Today Andrew and I took a day off of our WWOOF work to go diving and snorkeling at the Poor Knight islands with Dive Tutukaka. It was a really beautiful day with some great weather. The day started with a 45 minute boat ride out to the Poor Knight Islands, which is a protected marine and land reserve.
The Poor Knight Islands
The Poor Knight Islands have been uninhabited since the 1820's. Prior to this there was a Maori tribe living there. They were attacked in 1823 and most of the village was destroyed. The island was then declared tapu, or sacred land of the Maori and has been a nature reserve since.
Diving at these islands is interesting since it is where there is a mix of tropical and temperate waters, allowing fish species from both water areas to survive here. The first thing that we saw was a seal! It was quite fun to see him jumping in and out of the water onto the rocks. The visibility right now is apparently not the greatest since the EAC (East Australian/Auckland Current) is currently switching and carrying the tropical waters from the north further south. This also came with a bit of an advantage since the current also carries a tonne of plankton into the area, which also brings all the plankton eating species into the area.
On the Dive Boat
Divers!
The first dive was at Cave Bay, which was absolutely beautiful on the surface. The skipper anchored the boat in a small cove with 2 caves nearby. Andrew did the snorkeling, kayaking, and paddleboarding while I went diving. The bottom was a kelp forest around tonnes of massive granite boulders. There were sections that looked like we were diving through tunnels. It was one huge maze. I saw an Eagle ray, dozens of different types of Nudibranche, tonnes of fish, and a seal. It was very relaxing.
The boat in the bay
After the dive they had the best idea ever! Warm cups of soup while we were getting changed and ready for lunch. They had hot cups ready and waiting for everyone as soon as we were done. Lunch was also fantastic: sandwich, apple, banana, tea, and a chocolate bar.
We then drove to the second dive site, which had less kelp and was sandier. Along the way we saw a little penguin! He was so cute!
Lots of temperate and tropical fish
The second dive site we could dive into two caves, which were incredible. It started to get a bit dark, but the divemaster accompanying us had a nice flashlight and made it so we could see everything. I'm apparently better on air than most people and both times I had a great chance to dive with just the divemaster. During the second dive we saw many of the same marine creatures, but we also saw two absolutely gigantic crayfish, that were almost a meter across! At first I only saw the legs because it was hiding in the kelp on the wall, but then the current moved the kelp and I saw the whole thing.
Inside the largest marine cave
After the second dive we warmed up with more soup, played in the water, jumped from the second floor of the boat, and had fun getting to know some of the other people that were on the boat with. The skipper then took everyone for a bit of a ride before heading back to the shore. We rode around the Poor Knight's Islands, where he pointed out the incredibly rare Poor Knights Lily. Since the islands have been a sacred reserve for so long, they have been untainted with all of the species that have managed to get onto the islands of New Zealand. It means that all of the endemic species have not gone extinct on the islands.
Looking outside from the largest sea cave
We also had a chance to check out the largest marine cave in the world. It was large enough that the skipper had room to just drive the entire large dive boat into the cave. Once we were inside, we all got to play with the acoustics a little bit. The skipper had us all yell at the same time, which echoed for quite awhile. Then he told us that bass sounds echoed much better and had us stomp at the same time. It sounded like thunder in the cave! It was really cool. We then rode back to the city of Tutukaka where we relaxed at a local bar for the evening with the people from the dive. It was an incredible trip that we absolutely loved.
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