New Zealand's Underwater Wonderland.....

Well, the diving info bit started to just get too big, so I thought it deserved a page all to itself......so here it is!

 

I've also embarked on the diving professional route.....more exams, again! good start though with my first four dive master exams scoring over 90% in all four, then I was let loose with students. Such a shame, but it means more diving as the Summer starts rolling in...had a great time last weekend in the Poor Knights again, Stuv - you have no idea how much you're missing, get the flights booked!

 

My first weekend as a DiveMaster went well, near zero viz but all students managed to follow my lead and non were lost at the end of the day! always a bonus.....

 

I've also just enjoyed, sorry, suffered a week at home on my own whilst Wendy has been "working" hard for a week in Vietnam....bought three series of "24" on DVD and a crate of beer, so hard!

 

28th October 2006

Another "really hard" weekend in Tutakaka has just been endured! with yet more diving at the Poor Knights, it's all waiting for you Stuv! water temperatures are still in winter mode with 16C being the warmest of the day, the air was 20C with sunny spells but any day out there is a good day. We stayed at Poor Knights Dive Stay with my Mum and Dad, beers and wine in the hot tub in the evening and the BBQ lit - we try and enjoy being so far away from you all! Back in wintery Auckland now this evening.........Dive Mastering next weekend, my first Open Water course as a responsible diver....oooopps.

8th January 2007

If anyone actually reads my site, they may start to notice that there's a bit of a pattern to my diving.....most of it takes place at the Poor Knight Islands, after all, having one of the worlds top dive sites within 2.5 hours of your door, it would be rude to not use it!

 

This past weekend was no exception,  I was very lucky to be invited by Martin and Jill to spend the day aboard their new boat "ShadowFax", and what a boat she is, a powerboat cunningly disguised as a diving boat, all 11 fantastic meters of her, powered by twin, 4 stroke, 250 marine engines, you just have to hang on as she heads to the islands, no worries about leaving late as you over take all the other boats and still make the sites first....check her out at www.pkdive.co.nz and also their amazing accommodation at  www.poorknightsdivestay.co.nz - Stuv...That's where you're staying!

 

We had three dives out at the islands, Middle Arch, probably one of my favorite sites, especially after having my Shark encounter there and then Nursery Cove and Mary's Wall. Diving with Martin, in his super new O'Three drysuit, and we were honored to have Wade Doak also diving with us. There were an abundance of Two Spot Demoiselles and Black Angel fish, all guarding their hordes of eggs, and loads of Sandaggers Wrasse trying to steal them. The water had warmed up slightly, being very unseasonably, cold, at only 18C, there were also loads of Nudibranch and many minutes were spent delving in the kelp and rocks to find them, and then capture them on film!

 

 

7th April 2007

Well, after more exams and loads of diving, I've qualified as a PADI Dive Master, I'm also a PADI Master Scuba Diver, in theory, that means that I can get paid to take people diving, cool...only problem would be finding a DM job that paid enough money so that I could actually buy any dive kit, sure is fun at weekends though.

 

As if Open Circuit Scuba (normal diving) isn't expensive enough, I'm being "sent" to Mauritius for work in two weeks, so I thought that I had better make the most of being next to a 30C Ocean and having an almost free weekend at the start of the week, and have booked a dive on a black tip reef shark feeding area on the Saturday afternoon and then I'm spending the Sunday doing a day on an Inspiration Vision Closed Circuit Rebreather (www.apdiving.com) looking forward to massive no stop times and no long bottom times, but mainly diving silently and making no bubbles....you can get much closer to all the sea life and not scare away the sharks! so I'm told anyhow.  I have a friend who imports them into NZ and he's got me lined up to order my unit the day I fly back in! we'll see - oh. what does expensive mean? about the same as I've just spent on my new car, and they are both the same colour.