Diving Guide to Marlborough Sounds & Nelson/Tasman

About Marlborough Sounds & Nelson/Tasman

The Marlborough Sounds and Nelson/Tasman region is home to one of the world's greatest wreck dives and some of New Zealand's most sheltered and diverse diving. The MS Mikhail Lermontov, a 155-metre Soviet cruise liner sunk in 1986, lies on her starboard side at 12 to 36 metres in the sheltered waters of Port Gore, offering colossal groupers, blue cod, dense jewel anemones, and extraordinary penetration opportunities for advanced divers. Beyond this legendary wreck, the sounds themselves provide a drowned valley landscape of kelp forests, calm clear waters, and abundant marine life. Long Island Marine Reserve in Queen Charlotte Sound offers excellent training and macro diving, while the Pinnacles off D'Urville Island deliver offshore excitement with blue maomao schools and seals. Pelorus Sound, which Jacques Cousteau described as a drowned valley, offers fiord-like diving with sponges, crayfish, and abundant fish. The Nelson/Tasman area adds the Abel Tasman National Park with Tonga Island Marine Reserve, seal encounters, and clear kelp forest diving. The combination of a world-class wreck, sheltered sounds, and national park diving makes this one of New Zealand's premier dive destinations.

Highlights

• ✓Mikhail Lermontov Wreck: 155-metre Soviet cruise liner at 12 to 36 metres with colossal groupers, fully penetrable for advanced divers
• ✓Long Island Marine Reserve: kelp forests, blue cod, butterfish, crayfish in calm clear waters of Queen Charlotte Sound
• ✓Abel Tasman National Park: Tonga Island Marine Reserve with seals, kelp forests, and clear water for snorkel and dive combos
• ✓The Pinnacles at D'Urville Island: offshore rocky pinnacles with blue maomao, kingfish, and seals
• ✓Pelorus Sound: fiord-like diving with sponges, crayfish, and abundant fish life in a spectacular drowned valley

Getting There

Ferry from Wellington to Picton approximately 3 hours, or drive from Christchurch approximately 5 hours