Diving Poor Knights Island

Poor Knights Island, named after Capt Cook's breakfast that morning (I guess there's some sort of poor knight's pudding?), is one of Jacques Cousteau's top 10 dive sites in the world. It's really a group of islands made of sheer granite rock, and the sites are very different from the coral reefs sites I've dived up to this point. The spot they're in is conducive to very unusual sea life because it's in one of those places where the cold Antarctic water meets the warm water from the north. That also means the water is COLD. We wore full, thick wetsuits with hoods, boots and all - and I was still cold.

Poor Knights Island 1

The dive site was really cool! Instead of coral, you swim among fields of kelp. At first I thought that would be terrifying - tendrils of seaweed reaching up to you and tangling in all the scuba equipment... But the reality of it was just so cool. The kelp was more like trees than the typical "sea weed" you'd think of. Most of the fields had thick tree-like stalks that branched into typical kelp that all swayed in the current. Plus, the water was perfectly clear and there were tons of swim-throughs and caves in the rock.

Poor Knights Island 2

The fish were different and interesting, but the coolest thing by far was the "UFOs" that were floating mid water. These strange, transparent, delicate U-shaped things just kind of floated around in the water, and they looked like they had purple lights chasing each other around their bodies. I guess it was just the light reflecting off them, but it was wild.

Great people, great dive, the only thing I would change is the temperature of the water. It was freezing and the sun didn't do enough to warm you in between dives. January or February would probably have warmer temps.

I also stayed at my favorite hostel throughout the entire trip in Whangarei, this fabulous place that was literally staying in a lovely home. Everyone was so friendly and the place is so safe they don't even put locks on the bedroom doors. Also, hands-down the nicest hostel shower in NZ... it even had a bathtub!

Poor Knights Island 3

Sunrise Over Poor Knights Islands

Whangarei Falls