Dive Sites : Oceania and Pacific : New Zealand : Northland Region : Poor Knights Islands

Poor Knights Islands Scuba Diving

48 Dive Sites

Rating	Dive Site	Level	Reviews
	At Pack Point	Advanced	0
	Barren Arch	Novice	0
	Bartles Bay	Novice	0
	Bernie's Cave	Novice	0
	Bird Rock	Intermediate	0
	Blue MaoMao Archway	Novice	0
	Butterfish Bay	Novice	0
	Cleanerfish Bay	Novice	0
	Cream Gardens	Novice	0
	Dark Forest	Novice	0
	El Torito Cave	Novice	0
	Fred's Pinnacle	Advanced	0
	Gardens	Novice	0
	Haku Point	Intermediate	0
	Hope Point	Novice	0

Named by Jacques Cousteau as being in the top ten dive sites in the world, Poor Knights Islands are a collection of underwater caves, tunnels, and archways located 15 miles off the Tututawa coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

Declared as only the second marine reserve in New Zealand in 1981, this was closely followed by the area being declared a no-take area in 1988. Since then, the levels of marine life in the area have risen substantially, and nowadays the area provides some rich and varied opportunities for scuba divers of all levels of experience.

The main factor affecting the nature of the diving in the Poor Knights is the warm water brought into the area from the East Auckland Current. This warm water current is in fact a continuation of the East Australian Current, and sweeps up the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. This band of warmer water not only sustains many tropical varieties of fauna, it also serves to attract a large variety of subtropical fish to the Poor Knights Islands area. Water temperature in the Poor Knights tends to vary between 14 degrees C in the Winter up to around 24 degrees in the summer, with the visibility often upwards of 30 metres.

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