Diving the Poor Knights

3 October 2012

Next stop was Tutukaka and Whangaumu Bay. Diving the Poor Knights is something we have wanted to do for years and today we picked the perfect day to get out there and do it. We had two dives at Northern arch and Blue Maomao arch as well as a tiki tour through the arches and around the islands which make up the Poor Knights island group.

We left from tutukaka for the hour ride out to the islands

The poor knights island group. It is meant to look like a knight lying down.

Our first stop was Northern arch

We saw there are hundreds of blue and pink maomao throughout the arch with a few colourful nudibranchs and massive scorpion fish (granddaddy hapuka). The famous northern arch is where stinkrays used to congregate in there hundreds in the arch just floating around until some orcas found them and ripped them all to pieces a few years back.

Colourful nudibranchs at northern arch. these tropical species thrive here due to the warm waters the come down here from the south pacific.

One of many scorpion fish we almost put our hands on everytime we touched the wall.

The arch is on the northern end of the biggest island - Tawhiti Rahi Island. The entire island group is a marine reserve which means no landing. With these steep rouged cliffs I dont know how you would even if you wanted to.

Everyone was trying to convince me there was a face shaped in the rock

We used dive tutukaka as their boats are the only ones that go out daily

Middle Arch. Another of many arches through the islands

There were schools of trevally feeding on krill at the surface throughout the day

The worlds largest sea cave Rikoriko - apparently they have big concents in here because of the amazing acoustics

A seal bathing in the sun on the rocks

The northern end of Aorangi Island which was once occupied by a Maori tribe.

Getting our gear ready for a dive

Blue Maomao arch was a shallower dive where you see thousands of fish going in and out of the archway for protection from predators. We had really good visibility with 70minutes down time.

Karen and I in the archway. The different shades of light and various tunnels and and parts to the archway were really trippy and we werent disappointed with the fish as they were everywhere.

This salp mass was a rare find. Apparently for only a couple of weeks at this time of the year nowhere else in the world salps all congregated together form these large tubes which can be a few metres long.

Big school of blue maomao and colourful wrasse

Nudibranch at blue maomao arch

Archway through the middle of Aorangaia Island

Southern arch - the largest arch in the southern hemisphere

We spotted this large sunfish on the way back to tutukaka.