It's another hour drive to Pupu Springs, a beautifully clear pond fed by underground springs and flowing out to a river. The water here is renowned to be the clearest freshwater in the world. From the side I can see sand and pebbles bubbling as 910,000,000 litres of water per day flow from beneath the ground. Kevin had summarised this more understandably as 40 bath tubs per second.
In the water it's like diving in a bright and brilliantly lit fish bowl. Various pond weeds adorn the rocks. Small freshwater crawfish potter about and are easily approachable. Eels are more difficult to approach while other fish can easily be seen, but only from across the pond.
Jason has warned me to watch out as I cross the bubbling sandy patches. Surges of water push me off course or towards the surface. At only a few metres deep this isn't a safety hazard, but I do have a cool diver image to maintain!
To protect the spring from overcrowding, diving is limited to 4 in the water at a time and maximum dive time of 15 minutes. The diveable area of the spring is smaller than many swimming pools, so 15 minutes is not a problem and there is only one other group of divers.
For a final dive we had planned to do a drift down a nearby river, reputed to be more of a thrill than a dive, but with the current drought it isn't really worth it. I change lenses, reload film, and go for another 15 minutes in the spring.
As far as I know, Cousteau didn't dive either of these sites. If you go to New Zealand, you have to dive Riwaka Caves and Pupu Springs.