NZ North Island trip – Poor Island Knights Dive trip

Posting by Barb:

Our first excursion was a trip to the Poor Knights Island. It was an early rise to get to the dive place in Tutukaka by 8:00a m.  Once there Dennis and Bill were suited up for a dive and I was suited up for a snorkel. The Poor Knights is known for world class diving. The trip to the Island took about an hour and during that time we were entertained by the skipper of the boat who outlined all the rules to a safe dive. But in the end he explained that the only important thing to remember is to not ‘pee’ in our wet suits as it would require them to clean up after us. For me, it was entertaining to see everybody wriggle into their tight wet suits. The trip included 2 dives, one which was in a huge cave, the boat actually anchored right in the cave. Unfortunately the tail end of cyclone Lusi had touched NZ the previous week so the water was still murky and visibility not that great. Before heading back, the Captain did a little tour of the reserve and he showed his navigational skills as he cruised through some narrow, natural tunnels and brought the boat close to the island coast line.

It was pretty impressive. Great dive but not as exciting as the snorkeling that we have done so far on many of the South Pacific reefs.