Thursday, April 2, 2009

Poor Knight's Islands

Tuesday 31 Mar Sunny and warm 23C Drove nowhere

Up early to the sound of the alarm, not had to do this since we went to Karpiti Island some weeks ago. Todays call is to get me to Tutukaka marina in time to catch a boat out to Poor Knight's Islands. The islands were named by Cook in 1769 (I think), and apparently poor knight's were the common slang at that time for a breakfast dish that may have resembled French Toast. Quite what Cook must have been on when he made this observation is best left to the imagination, but the islands are the remains of a volcano and basically consist of the plug and residue of that volcano.

The islands lie 12 miles off shore and are a nature reserve, the waters around the islands are also a marine reserve. There are large fines for attempting to land and many reasons not to do so. The government had cleared the islands of predators by 1933 and since then, only native species live there. It is the only place in the world that Bullers Shearwaters nest, a bird normally only seen over the oceans. It is very clumsy on land and apparently lands on the island by crashing into the undergrowth, not always successfully. It is also home the largest colony of Tuatara, the last of the prehistoric lizards, the rest died out 60 million years ago! On top of all that, due to a major tribal spat in the past, the islands are also sacred to the Maori tribe that used to live there.

From the sea, the cliffs above the water often rise 100 metres sheer from the sea and there are only a couple of landing sites, the remainder cliffs and sea stacks. Below the water the cliffs fall another 60 metres sheer to the ocean floor apart from the odd sea pinnacle. The undersea life is unique in NZ in that several tropical species of fish either survive here or visit frequently. Indeed, today we saw tropical puffer fish schooling up near the surface. This sighting is pretty unique, the crew of the boat had only seen them the day before and these fish have never previously been recorded here. The underwater visibility here is stupendous due to two features; no significant rainwater run off from the land and the East Auckland current that washes through the area.

Stepping into the gin clear water with my buddy, Steve, I can see the anchor chain of our boat lying in kelp some 4-5 metres below us on top of a sea pinnacle. The dive site, on the northern island, Tawhiti Rafi, is known as Landing Bay Pinnacle. Once on the bottom, we set off down the side of the pinnacle to explore. At 20 metres, we started our circumnavigation of the rock pinnacle. The walls of the pinnacle drop from 5 metres all the way down to 60 metres almost sheer, and we can see the bottom at 60 metres from our chosen depth of 20 metres; fantastic visibility. Although the water is warm at this time of year, 22C today, it isn't warm enough to support hard coral, but is does have fantastic soft corals and sponges of every colour of the rainbow. There is also plenty of kelp and various nooks and crannies which hide Moray Eels and large Sea Urchins. After cruising around for 15 minutes, we move up to 12 metres and continue swimming around the pinnacle enjoying the busy sea life. As we ascend back up the anchor chain we are mobbed by small fish.

Back on the boat, we have lunch and then take a leisurely tour down to the channel between the north and south island. First we sail our large boat into a massive sea cave, we are joined a little later by a second boat. The cave dwarfs both boats. On around the southern, or Aorangi, island we see several large holes in the cliffs before we pass through a massive archway ourselves. I suspect it puts the 'Hole in the Rock' up in the Bay of Islands to shame.

On the western side of Aorangi, we drop anchor about 10 metres from 100m high cliffs in a small inlet. The dive site is called Oculina Point, but I don't know why. This time, once in the water, we stay on the surface until we reach the cliff and then drop down the cliff to 12 metres, once again in crystal clear water. Right in the corner of the inlet is a underwater sea cave, known as Crystal Cave and used in the movie 'Who Dares Wins'. It is easy to swim quite deep into the cave and looking back out to the open sea is magical with fish swimming against the sunlight streaming into the cave. We continue around the cliffs which fall away to 70 metres deep, now at around 17 metres, and find a very sleepy short-tailed stingray on a very small patch of sand. Beyond this, we find many nudibranchs or sea-slugs, some in the most incredible colours schemes imaginable. I disturb a large Snapper in a crevice and he gives me the 'eye' as he slowly swims inches from my mask. We are mobbed by Demoiselles everywhere we go and dazzled again by the soft corals and sponges. Finally, after 40 minutes, very reluctantly, we head back to the boat. What a fantastic dive.

Jacques Cousteau rated the islands as one of the Top 10 dive sites in the world, I can now see why. I for one, would say that is rates in my personal top 3 sites. The fish life is prolific and the corals and sponges incredibly vibrant. One of those 'go-there-before-you-die' places.

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