SOUTH PACIFIC
Poor Knights Islands
- New Zealand
- All levels
- January - December
Plan your dive
- Experience level
- All levels
- Depth guide
- Varies by site
- When to go
- January - December
- Site type
- Temperate Marine Reserve
Featured wildlife
- Blue maomao
- Yellowtail kingfish
- Sandager’s wrasse
About this dive site
Volcanic arches, kelp forests and temperate reef colour.
The Poor Knights Marine Reserve off Tutukaka offers arches, caves and walls coated in sponges, anemones and fish schools in clear subtropical water. Stingrays, morays and nudibranchs thrive among kelp and hydroid forests. Boat access and open-ocean conditions mean local skippers pick the route for each group.
Most trips target January - December, but wind, swell and current still decide the day's site. Calendar peak is January - December, but skippers still move sites when wind, swell or current change. Book with a crew that knows Poor Knights Islands day to day, not just the map pin.