Humans impact on Sharks either indirect or directly.

Had an opportunity to give a presentation to the local dive club last night and going thru my old photo's came across the following photo's of a Mako shark when I was living at Papamoa Beach.

Thought it was interesting enough to put up here with a bit of a description as to the background.
Be interesting to see post the Rena incident whether issues such as the sea lettuce and it causes get's pushed to the sidelines or whether the departments involved will have a renewed interest in environmental matters such as these.

 

This Mako shark was found on New Zealands Papamoa Beach, Thebeach is actively targeted by recreational fisherman that set their long- linesout to sea from the beach by using motorized towing devices that enables theirlines to reach into the favored fishing grounds.




 

An idyllic spot with lovely blue water and sandy white beaches it has howeverbecome exposed to seasonal periods of Green Sea Lettuce blooms and on this particular weekthe beach was smothered with rotting Green Sea Lettuce Ulva lacuca sp. It was so thick that the swell washing up onto thebeach was a vivid bright green. Unceremoniously dumped in the middle of thiswas the dead Mako shark. The once magnificent creature had its rear flankexposed and eyes eaten. 

The sea lettuce was a hotly debated topic in the Bay of Plenty with differingopinions on it’s cause but many theorizing that the pollutant runoffs from storm water drainage feeding into the harbour creates the perfect conditions forthe sea lettuce to flourish.
On the outgoing tide the sea lettuce is taken out from the harbour andcurrents, sea and wind conditions then transfers it along the coastline. Thisparticular area located some 16 kilometers from the harbour entrance.
 

The cause to the sharks demise can be debated - was it the see conditionsproduced from the Green Sea lettuce, or the increased pressure from the fishing? But what is clear is the negative outcomesour actions can have on its inhabitants.
It will be interesting to see on-going if the sea lettuce post Rena will re-appear from potential lingering pollutants with a vengeance or not!

Poor Knights Islands Trip Highlights

Here's a shortened version of the previous video with just the major highlights.

Poor Knights Video

Poor Knights Trip Report

Poor Knights Islands. Click to be taken to Flickr Set

Gail conditions with 3.5 m swells 45 knot winds and heavy rain wasn't enough to deter the keen group of divers on Dive Zone's trip out to the Poor Knights on Pacific Hideaway. After the drive up from Tauranga on the Wednesday and staying on board the vessel at Tutukaka marina on Wednesday night. Come the morning and we were greeted by the skipper Mark and all-round handyman Bruce with the bad news that the front had not moved off as quickly as hoped and due to 50 knot winds and 5m swells the weather conditions were going to be too hazardous so the call was made to delay departure to the next day.

Hats off to Tony and Nicki from DiveZone on making an option to go into Whangarei where some of the downtime was spent feeding, ten pin bowling, lazer tag and movies.

Fun Channel Crossing

Friday morning and we were off with a fun trip through Tutukakas narrow channel with half the boat feeding the fishes.The prophetic question was raised by a few as to what would be the options in those conditions if their was an engine failure, 5 minutes later and puffs of smoke coming from the exhausts was making the question a reality but 20 minutes later of wallowing in the lumpy conditions Bruce had braved the diesel fumes to sort it out.





First dive site for the day was Landing Bay Pinnacles, a great spot with something for everyone. The mixed gas and twinset brigade managed to get 62 m in, for the not so intrepid plenty of fish life and even Nudibranchs at the safety stop as a hidden gem hidden amongst the the kelp.

Nudibranchs at Safety Stop

More dry suit failures to yet again convince me to keep braving the wetsuit, luckily the long intervals waiting for the compressor refills meant a chance to warm and feed up.. Thanks to the crew and Cayleb who was always keen to make everyone their hot drinks.

Taravana Cave

Everyone was keen to explore Taravana Cave with the group sandwiched between Tony at the front and Dave in the rear. It gave me a great opportunity to get some nice shots but was over all too soon that I wish I had taken the eye of the camera's viewfinder to soak in the experience.




























A quick look at Northern Arch and due to the lift present decided Bigeye Cave was the next spot. Last minute changes in location make the decision on whether to go Macro or Wideangle more difficult and an exercise in how efficient you've got the routine down.
I thought the spot was a bit lackluster and even after persistent hunting no more nudibranchs seen. What was interesting though was a persistent large school of very large snapper moving along the wall back and forth , as snapper do so well - just out of camera range.


The boat parked up for the night in Rikoriko Cave and after a feast on lamb shanks 2 groups went down for night dives. I did my own thing as per normal and headed to the back where Tony told me the remains of a whale could be found, quite eerie coming across the skeletal remains of what was such such an awesome beast and the imagination runs wild in the quiet darkness wondering what caused it's fate.

Whale JawBone

A return swim back thru the intergalactic light ray show had one of the instructors going off at her students for not following her instructions, felt sorry for her as hard to maintain a group at the best of times then to add the element of darkness and her being out of her own familiar comfort zone.
A few years previous I had been leading a group at the entrance to Rikoriko when the husband and wife had a massive argument 30m down with full gesticulating at one another, then going off in a huff in opposite directions so could fully comprehend her stress levels.









The group were not long after tucked up for their nights sleep and after gong thru Anna's great photos on Sarah's laptop it was time to hit the sack too. Sometimes jealous of the compact cameras and the ability to get into tight positions without all the hassle a large SLR housing brings with it and the quality of the cameras has made great photos possible at the tenth of the costs. So many people have now opted for the Canon G 12 and seeing the results it's not hard to see why.

Being first up the next morning meant my evil streak got the chance to switch the lights on, but I wasn't to keen to ring the bell as that would have meant I would have been waking the skipper and if you've seen Mark you would know that would not be a good option.

Red Pigfish at Northern Arch

Northern arch was first spot for the morning and a long dive for me hunting out more nudibranchs meant I had missed out on all the action.

Nudibranchs making me miss out on the action

A playful pod of bottle-nose dolphins had been playing with all the other divers while I had been using the last of my air on getting "the shot". A quick dump of the scuba gear and a quick paddle over was to no avail. Think it was all a conspiracy so the others could have seconds with my waiting breakfast.
 A quick haul over to Middle Arch had me quickly back in the water to see if 2nd time round I would have better luck this time round with the beasties. Amazing how effortless they move thru the water when you're busy chasing. Like watching my cats play with my 1 year old, just close enough then bam they're out of their before you get the chance to interact. Managed to get a few good video shots but was disappointed with the camera shots as the distance involved and the water conditions on the surface resulted in unsatisfactory results.

Bottlenose dophins that followed us about the island

Stu and Cayleb had one of them doing somersaults as they did their descent and many others in the group got an good interactive experience. Tony said next time he would charge extra for dolphin visits!
A nice way to wait out the time for my bottle fill.

Snapper never too far from the dolphin action

Being last instead of first in for the dive meant that Air Bubble Cave was a no go for photos due to back scatter so instead focused on the walls but nothing of note other than the large snapper that were plentiful. Not sure if their is an association with dolphins but this wasn't the first time that I've seen snapper and dolphins hanging out together and I watched the snapper multiple times dining out on  dolphin poo.




Last up was Marys Wall and the Chimneys. some confusion existed but this may have been Red Baron Caves, a site I had been eager to revist after my last dive here some 28 years previous!
Keen to get some diver  silhouettes I hung out with Anna and Sarah, keeping my distance so as not to cramp their style. A great dive and nice one to end the trip with.

Thanks to Sarah and Anna I was able to follow them about trying to capture some sillouhettes in the chimneys

A quick trip back and an uneventful crossing of the channel and it was time for the long trip back to Tauranga.

Apart from the loss of one days diving due to the weather and more particles in the water than ideal a great trip and one I'm keen to revisit again. Their maybe more fish life in other locations such as White Island but the number of photo opportunities that the Poor Knights offers in one spot in my experience cant be matched elsewhere in New Zealand.

The Unwilling seal

Mayor Island

Had an awesome forecast so headed out to Mayor Island yesterday, one place that almost always has the potential to be fantastic diving but almost always disappoints. Visibility was once again rubbish, which seems to be a common theme for me in the last 3 outings.

Northern Side of the Island within the Reserve

The large pins and obsidian layers on the island make for stunning scenery. Back in the early days the obsidian was prized by Maori for cutting instruments and was traded all over the north island.

Now where were those underwater pins?

We attempted to find some uncharted submerged pins that I had come across a few years ago but to no avail.

Attempted to get some split level shots here as diving was fairly uninteresting.

Once back on boat spotted a seal on the rocks so went back to see if I could tempt it into the water to play.

Kna

Only one of 3 boats out there on the day

 Had a dive at the never fail spot for crayfish but lots of little bugs and only takeable ones were in berry.

Trusty boat for the day

Went from rocky shallow dive spot to 30m at Tuhua Reef looking for better clarity but surprisingly Tuhua Reef was down to 3m visibility on the surface which was quite unexpected for a place re-known for it's diving. Had large amounts of Splendid Perches 30m down so was not altogether a loss.

Large numbers of Splendid Perch

And no fish for dinner.

Schooner Rks and Okaparu Reef

Getting cabin feverish so headed out on the club trip to Schooner Rocks and Okuparu Reef. Decided to take the Wide angle lens as reports from the spearo's and others on the boat water visibility wasn't that bad when off the coastline. Headed to a spot a few hundred meters off the rocks.

Yuck, terrible photography conditions with too much particle in the water.

Visibility means two different things to spearos and photographers!

Regretted taking the camera as headed straight down onto a cave which some nice sized crays, all easily accessible and could have had my limit filled!! Potentially a nice spot with some many steep walls and holding a reasonable amount of fish life. Be nice when clear.

Plenty of Crayfish

After a long break between dives when in again at Okaparu Reef armed with 60mm macro.

Pesky fishlife kept interrupting my posing Triplefins!

Lots of fish life sitting out in the open but few perched in the nicely located positions for some nice profile shots so reasonably happy with what I did considering.

Nice to get out but not sure amongst the bad weather we've been having but really think the water needs at least three days of nice weather to get settled to make it suitable for photo's.

Life amongst the anenomies

Memorable quote from the day was when someone had got their new spearfishing suit on and hen asked a question said "I cant hear anything thru this suit's hood", and in reply " Didn't you listen to your parents when you were nine and they said masturbating would make you deaf!" Gotta love old fellas sense of humor!

Greg the Takahe Passes Away

It was sad news that I heard that Greg the Takahe died on Sunday. One of only 260 surviving Takahe’s remaining. His contribution to increasing the birds population and awareness of the conservation programmes thru his self appointed ambassador role live on.
Thought to be extinct in 1948, breeding programmes like the one on Tiritiri Matangi Island have enabled the species to be reintroduced back to it's native alpine grasslands.

I had the privilege to spend a little while with the mighty bird a few years agoand thought I would share the video here.

If you get the chance to go to Tiri Tiri matangi Island on Aucklands WhangaparaoaPeninsula it’s definitely worth the trip to experience first hand the greater fforts that the conservation programme has made to what was only a few decades earlier barren farm land.

Such has been the emotional responsefrom those whose lives have been touched by this bird that the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi are planning to set up a fund in Gregs memory, to be used for future conservation projects on the island.

Aldermen Islands video

The Aldermen Islands

The Aldermen Islands. Click on photo to be taken to Flickr Set

Had an invite from my friend Greg to go out diving at the Aldermen Islands on Friday, as the weather had been lousy for the last month with a constant hammering from storm fronts I was keen to take up the opportunity while we had a narrow weather gap.

The Aldermen Islands lie approximately 30kms north of the seaside township of Whangamata in the Coromandel.

The Aldermen Group is the remnants of volcanic cone, it consists of four main islands, Hongiara, Middle, Ruamahuanui and Ruamahuaiti.

Many regard the islands as some of the best temperate diving in the world, with the East Auckland Current sweeping past bringing with it various warmer water species that later become established.

We investigated a few spots for a spot of fishing beforehand but sadly lucked out, but marked a very steep and interesting pinnacle that comes up form 50m of water to 8m below the surface.









We will tackle this again on the future when the conditions are clearer and we have a boat person on board that isn't of the hairy variety.




















The first dive was on the northern side of the group at a small islet that we hadn't dived before. The usual suspects but poor visibility limited the options but armed with a 60mm macro setup had a few opportunities with Triplefins and a Yellow Moray eel.

TripleFin

All the photography action was in a small 2m square area, but the shallowness combined with slight surge made macro photography difficult.

Yellow Moray eel

On the surface swim back to the boat Greg pointed out a brown bird following me closely. Not sure who was more curious the bird or me but was extremely tame and a very willing subject.

Northern Giant Petrel

Later research revealed that this was a juvenile Great Northern Petrel, distinguishable from a Great Southern Petrel by the color on the front of the beak.
Their huge nostrils are capable of detecting their main diet of rotting carcasses from several miles away and I can detest when it breathed on me they Stink!

Part of their defense mechanism is that they have will spit an oily stomach substance. Luckily for me this was not needed, fortunately for me as it did have a very strong odor and could have done with a few breath mints.



The next dive up was the most northern main island Ruamahuanui Island. Greg was on the hunt for crayfish and thought they may have been up in the shallows as none were found previously.

Ruamahuanui Island

An amazing difference in the clarity of the water here and I had a great dive enjoying the scattered light rays filtering through the calm sea.

Two Spot Demoiselles

Next dive up was the caves at Hongiora (Flat) Island. This was no camera dive for me as the visibility was lacking. This is a great cave network that has multiple entry and exit points, The cave itself is exposed with a few meters of air covering so if needed can safely ascend to the surface and swim out. The one caveat is that the surge can be quite strong at the rear of the caves even with a mild swell so care can be needed. Afterwards we question the viability of helmets as the rush of being pushed in and out does make you wonder how much protection a neoprene hood really offers if you hit a rock at speed.

A quick stray-line for Greg afterwards while I was de-kitting rewarded him with a nice sized snapper for several dinners.

Another great trip and as always the Aldermen Islands didn't disappoint, the great thing about diving that I find is the unknown around the corner, even a mediocre dive can be turned on it's head by the arrival of an unexpected visitor.

An Underwater Journey

Highlights of 2011 / 12 underwater footage. Shot in Bay of Plenty/Coromandel, New Zealand.

Photo Sets on Flickr

Diadema Reef. Click on photo to be taken to Flickr Underwater Sets

White Island Video

White Island

Diadema Reef, Click on Photo to be taken to Flickr Set

Had a great weekend on the Mount Maunganui Underwater Dive Club's boat Mantra.

White Island is a volcanic island some 50kms out from Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty, due to the open expanse of water and distances involved it can be a long time before you get suitable conditions to venture out. Finally after several months of cancellations the weather was looking good and the trip was a go.

We left Mt Maunganui Bridge Marina on Friday night, arriving several hours later in pitch black darkness at White Island's southern end, the wind was screaming in the bay that was assumed to be protected from the headwind, a bit of steaming around the corner and we found the spot for the night with one other vessel as our neighbor.

An early rise the next morning to a glorious sunny day and calm seas. After a hearty breakfast it was a short steam around to dive White Island Volkner Rocks.
Iain and Tony were keen to have their first real attempt a testing out the boats new sonar recording kit. Whenever traveling over interesting topography the sonar recording device would capture information presenting it on the laptop as 3d map, the more extensively an area was covered the greater the detail enabling you to build up a vast amount of detail over time. Worked great and you could confidently get a lay of the land for targeting areas on the next dive.

First dive up was Laisons Reef, this pinnacle rises up from 150 meters to 8 meters. A huge number of Blue and Pink Maomao.Next up Diadema Reef, Once again large popuilations of Blue and Pink Maomaos, lots of posing Scorpion fish and various moray eels.
The huge numbers of fish life and clarity of the water made for very enjoyable dives. A close watch on the bottom time was needed as the water was so clear it gave a false sense of depth on these pinnacles which rise from very deep water.

Due to the previous dives depths the next dive was in shallower water in a interesting looking area by Little Volkner, A large shallow reef system with undulating boulders with a few Kingfish making their way through various schooling fish. The boulders had a few resident Blue Mokis hanging about.

Three of us were keen to do a night dive, Patrick and I followed Steve's lead, due to his familiarity to the area, sure enough he had us on a nice little tour around the reef's edge to a cave, Apart from the normal suspects I managed to spot a hairy crab, some sort of fast moving mackerel, and some shrimps. On the way back just before ascending came across a plaque that was placed in memory of a diver who was lost in this area a few years back. A reminder about the fragility of ourselves in this alien environment.

The next day it was Homestead Reef, this would have been my highlight of the weekend due the variety of fish life and the large population of Blue Moki happy to let me hang out in their group.

The final dive for the day was Club Rocks before the long haul home. The suit up was interesting as the conditions had deteriorated big time with the howling wind having returned, driving the acidic sulphur from the volcanic plumes from White Island, fair enough Tony wasn't too keen to keep the boat exposed to these elements for too long. After the scattered divers returned to the boat it was time for the long haul home, I spent a large majority of the time at the stern attempting to capture the Bullers Mollymawk albatrosses that were following us back, Not too successful with a full card and the need to keep deleting shots to take the next shot. The birds were very obliging though with multiple flybys.
A great weekend and a thanks for Steve for persevering with the multiple cancellations to see the trip organization thru to the end.

Long Hours and no diving.

Wow a crazy last few months of 16 hour days so diving has unfortunately taken a backseat. Have finally got some breathing space so have edited some video clips. Hope you enjoy them.

The Beginning