Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Rainbow Warrior Wreck and Reef Dive

Name: Rainbow Warrior Wreck and Reef Dive
Brand: Paihia Dive
Price: 205.00 AUD
Availability: InStock

1 Days • Daily

Dive with Paihia Dive

$205.00 AUD

$205.00 AUD ~~$205.00 AUD~~

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Diving the Rainbow Warrior

After a short bus ride up to Matauri Bay, we will launch our 7.5m inflatable from the beach, where we will have only a 5min ride to the Cavalli Islands. You can then explore the wreck of the historical and controversial Greenpeace flagship – the Rainbow Warrior.

Bombed in Auckland Harbour by French Secret Service agents on July 10, 1985, the wreck was relocated off the Cavalli Islands two years later. This artificial reef has matured into an ever-growing host to marine life and is an excellent shallow water wreck dive suitable for certified open water divers.

The wreck is a splendour of colour with jewel-coloured anemones clinging to the rails in hues of purple, yellow and blue making it a great underwater photography subject. It is the home to schools of Golden Snapper, Kingfish and John Dory making this, one of the world's most famous wrecks, a most memorable dive.

The first dive is on the wreck the second dive is a reef dive.

What's Included

Transport to/from meetup point
Use of 7.5m inflatable boat
Access to Rainbow Warrior wreck dive site

Itinerary

We start the dive day at 7:45am at our dive shop on Williams rd. We organize equipment and paperwork, and load our minibus and trailer for a 8:30am departure. We drive 45 minutes north to Matauri Bay were we launch our 7.5m inflatable boat from the beach. Once at Matauri Bay we set up scuba gear, put wet suits on, and do the safety briefing. Launching the boat is lots of fun from the beach and makes it a very short boat ride of 8 minutes to the wreck of the Rainbow Warrior.

After the wreck dive we head to one of the beautiful beaches on the Cavalli Islands for some lunch/snorkelling, and if we have any reef/DSD divers on board they do their first dive.

After lunch we then head to one of the many great reef dive sites in the Cavalli Islands. This is normally an 18m or less dive exploring the volcanic reef areas. We have plenty of swim throughs, tunnels and caves, so if you are keen on this let us know!

Once all the diving is done, we head back to Matauri Bay, arriving at about 2:30pm and back to Paihia around 4:00pm.

Agencies

PADI
SSI

Languages

English
French
Spanish

Meeting Point

Click to view the location.

Important

Open Water Diver certification is required, with the Deep Adventure Dive option.

Lunch can be ordered separately.

Dive gear rental is also available.

Cancellations

Life happens so we keep cancellations simple. Enjoy free cancellation for 14 days from the time of booking or find an equally qualified suitable replacement up to 30 days prior to diving.

5★ rating from our global community. Epic experiences only.

Unmatched value and price-match guarantee. Never pay extra to book the best.

Plans change, your dives stay flexible. Enjoy simple cancellations and exchanges.

Trusted international operators for every dive, across every ocean.

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Awesome dive centre

Awesome dive centre with friendly, professional staff! Went diving last weekend with Paihia Dive on the Rainbow Warrior and Canterbury. Smooth and well organised dives. Will be coming back soon (not 25 years later this time). Thanks Craig and the team for a fantastic experience.

Dive on 13/2/26 was well organised and was a great day diving. They had problems with the trailer on the way home but got it sorted with help from the divers. Memorable day in my NZ trip.

Just had two amazing days diving

Just had two amazing days diving with Paihia Dive! The Rainbow Warrior wreck, Canterbury wreck and two reef dives were all stunning. Incredible marine life, friendly crew, short boat rides, and a great lunch spot on the Rainbow Warrior trip. My first time in cold water with the 7mm wetsuit, I wasn't as fluid as I usually am, still, thanks to the supportive team and the magical underwater world, I had a really enjoyable time.

Craig was awesome, really professional and funny, he created a great vibe and made sure divers of all skill levels had a wonderful experience. As if being a skilled skipper and instructor wasn't enough, he's also a passionate and talented photographer who generously shared all his photos with us! Having those beautiful memories to look back on was such a fantastic surprise. I haven't even gone through them all yet, just couldn't wait to write this review.

It's worth mentioning that I booked ahead, and all email communication was prompt and patient, they were super helpful. Would love to come back someday to explore the wrecks a bit more :)

We returned to Paihia Dive 14 years after getting our Advanced Open Water with them.
They are still a very friendly operator and very well run. We were lucky to be the only ones with the DM for the first dive, just the way things worked out.

Overall I had a great day

I had a lot of fun diving the Canterbury wreck and reef! The staff were really nice and I got lucky having a guide all to myself that day! I enjoyed chatting with the other divers too, some were getting their open water certs. The boat drive out to the dive sites was stunning too. Overall I had a great day diving with these guys!

Rainbow Warrior Wreck and Reef Dive