Under the Sea

The Poor Knights is a small island chain off the coast of Tutukaka, near Whangarei. It’s been a marine reserve since 1981 with no fishing of any kind allowed since 1998, making it New Zealand’s second oldest marine reserve and an incomparable diving spot.

I took owner of Dive! Tutukaka Kate Malcolm’s advice and caught a ride with their Perfect Day tour on a sunny day in January when the water is said to be clearest.

Heading out we passed huge swarms of Buller’s Shearwaters bobbing on the water. As the water shallowed, we passengers rushed to the side of the boat to marvel at the clarity of the water, seeing kelp-cloaked rocks and the silvery forms of fish.

It was only after donning a mask and snorkel and getting underwater that I could really appreciate the abundance and quality of marine life there. The water crackled with the sound of snapping shrimp; translucent strands of fish eggs drifted with the current, spiky kina dotted the rocks and fish of every size and shape swam around, completely unconcerned by the presence of divers around them.

Snapper the length of my arm drifted amid clouds of smaller fish, like lords trailing a mass of fussy attendants, while trevally floated lazily along the surface hoovering up tiny shrimp.

Looking out into deeper waters, I saw the dim outline of fish as long as I am tall cruising languidly through the water: kingfish.

I could see why diving pioneer Jacques Cousteau ranked the Poor Knights as one of his favourite diving spots in the world. There’s both a density and diversity of life here that is quite special.

That diversity is largely thanks to the islands lying in the path of the East Auckland Current which brings warm water and a myriad of fish eggs down from the tropics each year.

“There are species here that you don’t get anywhere else in New Zealand,” Kate told me. “And each year we see two to three species that we haven’t seen in New Zealand before.”

There’s also an amazing array of environments within just a few minutes’ swim of where our boat was anchored; underwater rock spires, deep drop-offs and sea caves stretching back into the cliff-face of the island. One of those sea caves, Rikoriko, was easily big enough to drive the tour boat into. Overhead, ferns grow from the ceiling down towards the light reflected by the water and fed by fresh water dripping through the porous rock of the island. The islands are the weathered remains of a volcano that erupted 10 million years ago and are riddled with caves and archways.

When the ship’s horn blew to signal the end of the day, I was reluctant to leave. I had thought that five hours would be enough time there but it went by in a flash and I’d only begun to scratch the surface of a single dive site. The Poor Knights has over 100 of them.