White Island Diving

White Island provides a very unique scuba diving experience as New Zealand's only active marine volcano, being situation 48km off the shores of Whakatane, a town located in the Bay of Plenty.

The volcano sits on the continental shelf where the White Island Trench runs parallel to the huge abyss of the Kermadec Trench. These undersea canyons convey the subtropical East Auckland current directly to the island, bringing a colorful array of tropical marine life and very large pelagic fish.

Visibility can exceed 40m and schooling fish often attract the sort of predators you yearn to see underwater - bronze whaler and blue sharks, mako sharks, marlin, tuna and kingfish. Down in the depths expect to spot huge packhorse crayfish (lobsters), groper, bass and even black coral.

The crystal clear deep blue waters that surround the island are also legendary for huge numbers of predated fish. Blue and Pink Mao Mao, Sweep, Wrasse, Lord Howe Coralfish, Golden Snapper, Moray Eels, Stingrays are just some of the many other species of fish that you will see.

Check out some of our other Scuba Diving sites.