Come and dive the Poor Knights Islands with us!

The boat we use for the Poor Knights Liveaboard is MV Pacific Hideaway.
Most people drive up to the boat on Friday night and stay onboard in the marina that night. You can drive up on the Saturday morning as the boat will not be leaving the marina for the Poor Knights until approx 9am.
We can help out with arranging car pooling if needed.
The ride out to the Knights takes about an hour as the boat cruises at 12 knots and the islands are about 12 nautical miles from the mainland.

There is the opportunity to do up three daylight dives and one night dive on the Saturday and then three day dives on the Sunday (weather permitting one of these is the wreck of the HMNZS Waikato).

Divers can opt in or out of as many dives as they wish to do.
If someone would rather lie in the sun on the deck and read magazines or a good book they can. There are also kayaks available for the guests to use.
Between dives there is around an hour and 20mins surface interval as your tanks are filled. Plenty of time to off gas, log dives, relax and have another meal.

The trip includes all meals from Saturday breakfast until Sunday lunch, and includes morning tea (freshly baked scones from the skippers secret recipe, yummy), afternoon tea and 1^st and 2^nd breakfast on Sunday!!
If any one has any special dietary requirements or is a veggie let us know in advance so that they can be catered for.

We limit the number of divers on board to a maximum of 12 so that there is plenty of space for all, both in and out of the water. There are 4 cubbyhole cabins which couples get first dibs at and ladies get second dibs. This leaves lots of room for the remaining passengers to bunk down in the main cabin at night. It is recommended that you bring ear plugs if you are a light sleeper as there is usually a good chance of at least one snorer being on board.
The boat is back at the Tutukaka marina between 4 -5pm on Sunday afternoon.

Things to bring:
Dive gear including torches and two tanks
Sleeping bag or blanket (there are pillows on board but if you have a favorite lavender scented pillow that you can’t sleep without then bring it along)
Water (the water onboard is drinkable but from the bore water on the mainland so can have an ‘unusual’ flavor)
Snacks (you are fed generously but some folk just can’t live without their treats)
Bottle of wine or a few beers for enjoying at the end of the days diving

The trip costs $450 which includes the boat trip sight-seeing around the Poor Knights, accommodation Friday and Saturday on board, all meals from Saturday breakfast until Sunday lunch. To secure your space on the trip there is a minimum deposit of $150.

Full gear hire is $140 for the weekend (mask, fins, snorkel, wetsuit, boots, BCD, Regs, and 2 tanks). Just 2 tanks for the weekend are $60. The tanks are filled on board the boat and you pay for the number of fills that you have over the weekend direct to the boat. These are $8 each.

This trip is aimed at the Intermediate to Experienced diver as there is the opportunity to do night, wreck and deep diving. We run the Advanced Open Water course on this trip.

Photographs by Andrew Simpson

Related Pages

• Photography Liveaboard with Richard Robinson
• Poor Knights July Liveaboard
• Global Dive Trip Schedule
• PADI Advanced Open Water Diver

You could experience what its like to go deeper, dive at night, or even explore a wreck!!

Photographer at the Poor Knight Islands / Photography by Andrew Simpson

Training is conducted at The Poor Knights Marine Reserve.

Global Dive’s PADI Advanced Open Water is completed onboard MV Pacific Hideaway during our liveaboard dive trip.
Because we anchor overnight in the marine reserve you get the luxury of time to complete your 5 training dives and the option of another 2 pleasure dives as well.

Option 1 – Group Advanced Open Water Course $699

Minimum 2 people.

The course price includes all your Theory, Confined and Open Water instruction, manual, SCUBA unit, wetsuit, 5 air fills, and certification fees, as well as the trip, accommodation onboard the boat Friday and Saturday and all meals from breakfast Saturday through to lunch Sunday.

Option 2 – Private Advanced Open Water Course $995

If you would prefer to do a private course with your own instructor, we can design a customised training program to suit your schedule.

You can opt to do your training in a drysuit.
This is only an additional $100 which includes your drysuit and undergarment rental and a pool orientation.

Pre-requisites

• PADI Open Water certification or equivalent from another training agency

• Dive Medical (current to within 1 year)

Course Schedule

Your Advanced Open Water dive course is conducted over a series of Theory and Confined Water sessions, followed by your 5 Open Water dives.

We ask that if for any reason you aren’t able to make a session or will be late that you let us know beforehand.

Week 1

• Tuesday 6pm—9pm: Confined Water – as nescessary — Newmarket pool

• Saturday & Sunday—Open Water dives at the Poor Knights

What you need to bring:

• Togs and towel

• Mask, snorkel, fins and booties

• Dive knife

• Signaling device (whistle and/or safety sausage)

• Dive torch

• Transportation

Note: We have packages for mask, snorkel, fins, booties, knife, compass, signaling device and torch for students enrolled on this course.

Diving Fitness and Medical Clearance
Before we can allow you to start your course you will need to provide us with a current dive medical certificate (valid within 12 months).
Your usual GP can sign your dive medical but you may prefer to see a dive medical specialist who will be more able to discuss with you any issues regarding your diving fitness.
You can download a copy of the medical forms and find a list of dive doctors on our website at www.globaldive.net/dive_medical.html

Dive Club
Upon completion of your course you will gain membership to the Global Dive Club.
The club holds regular meetings with guest speakers and organizes many local and international dive trips for all experience levels.

Related Pages

• Poor Knights July Liveaboard
• Global Dive’s Poor Knights Liveaboard Weekend & Advanced Open Water
• Global Dive Trip Schedule
• PADI Rescue Diver

I spent last weekend on the live aboard to the Poor Knights aboard Pacific Hideaway with a great bunch of keen divers.

Having only completed my Open Water Course on July 12 and having not been for a dive in the briny due to the weather that weekend, I was excited at the thought of finally getting in and under the ocean. Excited and slightly nervous – nervous in a good way that is.

Alex and Simon in The Gardens / Photograph by Andrew Simpson

I wanted to make the most of the trip and do my Advanced Open Water course at the same time. I was very lucky in the fact that I was the only one doing the AOW that weekend. That meant I got one-on-one instruction from Alexandria.

Anticipation was high on Friday night and I didn’t get much sleep. I think I saw every hour in until others started to stir at around 7am. Conditions for the trip were great. None of the wind that we had been experiencing back in Auckland. About an hour after setting off we arrived at Northern Arch.

After a knowledge review and dive briefing, it was time for my first dive. We suited up, geared up and performed our buddy checks and then made our entry. Being in the sea was a strange sensation at first. Being pushed around by the surge also made it interesting trying to perform fin pivots and the hover.

Simon heads off on his last AOW dive - HMNZS Waikato / Photograph by Andrew Simpson

Second dive was a pleasure dive at Landing Bay pinnacle. This blew me away! I couldn’t believe the fish life here. Hundreds of fish, not too concerned with our intrusion. Big snapper aside, my favourite creature here would have been the banded coral shrimp we found hiding in a hole.

Third dive was navigation at The Gardens. Compass navigation went well. Straight line and reciprocal bearings weren’t a problem. My first attempt at the square went a little awry when I got the wrong bearing on the second or third leg, so ended up performing more of a triangle. I got rather lost on our first natural navigation attempt. I paid more attention on the second attempt and got us back to the starting point safe and sound.

Skipper Mark decided Riko Riko Cave would be us for the night. Most of the group went in outside the cave to swim the entrance at change of light. I admit to feeling slightly nervous the thought of doing a night dive. Once we were in the water I felt fine – relaxed as. Saw a few fish resting and the biggest leatherjacket I have ever laid eyes on! Some of the sponges were interesting as well as the phosphorescence on the walls.

After four dives on Saturday, I was feeling it more than a little. Thought I’d sleep like a log but didn’t sleep well at all. Just too excited about what was to come on Sunday I guess.

Simon on the HMNZS Waikato

Dawn finally arrived and as light began to seep into the cave, we made our departure. Our next destination was Ngaio Rock. This was where I did the deep dive. We settled on the sand at 30m where I then had to complete a couple of tasks which involved a bit of a co-ordination test. I was feeling sweet and thought the task was a piece of cake. That was until I couldn’t find the number 17 on the slate. Then I thought it was a trick until Alex pointed it out to me – Dooh! During the debrief I found out that I hadn’t just been touching my nose in between pointing out the numbers, but also the reg. I didn’t notice. It took me 58 seconds to complete the task at 30m and just over 20 seconds back onboard Pacific Hideaway. I also got both the age and maths equation wrong. At the time I knew my answers were incorrect, but I just thought “Oh well!” and handed the slate back to Alex. That was when I thought, “Wait a minute. Something’s not quiet right here!” I got ‘narked’.

I skipped the next casual dive to conserve a little energy for the dive on HMNZS Waikato on the way back to Tutukaka.

The wreck dive was fantastic! Visibility wasn’t flash and the water was green, which gave the wreck a rather eerie aura.

The trip seemed to come to an end as quickly as it had begun. It was a fantastic weekend! Great company, Mark and Pete were fantastic hosts, the food was great – especially the legendary lamb shanks I had heard so much about. Big thanks to Alex for being a fantastic instructor over the weekend. I learnt heaps!

It’s now Wednesday and I am still buzzing. Have got the silly grin I was carrying around all Monday under control finally.

Related Pages

• PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
• Global Dive’s Poor Knights Liveaboard Weekend & Advanced Open Water
• “Perfecting Mask Clearing” by Madeline Erkkila
• Global Dive Trip Schedule