Diving in Poor Knights Island
The marine reserve Poor Knights Island has the reputation of being one of the top 10 most beautiful dive sites in the world and therefor the price is pretty... high. I paid 289 NZD for two dives and the girls were supposed to do some snorkeling at the same time but when they heard the price of 189 NZD they took a step back and found another adventure to do on land (eating ice cream) that would be cheaper for them. So on my own I went through ice cold winds and dark clouds and 15 other persons (including one Trump supporter, a 15 year old super brave boy and a bunch of dive instructors that spoiled us with good service and amazing dive stories.
The Poor Knights Islands are named after the way they buried knights in back in the days. The shape of the island also looks like a sleeping face. Anyway, the dive instructors told us about these things and fishes and some other yummy things before it was time for a small girl with a -20 degrees body temperature to put on her super thick wet suit and hoodie and take a giant step down in the second oldest nature reserves in New Zealand.
Subtropical current from the coral sea give varieties of tropical and subtropical fish not seen in other coastal waters of New Zealand. Among other species you can find sharks, orcas, dolphins and rays here but beacuse of the recent visit of an orca the rays disappeared (beacuse they were food obviously).
The dives didn't really impress me that much animal wise but the environment could have been taken from a painting. When the sun came out we did our second dive and the sun gave color to the huge weed that covered the whole bottom and to the red corals the scenery could really fit beside Monalisa at the Louvre. Despite the beautiful colors and plants the dives weren't worth all the money I spent on them. Like I've said before, I like doing excursions and trying new things but after trying this letting the body go numb after an hour in 18 degrees and then heat it up with tea and noodles, I think I won't be doing it again. BUT, I'm happy I did it.
Mollie and Elvira drove me to a DOC campsite (Department of conservation which has a bunch of different campsites in the most beautiful places in the whole country) in Ureteti and there we put up our tent, flambéed some pasta and corn on out stove and played some games from Skåne.
New Zealand is treating us well.