Yellow Sponge Garden lies west to north-west of the reserve shore, out past tall kelp on ledges that drop away onto sandy patches. The yellow sponges the site is named for start showing at around the 8 to 9 m mark, growing on those patches rather than in the kelp, and the change from standing forest into open sand is what tells you that you have arrived.
Where it is and how deep
36.2656° S, 174.7895° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Head out on a west to north-westerly line from the reserve shore and let the depth tell you when you have arrived — the sponges start turning up at around 8 to 9 m. Before that you are crossing tall kelp stalks, dusty-looking rather than clean, and it is the switch from standing kelp into open sand that marks the edge of the site rather than any single piece of structure.
What you work here is the ledge line. The kelp thins at the edges and the ledges drop off onto sponge-bearing sandy patches, so the dive is a matter of following the drop and reading the bottom rather than covering ground. Depth holds around the 8 to 9 m mark once you are on it, which buys a long, unhurried bottom time on a single tank and plenty of light to shoot in.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime |
Season follows Goat Island: Jan–Apr is warmest and clearest as the East Auckland Current pushes south; winter is cold, green and often blown out.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Yellow Sponge Garden?+
The sponges are first spotted at around 8 to 9 m, reached by heading west to north-west from the reserve shore. No deeper figure is published for the site.
Sources
- Yellow Sponge Garden dive site — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
In The Logbook
- Kelp forest diving, and where it still growsCold water · 13 min read
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