Goat Island Marine Reserve
Also known as Leigh Marine Reserve, Goat Island is about a 30 minute drive from Cedarhouse Bed and Breakfast. It was New Zealand’s first marine reserve, created in 1975 to preserve the area’s marine life for scientific study. As a result the marine life here is far more abundant than in the neighbouring coastal areas. The area is a popular scuba diving spot, and also great for snorkelling, swimming, picnics, glass bottom boat tours or just standing on the rocks and watching the fish.
In addition to this reserve, further offshore there is another reserve at the Poor Knights Islands which has been rated by Jacques Cousteau as one of the top dive sites in the world. More recently it was voted as the best sub-tropical dive location in the world by Diver magazine.
Goat Island Dive offers scuba, snorkelling and kayaking options at the reserve, including PADI dive training, plus charters to other Hauraki Gulf islands. See www.goatislanddive.co.nz for details.
Further information about Goat Island can be found at the Department of Conservation website, www.doc.govt.nz. See www.glassbottomboat.co.nz for information about glass-bottom boat trips.
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