Poor Knights Islands

Posted by Aaron Schmidt (Auckland, New Zealand) on 28 February 2006 in Landscape & Rural.

The beautiful islands of the Poor Knights. When Captain James Cook sailed past in 1769 the Christmas trees were in bloom, making the islands resemble jam on toast, an English breakfast that was (at the time) known as "poor knights pudding". In 1981, the ocean surrounding the Poor Knights Islands became a marine reserve, protecting the wide variety of species living in this subtropical reef. Even Jacques Cousteau himself rated the Poor Knights as one of the top 10 dive sites in the world. Aurelie and I (together with Justin and Amelia) dove under the arch on the right, surrounded by 100s and 100s of fish, including the popular blue maomao.