Northland The Pinnacles

DESCRIPTION

Dive Site Review and photo by Tom Crisp

Access to The Pinnacles is by a 5 minute boat ride from Matai Bay in sunny Northland.

The top of the Pinnacle breaks the surface except for during King High tide. The Pinnacle drops away to 50m, gradually on the northern side and has a shear wall on the southern side.

There is lots of pelagic action around this pin and it is very common to see schools of Kingfish as well as an abundance of the larger schooling fishes. The pinnacle itself is covered with encrusting life like sponges, corals, and bryozoans as well as nudibranchs, triplefins and numerous other smaller to mid sized species of fishes.

Due to a rock and boulder bottom topography there is usually good visibility, this can be up to 40m when the blue water is in.

The reef has a number of large cracks running through it, providing those with sidemount training great squeeze-throughs.

Due to its exposed position as a pinnacle in the middle of the opening to the bay, it can be prone to surge in certain sea conditions.