the east coast north of Auckland - the water will be warmest there.  During spring as the water warms up we get plankton blooms that can affect visibility somewhat until the plankton get eaten (usually by early summer), however, in september these generally have not happened yet.

There are certainly species of marine life that are unique to NZ.  I’m not well enough informed on them to give even a summary list.  I imagine some judicious googling would find more info.  I do know of two species of dolphin that are unique to NZ - Maui’s dolphin and Hector’s dolphin.  Found in very small numbers on the west coast of the north and south islands respectively.  As for fish, I’m sure there would be quite a few unique species.  Our fish life is subtropical in nature, so don’t expect many tropical fishes (although you will find a few living at the Poor Knights islands).  Also, there is no coral (in the tropical sense) on our reefs as the water is not quite warm enough.

Hope that helps

Graham

Hi Graham,

Thanks a lot for the info!

Johan

Hi Graham,

I recently bought the New Zealand Diving & Snorkeling guide (Lonely Planet). There is a page that says that some of the clearest water in the world can be found in the waikoropupu springs and that there is the possibility to dive there. But the Department of Conservation says is has been closed due to damage made by snorklers and swimmers.

Do you know if it still is closed? And if not, is it worth a visit?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Johan

As far as I am aware, it is still closed to divers, swimmers, snorkellers etc.  The closure began in Jan 2006, and was in an effort to prevent the springs becoming infected with the invasive pest didymo (also known as rock snot) which has been found in a number of rivers in the South Island.  As the didymo problem still prevails, I am sure the diving ban at the springs is still in place.

Diving in the springs was always subject to some significant restrictions, and always ‘under review’ by DoC, who were under pressure from the local Iwi to ban diving to protect the springs due to their spiritual significance to Maori.

Basically, you had to enter and exit at a specific spot, there was a restriction on the number of divers allowed in the springs at any one time (I think it was 6 divers), and the maximum dive time was 15min.  The water is indeed as clear as gin, and has been measured at 60m visibility (by scientists using mirrors!).  The divable part of the springs simply isn’t that large - they are (from memory) about 6m deep, and take about 2 minutes to look around underwater.  Divers need to watch their bouyancy in parts of the spring due to upwelling current (the spring water source) pushing you suddenly upwards over certain patches of ground.  Apart from a few koura (freshwater crayfish), there’s limited fish life to look at, but the sand fountains caused by upwellings are quite entertaining (so long as you are not being bounced to the surface by one!)

The springs are also quite a walk in from the car park with dive gear.  Overall, I’d say the springs were worth a dive (once) as a sort of ‘curio’ because of their uniqueness in NZ, and the incredible clarity, even if you can’t really see its full effect because of the small size of the location.

Unfortunately, its all somewhat academic, because of the diving ban.  I’d say the springs are worth a quick visit even if not diving - they are very atmospheric, and there is an underwater viewing window which allows you to see the main springs almost as well as diving in them does.

Hope that helps

Thanks again