For years divers worldwide have debated the question "Where is the best diving in the world ?". Kiwis have known the answer to this secret for just as many years and are more than happy to share it with you.
New Zealand comprises two of the largest islands in the South Pacific offering some 140,000 kilometres of coastline. Not surprisingly, New Zealanders have developed into avid watergoers with diving ranking as one of the highest participant watersports. In fact it is estimated that 130,000 New Zealanders are active, certified divers in a country with a population of only 3.5 million.
To complement this fascination with the deep, excellent dive facilities have developed throughout the country including dive stores with their own training pools on site and a multitude of charter services to take you offshore for the dive experience of your life. Visiting divers need therefore have no worries as to the availability of equipment and services and will be pleasantly surprised at the low costs when compared to other recognised diving nations. Newcomers to the sport are also well catered for with an abundance of introductory courses available throughout the country at very reasonable prices. If you've been thinking you'd like to take up diving but were put off by the expense in other countries, New Zealand may very well provide the opportunity you've been looking for to enter this fascinating world of visual and culinary delights.
With dives ranging from some of the most picturesque in the world to low visibility adventure, cavern and wreck diving, New Zealand offers something for everyone. There are over 1300 shipwrecks around our coast, some of which have never been found. Two of the more well known are The Mikhail Lermontov in Port Gore and the former Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in the Bay of Islands which delight divers from all over the world. Both are completely intact with their hulls now home only to fish and other marine life.
It would be impossible to go into detail on every dive site in this article so here's a brief guide to some of the more popular and accessible sites.
Further down the coast, Tutukaka and Whangarei are coastal ports both offering access to The Poor Knights and Hen and Chicken Islands. Diving the Poor Knights needs a chapter of its own to serve any kind of justice to the visual delights available to every diver who puts their face in the clear, tepid waters of this marine reserve.
There are many charter services available in these ports ranging from smaller pleasure craft to larger, fully equipped launches. Skippers in the area have a wonderful working knowledge of the coast and off shore islands.
Little Barrier and Great Barrier Islands are also within easy range of Auckland. Charter boats leave from either the city wharves or from Leigh near Warkworth. There are also daily boat charters on the Island as well as excellent facilities for gear hire. Diving at either of these islands is quite remarkable, allowing divers to feast on catches such as scallops or crayfish (lobster) or simply take photos and admire the abundant marine life.
The Bay of Plenty provides excellent adventure diving either from small boats or ocean kayaks. Places such as Whangamata, Whanarua Bay and Lottin Point to the far east of the bay are excellent places to explore on your own and ocean kayaks provide a great way to venture into these areas independently.
In the north, Nelson, Picton and Christchurch all offer excellent dive centres and services. Don't miss the crystal clear waters of Pupu Springs, near Takaka, which pumps out millions of litres of fresh clear water every hour. The water here is reputedly the clearest in the world.
North Westland (Punakaike), and Milford Sound also provide good services to the travelling diver with full hire gear available.
The South Island offers beautiful lakes in which to dive as well as many shipwrecks, hidden bays and reefs. Stewart Island, just a short hop across Foveaux Straight, is another world of deep inlets and sheltered bays.
Much of the uniqueness is caused by the light absorbing freshwater layer. This restricts algal growth and allows deep-water or light avoiding species to become established in shallow water.
Approximately 50 species of fish have so far been recorded by divers within the surface 45m of the fiords. These range from typically warm water to cool water and relatively deep water species. Warm water species include splendid perch and blue dot triplefin, cool water species include copper moki, trumpeter, banded wrasse and pigfish. Species usually confined to deep water elsewhere include sandpaper fish and spiny sea dragons.
Black coral is known to occur at a few offshore islands of New Zealand, usually at depths greater than 45m, however in the fiords it can be found in abundance as shallow as 5m deep. Red hydro corals are found from 15m and the saucer sponge and tube anemone, usually considered to be deep water species are common in water less than 20m deep.
There are literally thousands of places that I have not mentioned in this article, each of them a unique, magical haven. The great thing about our country is that these are all available to be explored by divers and you will be well rewarded for your efforts if you are prepared to explore. New Zealanders love to dive and love to share their country and waters, with travellers.
If you come to New Zealand to dive, allow yourself time to slow down to our pace. We don't like to rush things and love to savour every moment and aspect of this beautiful country in which we live.
We hope you will too.
PADI certification is the most recognised and sought after qualification, although NAUI, CMAS and, more recently, SSI have become available. It is essential to show recognised certification and a dive logbook before purchasing or hiring equipment and before diving in New Zealand.
It often pays to check out the area you intend diving in to see whether or not adequate facilities are provided there. Booking ahead through chains of dive operators is often a good way to ensure worry free diving.
Information on these dive services is normally available from Information Centres in the main cities.
Coastal Fishes of New Zealand - a diver's identification guide
Malcom Francis (NZ$29.95)
120 species of New Zealand fish shown in colour supported by straightforward
scientific text.
Wade Doak's World of New Zealand Fishes
Wade Doak (NZ$19.95)
The result of intensive studies of reef fishes around the Poor Knights Islands
marine reserve. Marvel at the beauty of this finely balanced underwater realm.
These books may be purchased by writing to Dive Log New Zealand P.O. Box 55 069, Mission Bay, Auckland. Phone 0-9-521 0684 Fax 0-9-521 3675.
Please include credit card details and allow NZ$6 for postage & packing. International subscriptions to Dive Log magazine are available for NZ$27.50.
For more information EMail editor@discovernz.co.nz
or write to Discover New Zealand Magazine, PO BOX 15-966, New Lynn, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND