scuba dive the Poor Knights Islands New Zealand with
POOR KNIGHTS ISLANDS , TUTUKAKA , NORTHLAND , NEW ZEALAND
Middle Arch
Leaping
off the ‘Hideaway’, my first port of call is Bernie’s cave, A natural
underwater cathedral with a sandy bottom at 13 metres. I say good morning to the
resident group of porae, and luckily, they don’t reply. I backtrack out of the
cave and turn left into the arch itself. I pass slowly over a scorpion fish
resting on a bright yellow sponge on the bottom. A momentary lapse of camouflage
perhaps?
Swimming
along the right hand wall I look at the jewel anemones, truly all the colours of
the rainbow, until several clown nudibranchs catch my attention. It looks like
they are mating, so I leave them to it and head past a large bommie and begin my
journey through a maze of swim throughs. Starting at 16 metres and dropping down
to 21, I’m very pleased to see a couple of toadstool grouper and a spanish
lobster. They are hiding in the dark, waiting for dusk so they can begin a busy
night of feeding, before they shelter from the sun once again.
Realising
time is getting on, I swim quickly to the point hoping to see some big snapper,
which are known to ride the easy currents, waiting for food to be delivered to
them. They are somewhere else today, perhaps deeper, so I decide to finish my
dive at the entrance to Bernie's cave. It is a stunning sight, seeing the
gorgonian fans and jewel anemones competing for space. A very dense little
ecosystem. I pop up into the airbubble at eight metres, and marvel at the light
and serene atmosphere, and head back to the boat for a hot drink. Everyone else
had a great dive too!
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