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.

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 is this fantastic shore dive. Average depth of 5m with a max of 12m at the mouth of the bay. Fingers of encrusted reef run along the edge of the bay, with pockets of rocky reef scattered throughout the bay.

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.

Only accessible on calm days, Sugarloaf is an almost vertical pinnacle, dropping to 90 metres. With one small ledge at 18 metres and a pinnacle that breaks the surface at low tide offering a great place for safety stops. Large schools of fish inhabit the area and gannets call the top home.

At the Southern end of the Poor Knights Marine Reserve and accessible on only days with minimum wind and swell is the colourful and popular Tye Dye Arch.

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.

Our heated indoor training pool is located on site and is around 24 degrees C warm. It is 1.4m deep in the shallows with a deep area that is 6m x 6m and 3.5m deep.