Putahataha and White Reef Diving in Paihia

Andrew and I underwater

Andrew and I took the opportunity of being in Paihia to do some diving, which was FANTASTIC! Andrew is now a certified Open Water diver and we really look forward to doing many more dives together. We went with Dave, who runs Dive North, as well as Katie and Dan, two of the instructors. Andrew did most of his dives with Dan, and I did most of mine with Katie. There were a few other divers with us, but it was a fairly small group. Right from the start, everyone was really professional and friendly, making it a very personal experience.

We took a 90 minute boat ride through the absolutely stunning Bay of Islands to get to the dive site. Along the way we stopped at Cook's Cove, which is basically the cove where Captain Cook crashed into the rocks that weren't visible at high tide while he was running away from the Maori. There is a nice plaque on the rocks that he crashed his boat into, which I find enormously amusing.

Once we were at Deep Water Cove, we dropped the boys off for their Open Water Course and then us ladies went diving. We started with Putuhataha, which was an island featuring some great fish, a cool cave, and lots of things to see. Katie was very good at making sure everyone felt safe and comfortable, even though it had been awhile since a few of us had gone diving. We saw fish, and more fish, and lots of fish! I really wish I knew the names of more of them so that I could be informative, but suffice it to say there were lots of different types of fish! We swam into the cave, which was quite cool once my eyes adjusted.

The guys finished their dives and the girls went on to dive the Canterbury (more about this later!). Once we were finished, we enjoyed some hot tea and pancakes, a welcome treat after diving in the slightly chilly water. Now, I'm not going to say it was cold, but spending 45 minutes swimming in 16C water did leave all of us a little bit chilly.

The next day we rode out to the same area an the boys finished two of their three remaining dives while us girls relaxed and sunbathed on the boat. Definitely a nice start to the day! The Bay of Islands is absolutely beautiful. We then dove the Canterbury again, then finished up by doing our last dive all together.

Andrew relaxing after his dives.

It was a lot of fun having the chance to dive with my husband! We dove White Reef, which is an underwater pinnacle. We basically followed a cliff wall around in a circle until we had to come back to the surface. We saw a moray eel, a manta ray, starfish, lots of fish, and even a puffer fish! It was really cool. I'm glad that Andrew has his Open Water certification now, since it means we will have the chance to share many more dives! We really enjoyed our two days of diving with Dive North and would recommend diving with Dave, Katie, and Dan to everyone.

The Bay of Islands