Weed, weed and more weed
No, not the smoking kind! The Goat Island Marine Reserve (formally called the Cape Rodney - Okakari Point Marine Reserve) was New Zealand's first ever marine reserve, declared as such in 1975 - the highest form of protection for a marine site in New Zealand. Australia, by comparison, declared the Great Barrier Reef a National Park in the same year.
So, being the oldest marine reserve in New Zealand, we expected big things from our dives around Goat Island. The island itself is located near the township of Leigh, about 2 hours north of Auckland. As fate would have it, the conditions were pretty poor on the day we had planned to dive Goat Island, with strong winds and rough waves. This was not helped by the boat breaking down, making a twilight dive into a night dive!
Nonetheless, braving all these adversities and a timely reminder that Great White sharks had been sighted around Goat Island in the past (exactly what you need to know just before you jump into the water, in pitch black conditions and rough seas, never having dived the site before and with no dive guide), we plunged in for a couple of dives. One dive would have been enough! There was plenty of sea weed covering the rocks, a handful of crays hiding under rocks and lots of uninteresting still life on rocks and the odd nudibranch, but there was little in the way of fish life. So, with our high hopes dashed, we returned home, hoping for better the next day.
(In case you were wondering, no, there were no goats. And to make matters even more confusing, there are in fact several Goat Islands around New Zealand. And no, the other Goat Island that we saw also did not have goats.)
Cray hunting at Sail Rock
Our second day of diving, also out of Leigh, was to a place called Sail Rock. Imaginatively, the site is a rock formation that looks like a sail from side on! Blessed with calm seas and clear water, we did two dives there. Again, still life was plentiful. However, so was animate life, with plenty of schools of fish and a few sting rays of decent size. However, the main game here was not sight seeing (which is what we were interested in), but cray hunting. The prize went to a first-timer who bagged the biggest catch of the day. Heck, he deserved credit - the four of us had not even spotted one! Ironically, the person who caught the most number (three) was allergic to crayfish! He said he gave them away to family and friends. As they say, the joy is in the hunt.
Although we had planned a third day out of Leigh at a place called Great Barrier Island, we were advised that the life would be very similar to that around Sail Rock. So we pulled out of the diving and instead had a wonderful time on land, checking out a fantastic pottery place (Morris and James).
Raw Green Feijoas at the Saw Mill Cafe
The Saw Mill Cafe is the hip, happening place in Leigh. Arguably, it is the only place in Leigh worth going to! For what it is worth, Russell Crowe and his band had played at the Saw Mill Cafe just a couple of weeks before we arrived. Of course, we were unbelievably disappointed that we missed the opportunity to see Russell ... perhaps, not.
The food served was fantastic, the service superb and the entertainment loud (thankfully, the entertainment came last - so we could make a hasty exit with full stomachs before our ear drums perforated). Keith learnt about the wonders of Speights beer under the tutelage of Richard. All four of us were treated to the mysteries of the feijoa - much time was spent trying to work out the fruit tasted like. All in all, the experience at the Saw Mill Cafe was excellent - a strange diamond in the rough.
Keith also tried out a paua (abalone) fritter at the local fish and chips shop. I think he still regrets that decision! And a word of warning: DON'T ask the lady at the corner store for change in 50c; you will just have your head bitten off even if you only want change out of $1 and she has plenty of 50c coins available.
Tut-ing along to Tutukaka; French toast, recumbent crusaders or pudding?
One thing is certain: Captain James Cook was the first non-Maori person to name the Poor Knights Islands. Everything else is uncertain. Every so called authority has a different reason why Captain Cook chose the name Poor Knights (for Cook himself did not explain why in his journals). Regardless of the reason, the Poor Knights are synonymous with diving in New Zealand, as Dive Tutukaka is with diving at the Poor Knights.
The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve was the second marine reserve to be declared in New Zealand, in 1981, and includes the islands formerly referred to as "the Poor Squires" - Sugarloaf Rock and the Pinnacles (or High Peak Rocks). The islands in the reserve are the remnants of a volcano and were once occupied by about 300 Maori people. It is impressive how the Maori managed to get to the islands or leave them - the islands have sheer cliffs, that drop away into the ocean, reaching depths of 90m close to shore (you would want to watch your buoyancy!) and up to 155m within kilometres of shore, with the only beaches on the islands being 30m under water! Steeped in Maori folklore, landing on the islands (even if you could) is strictly prohibited. But there's plenty to do on the water and under water around the islands.
All the literature you will read, all the tourism brochures and all the promotional material will tell you that Jacques Cousteau described the Poor Knights Islands as one of his top ten dive sites in the world. A great acclaim indeed, but a misleading one. In fact, that description was given to one particular site within the Poor Knights (and there are 60 named sites): Blue Maomao Arch, which we will come back to. So, it is not surprising that expectations were high.
Our expectations were starting to look shaky after the first few dives. Although there was certainly more life and colour than at Goat Island and at Sail Rock, there was often very little life below the 5m to 10m depths. Indeed, of the 10 or so sites we dived at, there was little to differentiate some of them. However, that said, there were some spectacular sites: Blue Maomao Arch, which deservedly earned the accolade by Jacques Cousteau, Taravana Caves and the Cream Gardens.
Blue Maomao Arch was our last dive at the Poor Knights, thanks to the conditions. However, it was a spectacular and memorable finish to the diving at Poor Knights. The site was a mere 10m in depth within the arch, but there was an incredible amount of fish life within the protection afforded by the arch. Deriving its name from the predominant Blue Maomao that live in and around the caves, the arch was home to a great variety of fish life. Structurally, the arch had what they called a "window", which allowed sunlight to stream through, brightening up one particular part of the site, teeming with fish. Keith remembers the dive for other reasons as well: he managed to rub up against a sea urchin, which managed to pierce his wetsuit and his skin. Fortunately for Keith, the penetration was not deep and no serious damage was caused.
Cream Gardens was a difficult dive due to the conditions. Strong current and strong surge caused havoc for divers. However, the site itself was spectacular with huge walls of life with a spectrum of colour. We were in pursuit of bronze whalers, which are often sighted around this site. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, but two other divers saw one. The bronze whalers in New Zealand, for whatever reason, have less of a nasty reputation than those in Australia and have not been known to be aggressive towards divers. Craig, the skipper, had done a dive at this site with 40 bronze whalers around him ... sends a shiver down my spine, thinking about it!
Taravana Caves, starting at 34m, introduced Keith to the world of being narcced. Very often, divers speak of being narcced as a pleasurable experience. Keith (as would Muhunthan) would disagree. The dive starts off at about 30m as you work your way from the bigger entrance to the caves, around a bluff and find the smaller entrance to the caves. The small entrance is big enough to put a boat through it. The walls were covered in encrustations and the ceiling of the caves looked like chambers within a cathedral. After a 50m swim, a left hand turn brings you into the bigger chamber of the caves and you exit through the bigger entrance. Then you multi-level up along walls covered in plenty of still life and sheltering schools of fish and nudibranchs. This too was an impressive site and more time could have been spent exploring the cave.
The French connection
While at Tutukaka, we also dived on two wrecks - the HMNZS Tui and the HMNZS Waikato. Both ships were deliberately sunk outside Tutukaka harbour to form artificial reefs and dive sites and rest in approximately 30m of water.
The Tui started life in the US Navy as a hydrological survey vessel and submarine hunter, before becoming New Zealand's protection to the observation and protest fleets at France's last round of nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll, thus having a strong connection with the Rainbow Warrior (which we also dived on later in the trip). There were plenty of schools of fish using the wreck as a haven and big open spaces to swim through. However, depth limited our ability to explore what is quite a small wreck in detail.
The Waikato was a frigate in the New Zealand Navy and similar to (but of a different class) to the HMAS Brisbane. However, she was not as cleanly cut as the Brisbane and there are many tight spaces and low-light or dark places. The wreck is bigger than the Tui, and two dives on it was not enough to explore it fully. Perhaps the most striking thing about being in the Waikato was the bridge (which is missing on the Brisbane) - the jewel anemones covering the ceiling of the bridge and the communications towers are a fantastic kaleidoscope of colour.
It is a shame that the benefits of diving on Nitrox (as opposed to air) has not caught on in New Zealand. Because we were diving on air, we would run out of no-decompression times quicker than we would run out of air. The dives on the wrecks and some of the dives at the Poor Knights were classic Nitrox dives. Hopefully, this will change in due course - we certainly made our displeasure felt!
Holey Islands, Piercing Brett
From Tutukaka, we headed up north to the Bay of Islands. Not surprisingly, the Bay of Islands is a bay full of little islands of varying sizes; an imaginative lot the Kiwis are. And on that topic, what is it with New Zealanders and their forefathers? They seemed to have a fascination with holes - our first dive site was at Cape Brett, named by Captain Cook after the First Lord of Admiralty, Brett Piercy. A nearby island with a big arch (like a piercing) is called Piercy Island. Current New Zealanders seem to have a fascination with driving boats through holes in rocks - in Tututaka, the Dive Tutukaka boats would motor into a huge cave, there was one arch (of several) that we motored through for the heck of it and we did the same thing at Piercy Island.
The first day of diving was so, so. The rocks (largely boulders) were interesting and near a cave, there was plenty of life. The second day started with a dive on the Rainbow Warrior. To clarify, "Rainbow Warrior" is a name that applies to each of Greenpeace's flagships. The sunken Rainbow Warrior was bombed by the French in Auckland Harbour in 1985 to stop her interfering in the French nuclear tests. She was refloated for forensic examination and then towed up to Matauri Bay, near the Cavalli Islands (about 50 minutes north of the Bay of Islands), where she was scuttled in 1987.
Twenty years on, on a wreck that is just 45m long about 3m tall, there is an abundance of fishlife (particularly inside the wreck) and beautiful growths (especially jewel anemones) on the outside. Penetration of the wreck is relatively easy and the rear deck area provides the most value from penetration because of the open spaces in which fish can shelter. A solitary Jason's nudibranch makes its home on the starboard side of the wreck.
The diving trip was rounded up at yet another arch. Most interesting was the area outside the arch with plenty of fish and rays and nudibranchs.
Tane Mahuta
The commercial centre of the Bay of Islands is the town of Paihia. A short 5 minute drive away is Waitangi, where one of the most significant events in New Zealand cultural history took place - the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Regretfully, we did not get to visit this site.
Leaving the diving behind us (and indeed the east coast), we headed out into the land of the giant kauri trees. The biggest kauri tree is named Tane Mahuta after a Maori god, the god who gave life to the Earth. It's an impressive sight, estimated to be about 2,000 years old. There's a lot of wood in that tree!
From there, we worked our way slowly towards Auckland, stopping at two thermal pools and mud pools. Ask Richard, Diane and Keith about Code Brown. Our last night was spent at Waiwera, waking up to a beautiful dawn by the sea. And then it was time to head home.
The diving in New Zealand has great potential, although there are some pretty average dives. More advanced sites, particularly around arches and in caves and the wrecks seem to provide greater amounts of life than less advanced sites. And with plenty more dive sites yet to explore, I'm sure we'll be headed back for more. Having said that, I think Richard, Diane and Keith will be investing in drysuits before then!
Check out more photos in the photo gallery.
