Jan20 we headed north again. We checked in to a nice hotel in Tutukaka with a great view of the harbor.
Our room was not ready so we went for a hike.
It was a cloudy day and somewhat windy, but a beautiful hike, none the less.
Following Landowners Rd, we got out to the neck right by the island but, as it was high tide, could not cross.
Still, it was a nice walk and a good way to start our stay here. We finished with drinks (a Stoke Stout for me and an Apple Rhubarb Cider for Peggy) at the “Wood fired pizza” place and liked it well enough that we returned there the following two nights.
Jan21 was supposed to be a scuba day but the weather was bad and the dive shop not going out. So we moved the dive to the next day and took the opportunity to go exploring up the coast. About 20 minutes away is Matapouri.
The next day, the storm had passed so it was scuba time! The destination was Poor Knights Islands. According to Jacques Cousteau, it is one of the 10 best sub-tropical dive sites in the world. We went out on El Tigre with about 10 other divers.
The ride out was a bit rough but we made it.
We did not bring our underwater camera so I don’t have images from our dive but this (from the dive shop’s website) shows a snorkeler in Rikiriki cave, the biggest sea cave in the world, by total volume. The boat went into the cave in between our morning and afternoon dives. It was pretty impressive.
The visibility under water was just OK, about 20 ft. I guess things were still churned up from the storm. There was lots of kelp, some large snappers, rock fish, lionfish, scorpion fish, several moray eels, lots of small fish, many large purple urchins and one large sting ray.
It was a good day, but I think we have been spoiled by so much time in the tropics. The water was cold (7mm wetsuits plus a vest with hood) and there were far fewer colorful fish and corals. Still, we did have a good time and are happy we did the dive. 🙂
More amazing New Zealand landscapes. Thank you for sharing.