About Mathesons Bay Coastal Leigh

Mathesons Bay is located on the stunning east coast of mid northland between Warkworth and Leigh Harbour. This spot is well known by local divers and clubs that come here for its tranquil waters within the boundaries of its reef and island. There is a new changing room block at the bay.

Refreshments can be found at the Leigh café or dairy that is a 5 min drive away.

Gear hire and tank fills are available from the friendly team at Goat Island Dive that is only 15 mins from Mathesons Bay.

Beyond the reef offers a more diverse terrain having small caves where Big Eye's shelter in the gentle currents. The kelp-covered boulders lead out to a sandy seafloor at a depth of around 18 metres. This is where the skilled hunter can at times find the elusive crayfish that hide in the cracks and crevices.

About Tony Frith

Tony is a newly qualified Advanced open water diver that gained his qualifications with the great team at Dive HQ Greenlane while on a live aboard trip at the legendary Poor Knight Islands.

Having 32 dives under his belt over the last year Tony's quest was to bag his 1st crayfish without the use of a sneer. Having seen a lot of cray's and been out smarted by their cunningness, hiding deep in the back of the cracks out of his reach was at times frustrating for him.

Tony on a Quest for Crayfish

Tony and his brother Ben teamed up with Paul and Peter Morris of Diveplanet for the hunting trip on the outer side of the reef. While Dave our kayaker come free-diver buddy was along for the hunt and to act as our marker topside.

The initial consensus was that we would be hard pushed to find any crays within our grasps due to the bright sunny conditions that would send the crays deep into hiding.

As we descended down to the 14-meter mark we knew that there was a chance in the low visibility due to algae and the stirred up bottom of the previous days weather. Ben and Peter spotted half a dozen crays that were out and about but looked a tab undersize for their likings.

On the other hand Tony and Paul were on the money having spotted a couple of good nests with juveniles in the front and some bigger boys in the back. Paul managed to get past some of the smaller crays that sent the bigger ones heading around into a more vulnerable place where Tony

Jubilation For Tony

Tony took his time as he eyed up his targeted cray before thrusting his arm deep into the crack as the game of cat and mouse began. The silted rocks were getting stirred up limiting visibility as he stretched deep grasping his potential prize. Tony suddenly looked towards me with a smile from ear to ear as he slowly pulled back his arm that was shoulder deep revelling his 1st cray. As he carefully placed it into his catch bag the look on his face said it all as we both gave each other a high five.

After getting back to shore we feasted on steak and kina that we had gathered saving the cray for an evening meal that ended another fantastic day of diving coastal Leigh with friends and family.

Dive Mathesons Bay Summary

Not only is this a Great local place for diving that is only an hours drive from Auckland city. This location is great for the whole family to enjoy a relaxed day at the beach. Here you can BBQ on the waters edge with a playground facility for the children and safe swimming.

A day at Mathesons Bay, Photo by Sosefina

Freediver David Clark, Photo by Sosefina

Team heading out for a dive, Photo by Sosefina

Tony before his dive, Photo by Paul Morris

Tony and his 1st Crayfish, Photo by Paul Morris