Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand
    Poor Knights Islands

    Landing Bay Poor Knights

    Best months: Jan–Apr

    Protected Area

    Poor Knights Islands

    Why dive here

    With 79+ marine species recorded in the area - including blue sharks, dolphins, hammerhead sharks, humpback whales and orcas - Landing Bay Poor Knights offers some of Poor Knights Islands's richest wall diving. Water ranges 15-22°C, warmest January, February, March.

    Best timeJan–Apr
    WetsuitA 5mm wetsuit
    Marine lifeBlue Sharks, Dolphins, Hammerhead Sharks, Humpback Whales and Orcas · 79+ species recorded
    Water15-22°C · warmest January, February, March
    CharacterWall dive
    StandoutRich in charismatic marine life

    Landing Bay at the Poor Knights, for us, is all about the afternoon light. We’ve done it in the morning, and it’s fine, but wait for that sun to spill over the cliffs. It transforms the place. The slope drops pretty steeply, sure, but the magic here, we think, is really between 5 and 15 metres. That’s where you’ll see the schools of blue maomao and pink maomao, thick enough to make you feel like you're swimming through a living curtain. We’ve seen kingfish here, too, slicing through the shoals, and occasionally a bronze whaler just gliding by, giving you that proper Poor Knights shiver. Keep an eye out for the smaller stuff though; crested blennies are always amusing to watch, and the vibrant colours of eastern king wrasse really pop in that afternoon glow. Visibility is usually a comfortable 20-25m, so you get a good sense of the scale of the place. It's a dive that rewards slowing down and soaking it all in, perfect for those who appreciate the interplay of light and marine life.

    Today05:4518:3212h 47m daylightGolden hour 17:58

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    Conditions

    Ocean conditions, forecast and tides for Landing Bay Poor Knights

    Landing Bay Poor Knights Ocean Conditions

    Monthly averages for Landing Bay Poor Knights, sourced from Open-Meteo marine data + Copernicus Marine (EU) - nearest station: Open-Meteo marine grid (-35.84, 174.61) (14km away)

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    October Averages

    Sea Temperature

    16°C

    60°F · Range: 14.8–17.1°C

    Current Speed

    11.4 cm/s

    Direction: SE (142.1°)

    Chlorophyll-a

    0.388 mg/m³

    Moderate productivity

    Salinity

    35.44 PSU

    Based on 4 years of monitoring data · Data sources: Open-Meteo marine data + Copernicus Marine (EU)

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