Poor Knights Tie Dye Arch
DESCRIPTION
Dive Site Review by Deralie Flower
Photos by Deralie Flower and Andrew Simpson
Most of the time when we dive at the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve, we dive at sites around the two main islands: Tawhiti Rahi and Aorangi. But when the weather is calm you will often see enthusiastic divers begging/bribing the skipper to head south to the Pinnacles and the Sugarloaf. Your two main choices here are Tie Dye arch and the Sugarloaf itself. Because these sites are more exposed than the other islands, you need good weather with calm seas to dive there. Let’s start with Tie Dye Arch.
So-named because of the amazing patchwork of colours on the rocks and walls in the arch (children of the seventies will know all about the art of dunking tied pieces of cloth into fabric dye), Tie Dye arch is a real treat for both wide angle and macro enthusiasts. The entrance at the southern side is a single arch, but on the northern side it splits into two, giving a characteristic appearance – and making for lovely wide angle photos in times of good visibility. The ideal time to dive here is winter (great viz) on a calm clear day. This is where I give a shameless plug for drysuits – they really do make it so much more pleasant to dive all year around: if you are only diving in summer you are missing out on some of the best diving!
Dive boats anchor on either side of the arch entrances, depending on the conditions. There are a few other small islands nearby, one of which often has seals in winter too, who may or may not come and join you for a dive (depending on their mood…). It’s always entertaining to try to encourage them in the water by making seal noises and clapping your flippers (well, fins…) together. Sometimes it works, sometimes you just get a look of disdain in return.
Like most arches, Tie Dye sometimes has a bit of a current running through it, so check that you are happy with any current before you go in too far. Remember that it’s easier if you’re swimming against a gentle current for the first half of the dive, so you get an easy trip home. Fortunately the floor of the arch, at about 16m, has many large boulders which you can shelter behind if you’re trying to take photos. Traditionally, Tie Dye has been a great site for stingrays – but it’s the luck of the draw, sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not (possibly they have become orca snacks; hopefully they’ve just decided to hang out somewhere else). Look in amongst the boulders for eels and scorpion fish. Be careful not to land on an unsuspecting stingray. On one of my favourite dives there, we just sat amongst the boulders and watched the stingrays go by. Magic.
Unlike most of the other arches at the Knights, you can’t surface in the middle of the Tie Dye (I learned that the hard way once!). It’s really one massive swim-through, rather than a true overhead environment, but if you decide you need to surface you’ll have to swim out a nearby entrance/exit.
For an alternative dive (or even one very loooong dive – great for rebreather divers!) go to cathedral cave at the western end of the island. This is a lovely large cavern with great encrusting life and a lovely vista looking out into the light. The time the seals came to join us it on a dive at the Pinnacles it was here that they jumped in – on the wall going back toward the arch. As always, this is a site suitable for divers of all levels. If the current in the arch proves a bit much, simply check out the walls on the outside of the arches instead. Easy.
So, next time you’re heading out to the Knights on a calm winter’s day, nag your skipper to go to Tie Dye arch (apologies to our lovely skippers!).
