Goat Island Marine Reserve

Goat Island Marine Reserve

Awesome for both diving and snorkelling

Located just north of Auckland is one of New Zealand's most famous dive sites - Goat Island. A marine reserve since 1975, it is home to a huge variety of marine life including Blue Cod, Snapper and Crayfish. The attraction however is not just the marine life but the opportunity to see an underwater world so undisturbed in visibility between 5 and 20 metres. (16 and 65 feet)

Goat Island is an easy swim and a superb dive spot with depths 9 to 18 metres (30 to 59 feet). Beneath the waves are a variety of habitats, from rocky shores exposed at low tide, to deep reefs, underwater cliffs, canyons and sand flats. Each habitat harbors its own creatures from seaweed forests in the pulsating light zone to deeper waters where clinging animals like sea squirts, anemones, sponges and shellfish are found. The crayfish know they are protected, the snapper play in your bubbles and the blue cod act like submarine fizzers.

It's a wonderful place to get close to nature, make friends with the undersea community and snap some fish portraits if you're into underwater photography.