Dive Pacific 175 Dec2020 Jan 2021

LOCKDOWN TALES
from around the country
Dive Pacific asked several dive operators seven questions how they fared this
tumultuous year, and from their responses we’ve compiled an account of how its
been, what’s been good, not so good, and where to from here.
1) Over the last nine months Covid
19 has disrupted everyone but
especially your business as a
dive/tourism operator. How did
it hit you?
“Where do I start!” said Craig
Johnson of Paihia Dive in the
Bay of Islands. He may well
have been speaking on behalf
of all dive operators. “We run
dive charters with over 80% of
international visitors so having
the border closed had a massive
effect.”
Then, when Auckland shut down
the second time, Northland
was cut off from the rest of
the country. “That was tough,
especially as kiwi divers had
started to travel and book trips.”
For Waiheke Dive Adam’s short
answer is “Dramatically. Our
business had a pretty even split
between domestic and international
pre-Covid, so that meant
that a large amount of our
market didn’t exist anymore.”
Brent McFadden of Go Dive
Pacific in Picton reports that
“Due to the lockdown cutting
the summer season short by
twomonths, we lost a number of
charters, especially as Easter and
ANZAC fell within the Alert Level
4 lockdown. We were able to run
the usual trips over the winter
months but lost all our advanced
“start of season” overseas
bookings with planned group
trips heading overseas cancelled.
Kevin Halverson of Gisborne’s
Dive & Gas says it decimated the
Dive shop, but the other side of
the business got them through,
and now seems to be growing
again, with solid local support.
…Our business had a pretty even split between domestic and
international pre-Covid, so that meant that a large amount of
our market didn’t exist anymore…
Richard Abernethy of Fiordland
Expeditions reported: “We lost
70% of our customers overnight.
Fortunately we were already
strong in the domestic market
for dive charters and have
experienced an uptake as people
can’t travel overseas.”
Photo Credit: Fiordland Expeditions
Fiordland Expeditions offers spectacular crayfish...
Kate Malcolm of Dive Tutukaka
says they were fully shut for
56 days in total. But the Wage
Subsidy allowed us to keep our
talented staff, and the place has
never looked so clean!
“Our base is a 50/50 split with
domestic and international
tourists, so we have missed our
overseas friends. Our fingers are
crossed for a Niue Travel Bubble
where we have our sister centre
Niue Blue ready to welcome
Kiwis for diving and humpback
20 Dive New Zealand | Dive Pacific