2010 July | Dive Mistress

the winter-less north

With the few problems I have been having with this site and some little bugger who thought it would be fun to try and trash it, updates have been few and far between.

It also feels like ages since I got out for some really nice diving and scratched my itch.

In my quest to finish 300 dives by the end of winter 2010, I arranged for some dive buddies to head up to Tutukaka with me to spend the weekend out with Noel and Jo of Yukon Charters.

Marty and I drove up Friday morning – leaving a rather wet Auckland and heading through a rather foggy Bryndrwyn Hills to arrive in what Kate loves to call “the winterless north” And she was right.

Tutukaka Marina was bathed in sunlight and there was not a hint of a breeze.

We headed out to the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve looking forward to the great visibility that we had all been hearing about for some time.

Friday Dive One – Northern Arch

Skip and Marty and I headed towards the Arch from the Southern side of the entrance. Frustratingly for me, my camera battery had not charged properly overnight so I managed five/six photographs before it died.
This meant I got to an Arch absolutely clear as a bell and stacked full of fish with no camera to shoot it all.
l looked back through my dive profile and I hung in the Arch just spinning and watching the massive snapper for about 20 minutes (am getting really fed up with ending a dive because I need to pee!)

Dive Data
|| Depth: 27.15m | Time: 54 mins | Used Gas: 98.07 bar | SAC Rate: 11.53L/Min | Temp: 16 degrees |

Friday Dive Two – Rikoriko Cave

We headed down to the Cave and on the way down, Paulie started telling us how the Department of Conservation had apparently tried to tow the dead sperm whale – the one that was in the back of the cave during our end of May trip – out into deeper water.
There was talk of bones at the entrance of the cave – and an especially large piece of the head of the whale.

I was very very excited to jump over board for this dive. Ania and I geared up and let the boys head off first and then we descended down the anchor line and over to the entrance of the cave – and there it was! Huge! A massive piece of whale bone at the front of our sea cave.

Richie took some amazing photographs – there is a link to his site at the end of this post and I’ll probably post another article link to there as well

Dive Data
|| Depth: 26.49m | Time: 48 mins | Used Gas: 74.96 bar | SAC Rate: 12.27L/Min | Temp: 16 degrees |

Crested Blennie at The Passage

Saturday was not quite as nice as Friday weather wise.
Veronika, Alex, Ania and I headed off on a girls dive to a spot that I have not dived yet (yayy love new spots!)

The wall at The Passage is a lovely 23m to the sand and is covered in gorgonian fans and sponges.
I got a couple of photographs but not nearly enough. Its on my list of places to head back to.

Dive Data
|| Depth: 23.91m | Time: 56 mins | Used Gas: 94.48 bar | SAC Rate: 12.27L/Min | Temp: 16 degrees |

Saturday Dive Two – Rikoriko Cave

The sloppy water did not leave us with too many choices on dive spots for the afternoon so we headed back down to the Cave. We had plenty of new people on board to show the whale bones to.

This dive I took some quick video of Alex heading down to the head bone to show the sheer size of it!

Dive Data
|| Depth: 24.18m | Time: 56 mins | Used Gas: 83.91 bar | SAC Rate: 12.82L/Min | Temp: 16 degrees |

Sunday Dive One – Blue Maomao Arch

Sunday morning and I had my fishies on the boat! Pete and Nickie and Jono and John and Janie came out for the day.
We headed over to South Harbour and took a look at Blue Maomao Arch – which would be the most perfect of perfect introduction to the Poor Knights for Pete and Nickie and Janie who had not been out before.

Pete and Nickie waited til we were in the water til they headed off. Ania, John and Jono and I headed down the line to get settled and sorted and then headed into the arch. There were not a lot of fish – a couple of lone snapper. What I did notice is the dramatic increase in the number of kina and how the arch walls at the southwestern end are a lot more barren than what they used to be.

We mucked around in front of the arch – waving hi to Nickie – and then I saw a bronzie in the distance! Quickly making my shark signal, I took off after it – well closer at least – but it was gone. We headed down to 25m to have a nosy for sting rays as they are often lying on the sand but sadly they were not around today. A Clown Toado (Sharp Nose Pufferfish) came streaking out of the kelp and I managed to get that sign across to Jono before we needed to head back up to our safety stop.

Dive Data
|| Depth: 25.28m | Time: 61 mins | Used Gas: 103.49 bar | SAC Rate: 115.83L/Min | Temp: 16 degrees |

Sunday Dive Two – Magic Wall

By the time Noel moved the boat over to Magic Wall, I was itching to get back in to the water.

Scorpion Fish at Magic Wall

I checked my surface interval and starting gearing up telling the boys to move their butts. Dropped into the bay and headed straight over the rocks and to the wall. Kingfish, rays – lovely marine life everywhere!

I have no idea where the boys were for a lot of the dive but I spent most of it stuck to my camera. I was photographing fans on the underside of the swimthrough when Jono pointed out a massive Scorpion fish just above me.

Cruising along the wall, I found my Diademas and Red Banded Coral Shrimp and pointed those out. Jono probably hopes I’ll stop raving on about them now.

Dive Data
|| Depth: 17.34m | Time: 53 mins | Used Gas: 73.21 bar | SAC Rate: 12.43L/Min | Temp: 16 degrees |

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Richie Robinson has also posted some information and photographs of the Sperm Whale on his site : http://blog.depth.co.nz/2010/07/05/sperm-whale-physeter-macrocephalus/