New Zealand is a great destination for tourists that like being active in nature such as trampers, hikers and scuba divers.
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Gold/ClickNew Zealand is one of the best cold water dive destinations in the world. North near the Poor Knights water temperatures can be as warm as 23 degrees, while the water can drop to freezing levels of 8 degrees in the south of New Zealand near Milford Sound. Visibilities can be as low as a few meters close to shore but offshore island can be lucky and sometimes experience up to thirty meters.
Famous spots around the island are Northland with the Bay of Islands and Doubtless Bay, which are well known area's for short package tours. The Poor Nights Islands are known around the globe and are probably your best bet for diving in New Zealand. Hauraki Gulf is Auckland's private volcanic field and offers a diverse underwater landscape which in turn attracts many different types of marine species. Other well known spots around North Island are the Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki. The south island is more rugged and booking a diving tour outside the summer months might be difficult here. Marlborough sounds is stunning and offers steep cliffs, walls and crystal clear blue waters. Milford Sound is a place all tourists know because it is home to the most famous track in the country, but also offers some stunning underwater world. If you really want to dive to remote areas you should consider Stewart Island where you need your own car and equipment to visit many of the more popular dive sites. The east coast of New Zealand (Canterbury and Otago) offers excellent towns such as Kaikoura, Christchurch and Dunedin, all pretty cities.
All around the country you find excellent multiple day tracking trails, stunning nature and peaceful wildlife. New-Zealand is home to several of the largest creatures mankind can meet underwater such as mink, humpback and fin whales. But also orcas, seals, sea lions and penguins are animals you won't often find while diving somewhere in the world. On top of this there are regions that take advantage of warm Australian currents and have excellent hard coral reefs filled with many of the common tropical fish and colorful anemones. Game fish such as cod, tuna and kingfish is common. New Zealand is not a destination you should go to only for diving. There are many other interesting things to do as well, but if you have time, diving is certainly worth a few days of your trip.
Take a look at all the pictures!
The best dive sites and top diving locations in New Zealand rated by divers since last year.
- HMNZS Wellington (F69)Rated 10.0, 2 ratings
- Goat IslandRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- Hole in the WallRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- KaikouraRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- Marine MaidRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- Rainbow WarriorRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- Red Baron CavesRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- Riko Riko CaveRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- Tie-Dye ArchwayRated 10.0, 1 ratings
- South Sunk RockRated 8.0, 4 ratings
Editor: Lars Hemel Have fun breathing underwater!
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