Auckland

Goat Island Dive & Snorkel

Discover What Is Hidden Beneath

Goat Island Marine Reserve

Awesome for both diving and snorkelling

Goat Island Marine reserve is a magical world for snorkelers and Scuba divers. Goat Island is located just one hour’s drive North of Auckland and is one of New Zealand’s most famous dive & snorkelling sites. 

It is home to a wide variety of New Zealand’s marine life, including Blue Cod, Snapper, Crayfish and a host of anemones, sponges and other marine life that live in this wild & natural environment.

The Goat Island attraction, however, is not just the marine life but the opportunity to experience an underwater world so undisturbed and natural as you hover weightless and breathe underwater. In contrast, the spectacular marine life of all shapes, colours and sizes surrounds you with visibility between 5 and 20 metres.

Beneath the surface of the waves lies a variety of habitats for marine life, from rocky shores that are exposed at low tide to deep reefs, underwater cliffs, canyons and sand flats. Each area of habitat harbours its creatures from seaweed forests in the pulsating light zone to deeper waters where clinging animals like sea squirts, anemones, sponges and shellfish are found.

The crayfish know they are protected, the snapper play in your bubbles and the blue cod act like submarine fizzers.

Experience a day or half-day with Goat Island Dive & Snorkel, catering the experienced to novice snorkelers or experience diving in the reserve.

For those wanting to begin or advance their scuba diving knowledge, Goat Island Dive & Snorkel offers several PADI training courses and skill updates to suit your individual needs.

Goat Island Dive & Snorkel offer several local and Outer Gulf charters. Dive the Leigh Coastline or Outer Hauraki Gulf Islands to discover an abundance of New Zealand marine life and enjoy the experience of being surrounded by schools of playful fish.

Whether you are travelling independently, as part of a family or corporate group, or simply wanting to explore the delights of New Zealand’s famous Coastal Aquarium, Goat Island Dive is a perfect choice.

Book Your Goat Island Experience

Goat Island Guided Snorkel Experience – For Beginners

Price: $75 per adult –  Children $65 pp  –  Family 2A + 2C  $240
What you need: All equipment is included in the price. (mask, snorkel, fins and a wetsuit.)
Duration:  2 to 2.5 Hours

Snorkeling Goat Island is one of the top 10 things to do in Auckland If you’ve never tried it before, or just want to learn some advanced techniques, join our team of passionate instructors for an adventure at the Goat Islands Marine Reserve!

 

Goat Island Guided Snorkel Experience – advanced

Price:  $75 per adult –  Children $55 pp  –  Family 2A + 2C  $240
Duration:  allow 2 to 2.5 Hours
What you need: All equipment is included in the price. (mask, snorkel, fins and a wetsuit.)
The program:   As Below

• Allow plenty of extra time for travel (especially weekends). Traffic is often held up at Johnson Hill Tunnel.
• Meeting place is at Goat Island Dive & Snorkel shop not the beach (just above the Leigh Sawmill Cafe) at the scheduled time (please don’t be late as it holds the rest of the snorkelers up). Our friendly team will fit you with comfortable snorkel equipment.
• You will then drive your own vehicle 2 km down to the Marine Reserve where you will meet your Guide.
• The experience starts with tips on advanced snorkel techniques. We share the history of Goat Island and introduce you to the marine life you are likely to meet at New

  

  Zealand’s first marine reserve, Goat Island. 

• In the Advanced group you will also learn some additional skills and duck down or freedive to get a closer look at the fish. 
• You will be part of a natural aquarium, teeming with colourful fish and marine life including blue maomao, huge snapper, eagle and stingrays, blue cod, octopus, kahawai and crayfish. Sometimes Dolphins or orca visit the reserve and will often play with the snorkelers, this might be your day!
• Under the supervision of your dive professional, you’ll be off snorkeling in the Goat Island Marine Reserve. Your guide will ensure that you stay safe and comfortable at all times, whatever experience level you have.
• You can pick up an underwater camera or smartphone waterproof cases from the Goat Island Dive & Snorkel shop

---

 

Goat Island Night Snorkel Experience

Price:  $110 per person
Departs:  On Sunset
Duration 2 to 2.5 Hours

Guided Dive Trip at Goat Island

Price:  $110 per person
Departs: Please check availability & times
Duration 2 to 2.5 Hours

You will meet in the Dive shop – 142a Pakiri Road, 0947 Leigh. We will get you suited up and into your gear, then transport you to the reserve. 

The reserve is beautiful, full of life, and you’ll get to explore it with some incredibly friendly fish. Snapper, Red Moki, Goatfish, Triple fins, and schooling fish, such as Parore, Kahawai, Sweep, Silver drummers and Trevally to name but a few!! 

We have some huge crayfish hiding down in the reserve as well as octopuses, Stingrays, Eagleray. Sometimes we even get both dolphins or Orcas popping in to say hello! 

This dive will show you how amazing and critically important marine reserves are for our oceans, and really helps you to appreciate our underwater world. 

This package includes:

• Dive instructor/ Divemaster as a guide. All our guides are certified professional divers, with unique knowledge of the marine reserve and its residents. They will teach you about the reserve, the fish species you will encounter and make sure you are comfortable and safe for your dive.
• 1 Long dive. Since this is a shallow reserve we can stay down for one really long dive! We try to spend 70-90 minutes underwater to give you the opportunity to really explore the reserve (and avoid too much surface swimming!).
• High quality gear hire. Should you choose to hire any of our gear, you can do so knowing we have high quality, trusted equipment that is thoroughly washed after each use. We have a range of wetsuits (7.5mm or 3mm) plus vests and hoods, mask, snorkel, fins (with booties), BCD, regulator, and the tanks required for the dive.

---

 

Goat Island Scuba – Try Scuba Diving

Price:  $199 per person or $175 with a friend (2 or more)
Departs:  Please check availability & times
Duration:  Approx 4 Hours which includes 45 minutes in water

You begin your experience at the Goat Island Dive & Snorkel Center. Here you will meet with your highly trained and passionate instructor who will be with you for the duration of your experience.

Before diving in, you need to learn some skills and theory that will keep you safe, and because we can’t talk underwater you’ll also learn some useful hand signals.

?SCUBA is an equipment intensive sport so we will need to get acquainted with the gear, and how it all works.

Once we are all feeling comfortable and ready, we will head into the water and have a play in the shallows, doing some skills to get nice and comfortable. After this the real fun begins and your instructor will take you to meet the fish

?Time: Allow up to 4 hours in total, with roughly 45mins in the water. Price:
$199 per person or $175 with a friend (2 or more)

Try Dive Experience includes:

• Scuba tuition and training 

• The fitting and hire costs of your dive equipment 

• A Try Dive with the fish at Goat Island reserve

---

 

Goat Island Dive – Open Water Dive Course 

Price:  $499
Departs: Please check availability & times
Duration: Three Days

Our team will make your dive course experience one that can never be forgotten. We offer exclusive, personal and safe instruction to help you get into diving confidently. 

After only 3 days you will walk away with the knowledge and skills that will qualify you to dive to a depth of 18m, with a buddy, anywhere in the world! 

Goat Island Dive & Snorkel is the perfect place to start your adventure under the sea. Only 1 hour north of Auckland and NO LAKE DIVING

Open Water Dive Course – Learn to Dive and GET CERTIFIED

• Priced right – Our course is rated ‘Deluxe Quality’ but is still affordable.
• We have chosen to run our courses over 3 days but to do this you are required to complete your online theory prior to the commencement of your training.
•  Convenience – Study your dive theory with online e-learning then come in to Goat Island Dive & Snorkel for your practical dive training
• Equipment, Comfort and Education – Learn to dive in Quality Comfortable Equipment and learn the different considerations before you buy
• Join our dive club Goat Island Divers- Once you are certified, we offer you a world of diving opportunity with our regular dive trips locally and overseas. Dive with the Crew youknow!
• Continue Learning – If you wish to pursue your diver education and training past the OpenWater level you can continue with the Instructors you have learnt with, know and trust.

Our Open Water Dive Course is run over 3 days. Just phone 09 422 6925 or emailus [email protected]  to find out when our courses are available.

Prerequisites To open water Course

• Minimum age of 12 years (conditions apply) 
• Able to swim 200 meters
• Please see the medical form at the bottom of this page, if you tick yes to any of the health questions you will need to see your physician (ask our friendly staff for local physicians if you are from out of town).

Included in the Open Water Dive Course:

• All Open water dives. 
• E-Learning, study materials, log book, wall certificate, certification and fees
• ALL Quality Equipment hire

---

 

Scuba Skills Update

Price: $250 
Departs: Please check availability & times
Duration: 4 hours

Scuba Skills Update provides you with the opportunity to review and practice necessary scuba skills that you learned in your original Open Water Diver program under the guidance of an SSI Dive Professional. 

The Scuba Skills Update is often a required for continuing your diving training after a long period of time away from the sport. You will be issued an SSI Scuba Skills Update recognition card.

Bring in any equipment you have and our team can inspect your gear and help you with any improvements or upgrades you may need. We will also introduce you to any new advances in equipment and give you the opportunity to test them out in the water. 

In some cases if you haven’t been diving for a number of years dive Charter or Resorts may require you to have a Scuba Skills Update to be able to dive. Don’t get caught out and be ready and confident and make the most out of your adventures.

---

Free Diving – Level 1

Price:  $400 
Departs:  Please check availability & times
Duration: Approx Two Days

The SSI Level 1 Free diving is an introduction to the purest form of diving. Here you will learn the proper breathing techniques, familiarise yourself with diaphragmatic breathing and take a deep breath like you never have before. 

In the SSI level 1 Freediving course you acquire proper skills and knowledge to partake in Free diving to depths of 20 meters in the most relaxed and safest manner possible. 

You will develop skills necessary to train your body to be more efficient with oxygen, gain better respiration and muscle flexibility and learn new skills to take your free diving to the next level.

 

Get close to nature, make friends with the undersea community

and snap some fish portraits if you’re into underwater photography.