Stewart Island Adventures is a guided freediving and snorkelling operation in the deep South.
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We are back!!
Spring time has sprung and we are back in action taking bookings for the coming season.
If you want to secure an underwater experience for the coming season you can contact us here on Instagram, by email ([email protected]), or by phone (0221058740).
Its going to be a good one!
We are back!!
Spring time has sprung and we are back in action taking bookings for the coming season.
If you want to secure an underwater experience for the coming season you can contact us here on Facebook, by email ([email protected]), or by phone (0221058740).
Its going to be a good one!
Surprise!! A Sea lion rushes out from behind the bladder kelp to say hi, before quickly disappearing.
The grace and elegance of the NZ Sea Lion in the water, is truly something to behold. They are masters of speed, precision and agility. They are capable of diving to depths of 600 meters in search of prey!
A cluster of Sea Tulips swept by the swell and current.
We will be opening up again for tours from the 1st of October onwards! We also have a new website with some cool new photos so check it out! Www.diverakiura.co.nz You can book a tour over the phone- 0221058740
Happy world Sealion day!!!
It sure is fishy in the Te Wharawhara Marine reserve. Butterfish, Blue Moki and Banded Wrasse sitting in the current on a kelp covered rock pinnacle.
Have you ever seen so many Paua? The shallows of the Te Wharawhara Marine Reserve.
The rich and plentiful oceans of Rakiura, Stewart Island. Trumpeter and Blue Moki schooling up around me. Te Wharawhara Marine Reserve.
The water is warming up and the kelp forest is alive and thriving! This blue Moki is cruising in the shade of the forest as one of our guest dives down to check out the view!
Ever wondered why Blue Cod are so easy to catch? You can see here why that is. We came across a school of Spotties and a Blue Cod chowing down on the carcass of a Rig Shark and watched them feeding for a while. You can see the Cod grabbing some flesh and doing a roll to tear it off, this action makes a hook set into a cod jaw with relative ease and also reduces the chance of a hook being swallowed to make returning undersized fish easy.
Costal Stewart Island kelp beds are a great habitat for Marari or Butterfish/Greenbone which are vegetarians. They begin their life as a female (smaller mustard coloured fish with the horizontal white line) before reverse sexing as they mature turning into a male (grey colour with blue tail).
The 2021/2022 snorkel season has been great, we have had some epic marine life encounters, great customers and some awesome summer visibility. So it is with a bit of a heavy heart we have to announce the premature end to such a great season only 2/3 of the way through. Unfortunately some circumstances have left us with no option to continue this season but we will however be back up and running again for the 2022/2023 season beginning October. The great season we have had so far has left us with stacks of awesome photos and videos so we will try and post them regularly.
Found this crazy little guy while out on todays tour. We don't always find flounder while in the reserve as they are masters of camouflage.
Life in the giant fish tank. The Blue Cod of Te Wharawhara marine reserve are pretty tame compared to cod outside of the reserve, makes for a great tour having these big fish come so close.
Good job Halfmoon Bay School!!
A Wandering Anemone, Paua, Comb Jellyfish and a small stand of bladder kelp, within the Te Wharawhara/ Ulva Island Marine Reserve.
Scenes from the Te Wharawhara marine reserve.
Another great tour with plenty of beautiful marine life and good free-diving by our guests!
A very large Octopus on our tour today. If you look closely it changes colours after it moves through the kelp. The colour change is a defensive reaction to having snorkelers in your face! This big guys is too staunch to run away though!
The water is warming up and there is marine life everywhere! The Trumpeter, Blue Cod, Paua, and Blue Moki, pictured here, are amoung some of our daily views in the Te Wharawhara Marine Reserves.
Had an awesome tour yesterday. A huge school of Trumpeter came to check us out and stayed for ages!!
Whakahao (NZ Sealion) are an amazing animal to see in the water and are always a welcome sight on a snorkel tour. These girls will be getting ready to have their pups soon
A shore dive with some young Rakiura locals resulted in getting to witness an incredible death match between 2 Wheke (NZ Octopus). The larger Wheke was on the hunt when we found him so we followed him and soon after he found what he thought was dinner (being a cannibalistic species). The struggle lasted for well over 5 minutes but the clip has been edited to only 2 minutes, audio has been left on so you can share the excitement. We often find Wheke on snorkel tours but have never had an interaction like this before!!
This Yellow foot Paua is sitting out of the water and spawning. The white stuff on the rock and in the water is the spawn. This is how all Paua start out
We went on a wee recreational shore dive in level 2. Open rocky reef doesn't hold the same amount of marine life than marine reserve kelp forests, where we operate tours, but there is still plenty to look at. Intricate baby jellies, mussel hunting starfish and neon sea sponges just to name a few, check out the blue cod curled up on the bottom.
Level 2 does mean snorkel tours can now continue so get in contact to make a booking!
We’re hoping the lockdown doesn’t last too long! The snorkel season starts for us on September 1st, however, we’ve been trialling safety precautions should restrictions stay in place past this date.
But we’re anticipating a short lockdown so we are still taking bookings for the coming season.
Found a drifter! Sea horses cant swim very fast and often just cling to kelp to stop themselves drifting away in strong currents, unfortunately for this wee guy the piece of kelp he attached to wasn't attached to the sea floor!
Winter is coming to a close which means we will be starting another season of snorkel tours soon! Since it went so well last year we have decided to do a second run of our PAY WHAT YOU LIKE snorkel tours. The offer will be running from September 1st through until September 14th. If you're keen to book a tour then send us a message or an email at [email protected].
Clip of one of our favourites to see out on a tour, Wheke or New Zealand Octopus
An awesome encounter filmed by Tom, one of our guests out on a snorkel tour last week. While this medium sized male Sea lion is very inquisitive it's unusual for them to hang around for so long, not that we were complaining as it was an amazing interaction with this large marine mammal!
Energetic young female Sea Lion that popped up in our favorite snorkel spot the other day. She has 2 tags in her fins for research purposes, it is important that these amazing creatures are studied to help thier dwindling population
We have encountered this big adult male NZ Sea Lion quite a few times and due to his size and appearance, named him couch (due to being the size, shape and colour of a sofa). Not long ago we found him crusing the shallows off the coast Ulva island looking for a sandy spot to sleep. You can see he has quite a few scars from battling other male Sea Lions to keep his females safe. Unfortunately couch passed away 4 days after this video was taken. He has done his best to help the population of the worlds most endangered Sea Lion species, probably fathering many pups in his years breeding on Stewart Island.
The last video of the Paua fields got a pretty good response so here is another. This is in the same bay that often has brackish water (which Paua love), in a slightly different spot. This is very shallow water and the same area we often encounter seahorses.
The water surrounding Stewart Island is cold, but we do supply some good gear to keep you warm on our snorkel tours. All that neoprene makes you pretty bouyant, which can inhibit diving beneath the kelp forest. To counteract this bouyancy we supply weight belts which will assist you in exploring all levels of the water column and getting to see the abundance marine life!
Underwater caves and holes are great places to find marine life. Just like these Blue Moki cruising in the tidal current in this small sea sponge laiden cave.
Came across this wee nest of crays the other day. Pretty cool to see in only 3m of water. Around all the crayfish are a variety of sea sponges growing on the rock
Seahorses are are a treat to find on a snorkel tour, however it takes a bit of searching to find them. Not because they aren't there but because they camoflauge so well. This Pot-Bellied seahorse is one of the biggest in the world and can grow to over 30cm in length, mates for life and can have upto 700 babies in one go, which they may also eat and are birthed by the male!
One of our favourite spots for a snorkel tour has an area we like to call the paua fields. Paua love brackish water (salty and fresh mixed) which this spot on the coast of Ulva has an abundace of. Spot some Blue moki, Banded Wrasse and cod here, all in water between only 1 and 2m deep!
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Costal Stewart Island kelp beds are a great habitat for Marari or Butterfish/Greenbone which are vegetarians. They begin their life as a female (smaller mustard coloured fish with the horizontal white line) before reverse sexing as they mature turning into a male (grey colour with blue tail).
Found this crazy little guy while out on todays tour. We don't always find flounder while in the reserve as they are masters of camouflage.
A shore dive with some young Rakiura locals resulted in getting to witness an incredible death match between 2 Wheke (NZ Octopus). The larger Wheke was on the hunt when we found him so we followed him and soon after he found what he thought was dinner (being a cannibalistic species). The struggle lasted for well over 5 minutes but the clip has been edited to only 2 minutes, audio has been left on so you can share the excitement. We often find Wheke on snorkel tours but have never had an interaction like this before!!
We went on a wee recreational shore dive in level 2. Open rocky reef doesn't hold the same amount of marine life than marine reserve kelp forests, where we operate tours, but there is still plenty to look at. Intricate baby jellies, mussel hunting starfish and neon sea sponges just to name a few, check out the blue cod curled up on the bottom. Level 2 does mean snorkel tours can now continue so get in contact to make a booking!
Found a drifter! Sea horses cant swim very fast and often just cling to kelp to stop themselves drifting away in strong currents, unfortunately for this wee guy the piece of kelp he attached to wasn't attached to the sea floor!
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