Southern Arch

Blue Maomao Arch is known as one of the best dive sites in New Zealand, and possibly the world. The arch is best dived later in the day with the afternoon sun illuminating the site. The Arch itself is at most 15m deep, however, the depth drops to 20m+ at the eastern end.

Ngaio Rock is a small rock that rises from sand at the western end of the Labrid Channel. The walls of the rock are steep and are covered in life. It is worthwhile circumnavigating the rock to properly explore the site!

A very colourful wall dive. The wall is a short distance away from Blue Maomao Arch and in good conditions, both sites could be seen on the same dive. The walls depth is around 20m and slopes deeper towards the sea.

This arch is characterised by its steep walls. The western entrance of the arch has boulders and kelpy walls at about 18m. Going through to the eastern end of the arch, the walls drop vertically into 40m plus, and a diver can look out into the open ocean.

Should be renamed Leopard Anemone Point! The bay has a bouldery – kelpy bottom which gradually slopes down from about 10m heading down to 60metres for those ith the training.

The largest sea cave in the southern hemisphere, the size of Rikoriko Cave is impressive. This is a great dive site for many experience levels, and a good spot for a night dive too

Mixture of boulder and sandy patches at this consistently shallow site. The depth at the back of the bay is an easy 5-10m. The bay plateaus at around 10-15m for about 500m out from the wall. Around the wall at the back of the bay are a number of cracks and archways to go exploring in. Shark fin cave is beauty!

An iconic site for photographers due to the blue glow producing an awesome silhouette shots. The crack is about 60m long and at the open end, is about 15m deep. It is open to the surface the whole length of the crack and approx 10m wide at the opening, narrowing to 3m wide.

Also known as Dutchmans Cove, this is a beautiful little site has plenty going on. On the left the wall gently sloped but knobbly and slowly get deeper out towards the point. On the right you have a shear wall with depth of 18m with a sand gully.

This arch takes a diver from the western side of the island to the eastern side. Walls outside the arch reach depth of 30m, while the inside of the arch shallows up to just 5m. On the eastern side to the right there is a group of large boulders and a small cave at around 20m.