Diving The Poor Knights Islands

Sunday was awesome!!! I dove the Poor Knights Islands (with Dive TutuCaca) which was rated by Jacques Custo as one of the Top 10 Diving Spots in the WORLD! The trip definitely lived up to it's reputation.

The trip started at 8:30am and the skies were beautiful, blue and the temperature was warm enough... Even the ocean was calm (unlike my experience in OZ on the reef!).









The islands were formed by volcanic activity millions of years ago and there are about 8 of them. Most of them have holes in the rocks formed by erosion which makes them superb for diving tunnels and caves. The islands were once inhabited by Maori but the people were massacred by a rivaling tribe and since then have been considered a Tapu "sacred" spot and no one has lived on them. There are reptiles and insects that grow to huge proportions considering there are no natural preditors on the small islands. There are even plants that are only found on the Poor Knights Islands...

Jen, my Hawaiian diving buddy!

My dives were amazing... we wore really thick wetsuits and lots of weight to sink in the icy cold waters. There was tall kelp growing as opposed to the coral reef of OZ and there were huge boulders underwater covered in what looked like splatter paint in colors that you can't even imagine! We saw about 10 scorpion fish which disguises itself as a rock with mean eyes, an Eagle Ray, and a bunch of Moray Eels. They looked just like the discovery channel in yellow, grey, and spots peeking out of small holes with their mouths open, ready to attack!

The walls of the rocks were mesmerizing as they were covered in tiny living creatures and teh brightest colors... you could stare at the wall for an hour and still call it a great dive! We took an hour for lunch and headed back down.

Dive #2 was even better because we dove in the Blue Mao Mao Arch ... nothing could have prepared me for this experience. There were about 8 schools of demoiselles and blue mao mao swimming in opposing directions like it was a two lane highway but they looked like a swarm of locusts filling the arch! I couldn't see through them they were so dense and they were swarming us!

We spent some time admiring the walls...even touching them (felt like velvet) and my dive lasted 54 minutes ... which is my longest dive yet!

Scorpion Fish Yellow Moray Eel