Dive Tutukaka

The Maori concept of kotahitanga refers to unity and collaboration, and is reflected in a new accreditation awarded to a long-standing scuba diving operator that is making the sport more accessible. Dive Tutukaka, the first in New Zealand to be named a PADI Adaptive Services Facility, brings adventurers of all levels (truly) to the waters of Poor Knights Island in the Marine Protected Area off New Zealand’s North Island with comprehensive services and infrastructure to “meet the needs of divers with physical, psychological, or mental challenges,” says Fraser Bathgate, the Adaptive Techniques Coordinator for PADI Worldwide. Bathgate, who was paralyzed in a climbing accident in his 20s and later learned to scuba dive, says Dive Tutukaka epitomizes PADI’s commitment to cultivating diversity and inclusion across the dive industry–a movement he hopes dive centers and resorts around the world will be inspired to follow. At Dive Tutukaka’s lodge, that means wider door entrances, sloped floors and ramps, and signage placed at an appropriate level for wheelchair users; on its fleet of boats, railings were removed and access widened throughout. Staff-to-diver ratios are lowered to accommodate all abilities and instructors are taught to modify training when attention span is limited, noises associated with diving are traumatic, or fins and gloves need to be fitted differently. It’s all aimed at making it easier to access some of the world’s best subtropical underwater sights, including massive schools of blue maomao, colorful nudibranchs (gastropod mollusks with often fanciful forms), and stingrays. The certification and training takes so-called “special needs” and normalizes them, says Dive Tutukaka owner Kate Malcom. “The ocean is a great leveler—none of us should be there, and yet we all can. It opens such wonder for us all.”

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