Once again...average cost...you know the score!!! Shore diving at Goat Island is UNMISSABLE if you are in Auckland (Leigh is 1 hour North) or if you decide to travel up the East coast of Northland towards the Bay of Islands/Cape Reinga. The 30 years that the Island and surrounding area have been protected have really paid off and the reserve is an example of how exciting, dynamic, diverse and full of life the ocean used to be! Throughout my dive I was surrounded by numerous species of fish including the famous HUGE Goat Island Snappers! At one point a school of hundreds of white Mullet cruised past me. At another point, myself and my buddy were mid water when the biggest school of fish I've ever dived with surrounded us. These Kahawai (sea trout) were in a group so big that we could not see outside to the surface, the seabed or any open water around us!!! A momentary feeling of insignificance in the huge ocean (and of wishing I had a decent u/w camera!!!!) Protect the ocean and all the planet.