The Wellington Dive Guide

Diver Dan



Dive Site Selection

The variables of wind, rain, temperature and currents all affect water visibility and the degree of pleasure we get from each dive. Look here for advice on how to choose a Wellington dive site.

  Casual Diver

Dive Sites

Detailed dive site descriptions include locating sites, car parking availability, entry/exit points, depths, bottom type, sea life observed and items of interest. The sites are grouped into areas having similar dive conditions. These are:

Wellington Harbour
Sheltered, low stress diving. Good for training and night work. Relatively silty.

South Coast
Beautiful rocky reef gardens and gravel flats. Wide variety of sea life and shipwrecks. Better in northerly winds.

North Coast
Rocky channels, sandy flats and stingrays. Better in southerly conditions.

 

Sea Life

Sort out those 'What were those fish?' problems. Know your nudibranchs! Become a seaweed bore! Help is at hand in this guide to Wellington's sea life.

 crab

Shipwrecks

Wooden hulled or steel, coastal tramp or fishing boat, Cook Strait ferry or liner. Many vessels visited Wellington and most of them left safely. However, 'The Shipwreck Coast' claimed some of them and left them accessible to divers. Look here for details of Wellington's diveable wrecks.

The Magic aground

Artifacts

Communication cables from the early 1900s, a Victorian era wharf and a submarine boom.

 The Magic aground

 Web Links

To complement the Wellington Dive Guide.

  octopus

Safe Dive Practices

This Guide makes no recommendation as to the suitability of any dive site for a particular diver. You are expected to be suitably trained and equipped, to know your own limits and to dive within them. If you are unfamiliar with Wellington diving I do recommend Island Bay Divers Frog Dive club which dives every Saturday morning, all year round. Dives are instructor or divemaster led and are a safe, enjoyable way of gaining familiarity with the local dive conditions.


Contact Information

Please feel free to comment or contribute to the Wellington Dive Guide
Send your thoughts to Rex Johnson