About Us

We are purely a business that offers the opportunity to clients to interact with the natural world and we do not commercially fish to help fund our business (unlike a other shark cage operators who catch tonnes of shark for export).

Mike Haines, owner of Southern Aqua Adventures

I’m Mike and I have been diving this region for nearly 30 years, having been born and bred down here. I have an intimate knowledge of this region and can take you to some of the best sights that Stewart Island has to offer with a mission to show visitors the amazing world of Stewart Island above and below the water in a way that is not only safe, but also informative and fun.

Mike's qualifications and skills:

• Skipper 12 years
• Dive Instructor  22 years
• Commercial diver 20 years
• Equipment service technician and Shark wrangler (A shark wrangler plays with the shark using bait so his or her job is to keep enticing the shark to keep coming back without feeding it.)

Southern Aqua Dive Store in Invercargill

Southern Aqua Adventures also operates a vessel in Milford Sound and has a dive store in Invercargill giving us an unprecedented level of experience and dedication when dealing with customers.

The Vessel: "Candice-Britt"

The Candice-Britt is a very modern luxury purpose built 22-metre catamaran, which can take up to 40 people, and sleep up to 14.

There are five sleeping areas:

• Pacific Suite* - double bed with ensuite
• Tasman Suite* - double bed
• Foveaux – 3 bunkrooms for backpackers (with 4 beds each)
  *all suites are fully serviced with linen supplied 
   

The Cantice-Britt makes a wonderful base from which to explore Stewart Island and Bluff.

Specifications of the Candice-Britt:

• Number of guests for day trips:  40
• Number of guests for overnight trips:  14 
• Length:  22 metres
• Cruising Speed:  18 knots
• Onboard compressor
• Fully equipped gallery
• 12 kva generator
• Skippered Live aboard 
• Skippered Daytrips