The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve is located around 22 km off the east coast of Northland.  It extends 800 m offshore from all the Poor Knights Islands and associated islets, rocks and stacks including Sugarloaf Rock and High Peak Rocks (Pinnacles).

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During the late 1960s and 1970s, divers visiting the Poor Knights discovered large numbers of marine plants and animals that had not been seen before in New Zealand.  Many were endemic (only found in New Zealand); others were tropical, carried to Poor Knights by the East Auckland current.  Huge schools of trevally fed on the surface and divers saw kingfish, snapper and hapuka in numbers unheard of today.  Because of the amazing diversity and abundance of marine life, part of the islands became New Zealand’s second marine reserve in 1981.  In 1998, the islands became fully protected to 800m from the shore.

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Beneath the waves at Poor Knights is another world.  The caves, arches, tunnels and sheer cliffs provide a great variety of habitats to explore.  From the sunlit waters and kelp forest of the upper reaches to the dark waters of the islands’ many caves, the Poor Knights offer some sensational diving.  Sponge gardens and gorgonian fields are inhabited by a multitude of fish, shellfish, urchins and anemones, with black coral found in deeper water.  The steep cliffs that fringe the islands plunge down to 100 m below sea level before reaching a sandy sea floor.  The arches are some of the most interesting places to explore.  A rich nutrient soup washes through them, which feeds the countless animals competing for space on the walls.  Squadrons of stingrays cruise the waters of the archways during the warmer months.