New Zealand Diving
New Zealand Diving
4.5
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Full view
About
Welcome to New Zealand Diving! We offer charters and training for all divers, whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced diver. This includes spearfishing charters in addition to scuba diving charters to a wide range of destinations including the Hauraki Gulf and Poor Knights Islands. We also offer a number of shipwreck charters for the underwater rust junkie. Our boat Midnight Diver is a Humber Destroyer 7m RHIB, and is ideally suited for use as a dive charter boat. She is very seaworthy and a fast ridged hull, inflatable craft with full safety equipment on board.
Warkworth, New Zealand
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4.5
56 reviews
Excellent
46
Very good
5
Average
1
Poor
0
Terrible
4
Elizabeth
Rockville, MD20 contributions
Neil was very communicative and answered all my questions ahead of time. He sent clear, detailed itineraries. The 3 day dive experience was excellent and unforgettable! They provided all equipment. The team worked great together, and I always felt very safe. I am an older diver, so I got extra help at times. The meals we’re good. The pacing was great. The lodging was very nice and included outdoor hot tub. I ended up getting wreck and Nitrox certified. I learned so much about diving, and this pushed me to a new level of expertise that will open doors for future adventures.
Written 9 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Elizabeth
Rockville, MD20 contributions
Neil who planned/managed a 3 day diving trip, was very communicative. Good equipment & safe; they’re so knowledgeable.
Written 15 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Neil11486
Thank you for your kind words and amazing videos.
We look forward to diving with you again
Written 17 August 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Sunshine27565750209
1 contribution
Mar 2023 • Solo
I did a Scuba Skills Update Course with Neil on Friday. It had been two years since my last dive and I was rusty and nervous to say the least! Neil quickly put me at ease - he is patient, professional and knowledgeable, with a great sense of humour - lots of great tips. Neil is a credit to SSI, and I feel confident again, and have now booked my Advanced Course and a Hammerhead Experience for next summer!
Thank you Neil.
Thank you Neil.
Written 15 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Neil11486
Thank you, I am so pleased we coild help you.
Hammereheads will be here very soon, see you then
Written 17 August 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Adams D
Hamilton & Waikato Region, New Zealand1 contribution
Mar 2023 • Couples
Bucket list trip to the Poor Knights. Was magic, with Neil & Makayla who were great hosts. Thanks Neil for the well organised trip and to Makayla as our dive guide. Loved the Mau Mau cave along with the rays and XXL snapper. We really appreciated the dive going ahead for just the two of us even though other people who had booked pulled out at the last minute. An Awesome Adventure.
Written 29 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Elodie P
Brisbane, Australia6 contributions
Feb 2023 • Friends
Do not use this company. Once you give them your money you wont get it back - regardless of wether you get to dive or not. Very immoral practices. Read all reviews before you book with them please.
Booked a trip with friends - got cancelled due to Auckland's crazy weather (fair enough), but then they refused to refund the dive money? Cancellation was sent out a week prior to the dive - so lots of time. They even went so far as to send us a reminder to pay since 'the dive was selling out fast' two weeks beforehand, when in the cancellation email they stated that they had been going to the dive location for weeks without any sightings of the sharks. There is no reason a dive centre should be refusing refunds for dives that werent completed. Ive been diving for 10 years - first time I've ever come across this level of money grabbing.
Booked a trip with friends - got cancelled due to Auckland's crazy weather (fair enough), but then they refused to refund the dive money? Cancellation was sent out a week prior to the dive - so lots of time. They even went so far as to send us a reminder to pay since 'the dive was selling out fast' two weeks beforehand, when in the cancellation email they stated that they had been going to the dive location for weeks without any sightings of the sharks. There is no reason a dive centre should be refusing refunds for dives that werent completed. Ive been diving for 10 years - first time I've ever come across this level of money grabbing.
Written 5 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Neil11486
The Hammerhead trip has been halted this year due to the cyclone. There is unfortunately nothing we can do about the extreme weather in NZ. Our terms state we can change destinations due to weather and, as anyone knows wildlife is never guaranteed. You have the option of rescheduling or changing destination or exchanging for product. I also believe you actually got to dive. We also don't respond to threats of bad social media reviews as a form of extortion for money.
Written 6 March 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
rowan h
1 contribution
Aug 2022
Just completed the 3-day open water dive course with NZ Dive and loved every part of the course. Our instructor, Alex, was friendly, professional and fun. NZ Dive also provided all the gear I needed for the course. I learned a lot from Alex especially many finer skills that I was not really expecting to learn about. Alex was always challenging us to improve our technique pay attention to small things, to be safe and to have fun. I would recommend NZ Dive to any person thinking about getting qualified. You will enjoy every minute and feel confident after the course and the open water dives were absolutely amazing. Thanks Alex, Neil, Jan and Jacqui!!!
Written 14 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for the positive feedback Rowan! So glad you did your course with us and we're happy you and your family enjoyed your good dive. Thanks for sharing your feedback, we're thankful for amazing customers like you. We hope to see you again soon!
Written 15 August 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Janet w
13 contributions
Apr 2022
Had I read the number of 1 star reviews I would have thought twice before flying up from the South Island to do their Hunter & Gathering trip. Firstly, booked a trip for the 6th of April. Jacqui calls to tell me after I booked that scallop season ended on the 31st of March and there has been a rahui on catching scallops since 6th of Feb. Okay, fine, but at least indicate this in your advertisements.
Second, the shop never once looked at my dive certification and Neil, the guide, condescendingly questioned where I did my DM certification and I called him out on it. Of course he didn't answer. This all happened while we waited for Mike to retrieve Neil's forgotten wet suit at the dive shot. That set us back in our trip by an hour. Not to mention the divers on board had to purchase their overpriced catch bags ($80) and cray nooses ($80) when in the advert it doesn't indicate we have to do so. I was notified of this AFTER I made my booking.
Another red flag, Neil said we could "dive individually or in groups, up to us." Out of the 3 divers that went on the trip, none of us were certified to dive on our own, but I appointed one guy (open water diver) to be my dive buddy. Of course things went wrong, my fin broke and the dive site they chose (Flat Rock) had some strong currents. We drifted about 100m away from the boat and called out to Mike to pick us up. It took him nearly 10 minutes to come get us because he was dealing with the 3rd diver (advanced diver) who I could tell from the start was very scared. My dive buddy even tried swimming against the current, but obviously the currents were so strong he went nowhere.
We saw nothing the first dive, not even one Kina, my buddy luckily found a cray at the very end of our dive.
Second dive, luckily I was able to pack away 7 Kina before my buddy and I got split up. Again with the strong currents, the visibility was less than 5m. So I waited 2 minutes for him as a trained diver would, then surfaced and waited another 5 minutes by the boat. I was well within the NDL to continue my dive when my buddy surfaced, but by that time I was called into the tiny little inflatable boat. I asked if I could continue diving as I still had more than 1/2 a tank left, Neil said we had to go. I was fuming at that stage. It was about 3:14pm when we left and I said to him this wouldn't have been the case if he didn't leave his wetsuit, I could have finished diving.
Out of a group of 5 people (2 guides and 3 customers) only 2 people came back with a cray, my dive buddy and Neil. I even tried asking Neil if I could buy the cray from him as I came all the way from the South Island for this trip. He said he had promised his wife dinner.
Overall, a disappointing trip. I called on Sunday the next day to express my frustration about the trip, only to be met with, "I don't deal with the admin side, call back tomorrow." by some lady named Jane? She was rude. So I called Monday and told Jacqui, but she already knew what happened and Jane? may have forwarded my message on. She defended Neil by saying his forgotten wet suit wouldn't have made a difference in our time which is a lie. JUST ADMIT YOU'RE WRONG. There was no reasoning with this business so I hung up the phone on her in more frustration.
Not only did they bring us to some small dive spot out in the open water, but they advertised for places like Little Barrier and Great Barrier Island, none of that happened. False advertisement and not a care for their customers and their safety. Don't go with these guys unless you're okay with cowboy diving. If this was a PADI shop, they would for sure be closed down by now.
Second, the shop never once looked at my dive certification and Neil, the guide, condescendingly questioned where I did my DM certification and I called him out on it. Of course he didn't answer. This all happened while we waited for Mike to retrieve Neil's forgotten wet suit at the dive shot. That set us back in our trip by an hour. Not to mention the divers on board had to purchase their overpriced catch bags ($80) and cray nooses ($80) when in the advert it doesn't indicate we have to do so. I was notified of this AFTER I made my booking.
Another red flag, Neil said we could "dive individually or in groups, up to us." Out of the 3 divers that went on the trip, none of us were certified to dive on our own, but I appointed one guy (open water diver) to be my dive buddy. Of course things went wrong, my fin broke and the dive site they chose (Flat Rock) had some strong currents. We drifted about 100m away from the boat and called out to Mike to pick us up. It took him nearly 10 minutes to come get us because he was dealing with the 3rd diver (advanced diver) who I could tell from the start was very scared. My dive buddy even tried swimming against the current, but obviously the currents were so strong he went nowhere.
We saw nothing the first dive, not even one Kina, my buddy luckily found a cray at the very end of our dive.
Second dive, luckily I was able to pack away 7 Kina before my buddy and I got split up. Again with the strong currents, the visibility was less than 5m. So I waited 2 minutes for him as a trained diver would, then surfaced and waited another 5 minutes by the boat. I was well within the NDL to continue my dive when my buddy surfaced, but by that time I was called into the tiny little inflatable boat. I asked if I could continue diving as I still had more than 1/2 a tank left, Neil said we had to go. I was fuming at that stage. It was about 3:14pm when we left and I said to him this wouldn't have been the case if he didn't leave his wetsuit, I could have finished diving.
Out of a group of 5 people (2 guides and 3 customers) only 2 people came back with a cray, my dive buddy and Neil. I even tried asking Neil if I could buy the cray from him as I came all the way from the South Island for this trip. He said he had promised his wife dinner.
Overall, a disappointing trip. I called on Sunday the next day to express my frustration about the trip, only to be met with, "I don't deal with the admin side, call back tomorrow." by some lady named Jane? She was rude. So I called Monday and told Jacqui, but she already knew what happened and Jane? may have forwarded my message on. She defended Neil by saying his forgotten wet suit wouldn't have made a difference in our time which is a lie. JUST ADMIT YOU'RE WRONG. There was no reasoning with this business so I hung up the phone on her in more frustration.
Not only did they bring us to some small dive spot out in the open water, but they advertised for places like Little Barrier and Great Barrier Island, none of that happened. False advertisement and not a care for their customers and their safety. Don't go with these guys unless you're okay with cowboy diving. If this was a PADI shop, they would for sure be closed down by now.
Written 11 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Boris B
Cairo, Egypt10 contributions
Feb 2022
Without a doubt one of the easiest, friendliest and most adventurous experiences of my diving life. Jacqui - thank you for being so helpful and accommodating and flexible when bad weather meant days had to be shifted about. Neil - thanks for being such a knowledgeable and good guide and for all the fascinating stories. I also really respect the philosophy and sustainable approach NZ Diving has. Very highly recommended.
Written 23 February 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Neil11486
Thank you very much, I really appreciate the feedback!
Great to hear you enjoyed our charters and I hope to dive with you again
Written 1 March 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Antonio M
2 contributions
Jan 2021
Good dive tour of Little Barrier Island. Saw some juvenile hammerhead sharks while in the boat but as soon as we got in the water they swam away. Animal, plant life as well as the topography was amazing.
Wonderful conversation about sharks and conservation efforts from the skipper (Niel). He was very knowledgeable and was very familiar with the area. Very professional.
I would definitely use this company again for another dive!
Wonderful conversation about sharks and conservation efforts from the skipper (Niel). He was very knowledgeable and was very familiar with the area. Very professional.
I would definitely use this company again for another dive!
Written 2 March 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Neil11486
Thank you for the great feedback and we look forward to diving with you again
Written 3 March 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Jessica S
4 contributions
Feb 2021 • Couples
Such an amazing day out!
It was absolutely beautiful and we were extremely lucky to see common dolphins, pilot whales, Bryde's whales and even penguins on the surface during our experience!!
Although we didn't see any hammerheads while scuba diving we saw loads from the surface and could not recommend this tour more!!
Such an amazing day out 10/10.
It was absolutely beautiful and we were extremely lucky to see common dolphins, pilot whales, Bryde's whales and even penguins on the surface during our experience!!
Although we didn't see any hammerheads while scuba diving we saw loads from the surface and could not recommend this tour more!!
Such an amazing day out 10/10.
Written 22 February 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Neil11486
Hi Jessica. I am so pleased you enjoyed the trip! We all look forward to diving with you again.
Written 23 February 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
MarkS_OceanDem
Albany, CA152 contributions
Do they dive Poor Knights Marine Reserve?
Hi, yes NZ Diving does dive the Poor Knights.