Dive Review of Ocean Blue in
New Zealand/Poor Knight's Island

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Ocean Blue, Nov, 2003, by Glen Gustafson, CA, USA . Report 1395.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We were really lucky to have found this operation. There are other excellent dive operators that go to Poor Knight's out of Tutukaka but they all take 30 or so divers. Ocean Blue is owned and operated by a great couple, Glenn and Tiana Edney, who live aboard their stout 45' motor sailer, Mazurka (which means Dance on the Water). They take a maximum of 6 divers, so really what it amounts to is a dive trip aboard a friend's classic yacht, with the owners insisting on doing all the work (including some terrific cooking). Both Glenn and Tiana are avid divers, but with their little girl, Samantha on board Tiana spent most of her time minding the boat (she's a licensed skipper), though she did take us on one (great) dive through a deep arch filled with snoozing pink and blue Maomao and rays and littered with paper nautilus casings. Some of my more party-oriented diver friends seemed put off by going diving with a family, but we couldn't see any downside. Samantha spent most of her time playing in her state room and when we didn get to see her she was delightful - "I want to do a proper dive" she says. The head can get a little warm from the engine room, but we never stayed in there long enough to care - there, I felt I had so say something critical just to give my report some validity. It's a great boat. By the way, having a sail gives it more stability during the motor trip out and back, something my wife appreciated. Poor Knight's is fantastic diving. It's hard to catagorize it with check boxes for the usual atractions as it may be the most unique place to dive on earth. An extinct volcano at the edge of the continental shelf, honeycombed with caves and arches and surrounded by marine life from both tropical and temperate waters it almost defies description. We saw a giant salp as well as a bizarre fish I could not identify, which Glenn said had been carried up from a depth of over 800 meters (it was alive but not likely to survive the trip to the surface for long). The area is protected and the marine life is thriving. We were encompassed in a great school of Kawahi a couple of times and did get to see a couple of Bronze Whaler sharks. When we were there the plankton was in full bloom, so visibility could be as low as 35' or so. As soon as you made the turn into one of the long, vaulted arches visibility increased dramatically. It's like cave diving but open to the surface, and the gentle surge in the arches seemed pleasant (perhaps because a large school of Blue Maomao were often napping so comfortably above us). The diversity and richness of invertibrate life boggles the mind. You could spend an entire trip wall-diving with a magnifying glass and not run out of new things to marvel at. No shore diving - nobody may land on the island as it is a sacntuary where the largest population of Tuatara live (last surviving member of the dinosaur family still having the same skull characteristics). There can be strong currents and deeeep dropoffs, so we were a little concerned about going to Poor Knight's with our level of experience, but they were very skillful at reading (and predicting) conditions so we were always at the right part of the island a the right time to dive. Glenn has some 15 year's experience diving the islands and it was obvious we were in good hands. We plan to make the trip again when the visibility is more characteristic of the area. Even with all the krill in the water it has been among the best diving we've ever done.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	26-50 dives
Where else diving	Island Bay, New Zealand, Matava Kandavu Fiji, Beachcomber resort Fiji, Catalina and Anacapa Islands, California
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, surge, noCurrents
Water Temp	51-53°F / 11-12°C	Wetsuit Thickness	7
Water Visibility	35-80 Ft/ 11-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	We dove with one of the owners so we followed his profile, but were free to dive on our own. They promote safe diving but did not impose any specific restrictions I can recall.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Glenn Edney is a professional photographer and has set up a large swing-away table just for camera gear. Large plastic rinse tank next to the ladder with clean fresh water for camera gear. If you want to take photos you will find a kindred spirit who is extremely knowledgable about the biology of the islands.

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Dive Review of Ocean Blue in New Zealand/Poor Knight's Island

Ocean Blue, Nov, 2003,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Ocean Blue in
New Zealand/Poor Knight's Island