Diving at Poor Knights Islands

Fabijan, a German student studying at Kamo High School describes his first time scuba diving during a trip the world famous Poor Knights Marine Reserve in Northland.

“The first breath underwater is amazing. Imagine walking through a colourful garden filled with animals, only gravity is turned off. Flying around fish and other creatures of many kinds, feeling unbelievably free and all your worries don’t seem to be important. I was not expecting this amazing kind of experience.

I and two other international students drove to Tutukaka harbour under the guidance of our international manager, Nathan Mills. Arriving at the “Dive! Tutukaka” shop, we were greeted with open arms. After a short introduction, signing in and getting the equipment we went on the boat to meet our crew and fellow tourists, ready to experience the most amazing day in our life.

After about 1 minute on the open ocean, everyone was seasick much to our crew’s amusement.

Having survived one of the most horrible travels we’ve ever had, we witnessed the beautiful scenery of the Poor Knight Islands. After one more briefing, we were ready to squeeze ourselves into our diving gear. With a whole lot of fear and excitement, we jumped into the water. The real adventure began with my first breath underwater!

It doesn’t take long to get used to the pressure and the weird, but awesome feeling that comes with breathing under water. But when you’re ready, a while new world full of fish awaits you and you begin to understand why they call the area “the garden”. The time under water is too short like every other amazing experience.

After the second dive through the “hole in the rock” and a couple of warming mushroom soups later, we were ready to head back. With the bright winter sun in our faces we stood on the back of our little boat experiencing the dives again and again in our blown minds.”