Accessible when there is little to no swell. Enter this narrow channel situated down a short hill from the road and navigate past the shallow rocks before entering the 7m deep Gut and enjouy the colourful wall on the right. Keep swimming and you will emerge onto a 5m sandy area that is scattered with rock reef.

A 30 Minute drive from Dive Now if you are doing a shore dive down Kauri Mountain Road. For boats, launch from Whangarei Harbour, Pautua or Tutukaka.

5 minutes from the main road that leads to Tutukaka you can find the bays. 4m to 8m can easily be found from the northern end. 10m can be found if heading around the rocks. Kayak diving is a great tool here.

The HMNZS Waikato is 113.4m long, 12.5m beam and a draft of 5.5m she was the first of the Leander class frigates built for the NZ navy in 1966. Decommissioned in 1988 and sunk in late 2000. The HMNZS Waikato rests in two pieces leaning on it’s side in water 28m deep

30 Minutes from Dive Now, Whangarei. One of our popular shallow training sites for Open Water courses. A shallow site, but busy with boat traffic.

Shore dive down a maximum of 10m to explore the old mooring blocks and boulders on the sand, then come back up into the oyster covered boulders and then back across the seagrass to the exit point.

A potentially deep dive site of over 40m with strong currents makes this a site for experienced divers and freedivers with experienced boaties looking after them.

With the protection of the Tutukaka harbour and local marine reserve, this site is looking to regenerate after years of harvesting by local seafood hunters. Surveyed in 2023, the lack of crayfish caused locals to close down the local area to shellfish harvesting.

Limited car parking as this is by the start of a popular walking site that has toilets and a drinking fountain. Stairs down to the beach and then a long walk through shallow water with a slippery bottom until you find deeper water. Alternately divers travel here by boat and dive a little further from shore.

Access is by boat only here. A rocky kelpy shore line that slopes away to around 12m+ to the sand line. Some cool pinnacles and swim throughs can be found in the area. As you go further away from shore and follow the sand line to the 30m mark you will find some more spectacular pinnacles.