UNDER DA SEA

This past weekend, I took a plane, bus and shuttle up to Tutukaka, just south of the Bay of Islands, to scuba dive the Poor Knights Islands!

The view of the beautiful North Island from the sky

I flew Wellington to Auckland, then caught a bus 3 hours north to Whangarei (Fawn-guh-ray), where I was then met by the lovely Chris, operator of the Tutukaka coastal shuttle. The older gentleman filled the last half hour of my journey with a thorough education on the history of every house, tree, wall and orchard that we passed, sharing stories and knowledge that one could only accumulate as the seemingly sole mode of transport between the two towns- he must make the trip upwards of 10 times a day, taking care of anything from airport transfers to dry cleaning pick-up.

Needless to say, I was in desperate need of a nap when I finally arrived at the Tutukaka Holiday Park around 7pm. I sat down for a dinner of seafood pasta at the local Restaurant & Bar and took advantage of the wifi for a bit, before curling up in my dorm bed and getting ready for my big dive day.

Lookin' Hot

The next morning, I was at the Dive Shop at 8am getting fitted with all of my gear. Unlike my previous dives in Belize, the water here can get relatively chilly (70 degrees) so we were provided a hooded vest, full wetsuit and booties to protect against the colder depths. With a coffee in hand, I boarded the boat with the rest of my group and we began the hour ride against rather sizeable swells out to Poor Knights. The group of islands are a marine reserve composed of weathered peaks that make up what's left of an ancient super volcano, creating a collection of rocky land masses teeming with unique wildlife above and below sea level.

As I had identified as a bit out of practice, Roxy (my dive guide) gave me a crash review course on everything I needed to remember to avoid dying on my dive- which was much appreciated- and helped me check and test all of my gear properly. After I demonstrated my competency in my favorite two dive skills (mask clearance and regulator retrieval 8 meters underwater) and buoyancy management, I was free to dive my first site- Middle Arch- which appeared just as the name described (see above).

We dove down, under and around the rocky arch, getting as deep as 18 meters, and saw a host of fish, eels and stingrays. At one point, we dove into a cave and surfaced in an air pocket at the top, where we could have a little chat, still about 10 meters underwater.

After about 45 minutes of swimming through kelp forests and bright coral, surrounded by swarms of sea life, we surfaced and hopped back on the boat for lunch.

On our way to our second dive site, the captain took us around several of the islands and into large sea caves, giving us a full tour of the area and a bit of history.

For dive number 2, I was with Oscar and his group, now fully graduated from my "refresher" status. He took us deep into the forests of kelp and up through tiny crevices of coral just wide enough for my oxygen tank (thank goodness I had my first dive to re-establish my buoyancy control).

He also led us into several pitch black underwater caves with only his flashlight as a guide, which revealed hundreds of fish, some as long as my arm, just sitting in the dark.

Waiting for us.

I held an urchin, got tangled in kelp and saw more rays, eels and colorful fish before we began our accent back to the surface.

The only slightly unpleasant part of the entire day was the fact that my GoPro couldn't record anything past 8 meters, although we descended 10 meters below that at some points.

While it was difficult to accept that some of the rays and fish and caves we swam through down there would never be shared with all of you, it forced me to appreciate the the dive for the amazing opportunity that it was!

Back on the boat, our captain took us around a couple more islands before heading back to the marina. It was on the way back that we got a special treat.

We came across a group of dolphins on an extended family vacation! There were maybe 8 in total, and at least 3 were little babies, practicing their jumps and trying to keep up with that parents. The swam along in our wake for a while before we left them to their day and continued back to Tutukaka.

No, I didn't take this-This beaut was captured by a friend on the boat with a real camera! Insta:@antbrown.photography

I had a relaxing night at the Holiday Park, recovering from my long day, before catching my man Chris in the morning for a lift back to Whangarei. I bused back to Auckland that morning and gave myself a good 6 hours in the city before I had to get to the airport.

Let's be honest. I used the fork.

I spent my time walking along the waterfront and through the public parks to see how the other half of New Zealand's small population lived, and had a lunch of salmon and tuna poke at the Auckland Fish Market.

I finished my afternoon by taking the iconic trip up to the top of the Sky Tower, where I had a beautiful view of the Tasman on one side and the Pacific on the other, separated by the sprawling city dotted with the mounds of dormant volcanoes.

I took my time on the sky deck before heading back down to catch my bus to the airport.

I arrived back in Welly by 8:20pm, where I treated myself to a shower and gorged on the reliable wifi signal while going through all of my videos and photos from the dive.

Here's to hoping that I won't have to wait another 3 years before my next one!