Tonga Marine Reserve Community Guided Snorkel Day 2026

Join us for a day of exploring our local Marine Reserve!

Tasman Bay Guardians (TBG) are hosting an Experiencing Marine Reserves (EMR)community guided snorkel day at Tonga Marine Reserve in the Abel Tasman National park! This is an activity for locals and NZ residents not for tourists*. The snorkelling activity is free of charge. You will need to pay $50 per person for the return boat trip- this is a special subsidised rate Abel Tasman Seashuttle offers us. There will also be a small Eventbrite booking fee.

Please meet us at the white TBG trailer in Kaiteriteri, approximately opposite the boat wash station near 3 Riwaka-Kaiteriteri Road, at 7:30 am. Here, we'll have registration and gear fitting with your friendly snorkel guide (or you may bring your own gear- no full face masks, please, for safety reasons). We provide free gear hire of snorkel, mask, fins, wetsuits, boogie boards and fish ID charts.

We will be ready to board the boat with our gear at 8:30 for a 9:00 am departure. We will see some sites along the way and arrive at Tonga Quarry around 10.30 am. We'll depart from Tonga Quarry Beach at 3:10 pm and return to Kaiteriteri at approximately 4:20 pm.

PLEASE BE PROMPT, as the sea shuttle will not wait.

There will be three snorkel rotations, with a chance to go for a bush walk or relax on the beach when it is not your turn. Please bring food and water for yourself for the day. You'll have a safety briefing before you try out your gear in the shallows and explore the water with your guide and group for up to 45 minutes. Keep an eye out for blue cod, spotties, wrasse, squid, kahawai, goatfish, triple fins, eagle rays and octopus!

PLUS when you are not snorkelling there will be an opportunity to investigate the nearby freshwater stream and find out how healthy it is using our SHMAK (Stream Health Monitoring Assessment Kit). We will look at the temperature, clarity, flow and macroinvertebrates (bugs) in the stream.

This is possible with Department of Conservation (DOC) and Abel Tasman Sea Shuttle sponsorship.

No experience is required. Ages 7+.

Donation/koha is welcome- towards future events, school deliveries and restoration projects. Navigate to the ticket page and click the koha/donate button) OR visit our TBG webpage to see all the ways you can get involved.

PLEASE NOTE: you must pre-register for this event on this website. Please direct enquiries to [email protected]. There is very limited cell phone coverage in the park. We carry marine radios and an EPIRB for emergency communication.

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*This event is for locals and NZ residents and not a tourist activity. We love tourists don't get us wrong! However the sponsors of this event want it to be a treat for locals and other NZ residents. Thank you for understanding.

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Host or Publisher Tasman Bay Guardians