An early start to beat the breeze saw us start the trip at The Great Wall -  a great introduction to The Poor Knights, with Kelp, Walls, sand and rocks with plenty of fish and nudibranchs. Around the corner into Butterfish Bay saw some schooling Blue Maomao and Demoiselle along with curious Snapper in the shallows. Day one ended with a dive at the entrance to Rikoriklo and a quick tour of the Cave and the outside wall - the serious Nudibranch hunters were already on fire with most species already sighted.

After a night in the cave the morning was spent at Northern Arch. A steady current meant the fish life was really going off - Snapper, Maomao and even some Blue Moki hung in the Archway, while some huge Kingfish cruised through the fishlife. Life on the wall was pretty good too - Hiwihiwi hiding in the kelp and morays lounging around the rocks. Off to Oculina Point and no big cave diving, so just a dive to the point and a quick look into the cave entrance. We anchored at Mary's Wall for dive three - 'Go to the sand line, go right and you'll find it!' - they all went left!? One of the large boulders had caught their attention with the morays and nudibranchs covering it all over. The wall looked great and the juvenile Black Angelfish made a colourful edition to the undergrowth.

A calm night and morning meant we headed to Serpent Rock for the first dive - the drop off is always home for some huge Snapper just looking out into the blue. Over to Landing Bay Pinnacle for dive 2 and the Long Finned Boarfish were lurking in the deeper waters, large Gems on the wall and schooling baitfish on the top of the pinnacle made it another great dive. As there was little wind we made our way to The Pinnacles for a dive on our way back to Tutukaka to pick up supplies. The swell was still pretty big, so Tie-Dye Arch was a no-go, but Cathedral Cave was nice and calm and the afternoon sun streamed into it to make it a spectacular dive - Peter even had a cathartic moment!!

Overnight in the Marina and off again in the morning - Anne's Rock being the first destination. No Orca this time, but plenty of fish - even a couple of Rays. Moving along only a few meters the next dive was at Northern Arch again. A bit more light than the early morning dive meant that the sunlight was illuminating the archway from top to bottom. Again a small current ensured there were plenty of fish and even some Golden Snapper near the bottom of the archway. After lunch and an afternoon snooze the diving moved to Trev's Rocks - 'Go to the sandline and do a right!'. Easy this time and round the rock we went - loads of nudibranchs on the rock and even on the kelpy landscape in the shallows. Nachos on the deck watching the sun set marked the end of the day.

We hadn't had a chance to get to South Harbour for a while, so the drop in swell gave us the chance. Magic Wall was just 'Magical' - especially for the nudibranch hunters - and Blue Maomao Arch was stuffed full of Maomao and Demoiselle. A big swell produced by Cyclone Atu was heading our way, so we checked out Middle Arch for an afternoon dive. The usual suspects were there - Boarfish, Kingfish and even some Stingrays had come back. A return to South Harbour for the first night dive of Team B's trip - there was a bit of a current running, but some free swimming morays and nocturnal nudibranchs made it all worth while.

The looming Atu meant that this eight day trip was going to be cut short - although six days at The Poor Knights is still a good showing. Our last day started at Middle Arch - this time going a bit deeper and round the point. Inside Bernie's Cave the Frog and Bear stood guard as usual while the schooling fish hung around the entrance. The last dive was in The Gap that always provides a good rummage along the wall for the nudibranch hunters. Heading back there was a sense of disappointment of having lost a couple of days, but the 3m swell and 25kn winds meant we'd made the right choice.

Between the 2 teams they'd managed 14 days out of 16 with some great diving in the warm clear waters of the Poor Knights of summer 2011. Many thanks to Chris and Lucy for arranging the two trips and to all the members of Team A and B for making it an easy and enjoyable February for Oceanblue Adventures. See you next time!