Leigh Goat Island

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Dive Site Review by Anna Clague

Goat Island Marine Reserve is a fantastic dive and snorkeling site approx 1 ¾ hours drive north of Auckland. This is a popular site for all dive levels as you can see a lot of wildlife in a variety of dive depths depending on your dive fitness level.

The majority of divers and snorkelers at Goat Island are shore based. You do get some boat traffic over the summer months and there is a glass bottom boat operating in the reserve most of the year so be sure to take a dive flag with you.

There is a large toilet and changing area and a rinse shower located in the top carpark along with recycling and rubbish collection points. There is ample parking most days but in the summer months it can become crowded. There is a lower carpark where you can load and unload dive gear. This is strictly a 5 min loading zone only and is well used so please be considerate of others.

Gearing up at Goat Island - There is a concreted area, which is ideal for gearing up, just across the bridge by the loading zone or you can make use of the large grassy area in front of the loading zone. You will do a shore entry from the beach in front of this concrete pad. This is very uneven underfoot so make sure you have some air in your BCD when you enter the water in case you loose your footing. As you head out from the beach you have many options of where to dive. Here are a  couple:

Option 1:
Head out in a straight line from the beach, keeping the island on your right.
Keep heading out until you are ready to descend.
You will not find much more than 4m depth for about the first 300m off the beach.
As you get past Shag Rock (this is the out crop of rock that is just covered at high tide, off the corner of the island) you will slowly start to gain depth.
If you are keen and dive fit, you can get some good depth round towards the back of the island.
The terrain from the beach out along this side of the island is a mixture of sandy bottom, flat rock bottom, rocky outcrops and channels. You can find some good kelp forest patches here as well.
Avoid swimming too far to the left hand side of the beach as there is a tidal flat that is very shallow.

Option 2:
Enter from the beach and turn right so that you head out through the channel created between the mainland and the island.
This becomes much more kelpy and can be prone to currents with the tidal movement.
You can find plenty of channels and rock out crops to explore, with some lovely guts running back up into the island.
Again you will be in around 4m of water initially but you as you head through the channel, away from the beach, you will get a gradual increase in depth.

The wildlife you can expect to encounter underwater at Goat Island is varied and includes Snapper, Blue Cod, Leather Jackets, Goatfish, Parore, Spotty, Blue Maomao, Sweep, Trevally, Jack Mackerel, Red Moki, Kelpfish, Demoiselle, Big Eye, Triplefins, Stingrays, Eaglerays, Sea Cucumber, Starfish, Urchins, Nudibranchs, Octopus, Hermit Crabs, Crayfish, Anemones, Sponges, Corals and Hydroids.

We have also encountered Dolphins and even Orca!

Visibility at Goat Island can be quite good with 15m not uncommon, 5- 10m the norm.

The visibility will be reduced if there has been a prolonged period of rain as this brings runoff from the land down into the bay. If there have been big swells running onto the beach this can cause the kelp to be pulled off the rocks and it will accumulate in close to the beach giving the water a stained colouration. At certain times of the year (generally towards the warmer months) there can be algal, jellyfish or slap blooms in the water.

The temperature at Goat Island can drop  into the early teens in the winter months and soar into the mid to high 20’sC in the summer months.