{"id":662,"date":"2020-12-21T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/?p=662"},"modified":"2020-12-21T01:41:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T01:41:13","slug":"great-diving-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/great-diving-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Diving spots"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">Dive HQ has had a presence in Auckland since the 90\u2019s and has the good reputation of being the go-to store for great service, a fun experiences and an excellent safety record. As an Auckland Scuba Diving store we take trips, PADI dive courses and professional careers course field trips around the North Island We are lucky enough to be close to some world class dive sites and some amazing wrecks. Here are some of our favourites:<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">Goat Island, Auckland \u2013 New Zealand\u2019s oldest marine reserve features a variety of environments, including rocky shores,\u00a0underwater cliffs,\u00a0deep reefs, canyons and sand flats. Look for blue cod, snapper, crayfish, seaweed forests, sea squirts, anemones, sponges and shellfish.\u00a0This\u00a0site is about 1.20 hours away and is one of our main areas for our learn to dive programme.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">Mathersons Bay, Auckland-\u00a0This is a great place for night diving as there is some amazing\u00a0sealife to see that you won\u2019t see during the day. Check out our video of a little\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DiveHQWesthaven\/videos\/449802812440587\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">porcupine fish<\/a>\u00a0from one of our club members on\u00a0\u00a0and Dive HQ in Auckland run\u00a0regular club\u00a0night dives led by our\u00a0Night Dive Specialty Instructors. Check out\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/business.facebook.com\/groups\/seapunksnz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seapunksnz Dive\u00a0Club\u00a0<\/a>on Facebook and join us for a night dive. Mathersons Bay is also a great safe dive site for learn to dive\u00a0open water dives.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">Poor Knights Islands \u2013 As a protected marine reserve, there is spectacular underwater topography including drop offs, walls, caves, arches, tunnels and an abundance of marine life. The sub-tropical climate and ocean currents mean the archways are teeming with blue maomao, snapper, kingfish, morays and brilliantly colored nudibranchs and often frequented by tropical species such as turtles, mola mola and manta rays in the warmer months. It truly is a photographer\u2019s dream. With opportunity to see orca feeding on the many sting rays that inhabit the area, the Poor Knights Islands is a unique experience that should be on everyone&#8217;s bucket list. We regularly run trips out of Auckland to the Poor Knights and also take our PADI Advanced divers there as its such a great experience.\u00a0For an additional fee we can offer PADI Open water\u00a0Courses second weekend there. If\u00a0you\u2019re serious about diving becoming a\u00a0weekend\u00a0hobby this is the place to start your diving adventure.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">Bay of Islands \u2013 As the name suggests, dive sites are plentiful in the Bay of Islands. Spectacular wreck diving can be had on either the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HMNZS_Canterbury_(F421)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HMNZS Canterbury<\/a>\u00a0or the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rainbow_Warrior_(1955)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rainbow Warrior (Greenpeace\u2019s flagship vessel, bombed by the French Secret Service)<\/a>\u00a0 Both wrecks are now encrusted in stunning colourful jewel anemones, abundant in fish life and beautiful reefs. This area is rich in New Zealand history and a must see for all visitors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-666\" src=\"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.33.08-PM-1-300x202.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"202\" srcset=\"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.33.08-PM-1-300x202.png 300w, http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.33.08-PM-1-768x518.png 768w, http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.33.08-PM-1-1024x691.png 1024w, http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.33.08-PM-1.png 1058w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-665\" src=\"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.34.01-PM-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">The Coromandel Peninsula &#8211; South East of Auckland is \u00a0Dotted with islands, this coastline provides many healthy dive sites. Hiding inside the kelp and crevasses you will find trevally and blue maomao. In the summer months large kingfish school with giant boar fish, john dory and tarakihi. A great variety of other marine animals inhabit these waters from moray eels, stingrays, wrasse, demoiselles, porcupine fish, snapper and many other vibrant species. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">The South Coast, Wellington &#8211; The South Coast is a favourite for Wellington shore divers. Rocky reefs and copious marine growth makes the area an attractive breeding ground for a wide variety of marine life. This and all the other dive sites is also one of our go to sites for field trips for our NZQA Professional Scuba Diving Instructors , who are studying for under one year to become PADI Dive Instructors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-664\" src=\"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.34.43-PM-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-663\" src=\"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/fullsizeoutput_1763-1-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-665\" src=\"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-07-at-12.34.01-PM-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">If you are interested in joining us for any of our dive trips or PADI courses please contact us at\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-family: Helvetica\" href=\"http:\/\/www.divehqwesthaven.co.nz\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dive HQ Auckland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">For Diving in the Christchurch region contact\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-family: Helvetica\" href=\"https:\/\/www.diveskiworld.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.diveskiworld.co.nz\/<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica\">\u00a0For Wellington region contact\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-family: Helvetica\" href=\"http:\/\/www.diveski.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.diveski.co.nz\/<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dive HQ has had a presence in Auckland since the 90\u2019s and has the good reputation of being the go-to store for great service, a fun experiences and an excellent safety record. As an Auckland Scuba Diving store we take trips, PADI dive courses and professional careers course field trips around the North Island We [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":671,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions\/671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}