Poor Knights Marine Reserve Trip

In August, Mike Smith from Ocean Hunter took a group of us up to the Poor Knights Marine Reserve for some diving. We had already postposed the trip once due to poor weather (my experience of the Poor Knights is always poor weather) and decided this time it had to go ahead. I seem to have this effect on the Poor Knights. I have attempted four times to spend weekends there and this was just my second day of diving! With the world plotting against us, we arrived in Tutkaka towing the boat only to have to return straight back to Whangarei in search of petrol for the boat.

Mike, who had just returned from a couple of weeks of glorious, warm, abundant spear-fishing in Tahiti decided to just be Captain Mike, a bit afraid of the cold water, diving without a speargun and probably the most convincing excuse was the new tattoo that adorned his upper thigh, incomplete due to the timing of his departing flight from Tahiti. We did manage to catch a glimpse although he became a bit shy about sharing.

My beautiful new Elios suit, that fitted so well and kept me toasty warm over summer let me down a little after the loss of about 6 kg (that’s what training does to me, I guess 10% of your body weight is significant when it comes to wetsuits). I should have known better and worn a vest but it was lost in a box somewhere with all my other worldly possessions. It was frustrating to have to get out and warm up regularly.

The first day, the weather was calm and overcast. The water was flat and the fish life swirled around us in abundance. We followed a rare surprise of a turtle. He came up and look straight into Phil’s lens. Perhaps he saw the reflection and though he’d found a friend. He must have been lost. I’m sure the Poor Knights is not warm enough for turtles.

After lunch and watching some big lively snapper swimming around under the boat, trevally jumping out of the water around us and a King Fish sniffing around, we headed into an enormous cave. There was nothing but us in the water but the light and visibility were spectacular. Poor Mike sat on the boat wondering what was so special down there in the darkness. The water was about 15m deep but you could see the ripples in the sandy bottom from the surface. I did not take my camera from the boat and have yet to see what photos came out of the cave, I’m sure they were pretty spectacular.

As the bad weather started to roll in towards us we found a sheltered area with lots of funs things to play with. There was a little cave that sucked in water and spat out air and another cave to ride through on the waves. We found an eel and nudibranch and the general fish life was still plentiful. The rain started and the water clouded over, and we headed for the shore, a little rougher than we’d started with.
The Bach was great. The outdoor shower was refreshing and we spent the evening in front of the fire, tired after a fun day in the sea. We had a great feast with dessert as Mike had neglected to inform us it was his birthday the day before.
The second day was not great. The weather had completely changed and the sea was stormy. All visibility was lost and the water had turned to soup. The boys had a quick dive on the local coast and managed to shoot one poor tiny fish which provided us each with no more than a couple of bite-sized portions each for lunch, but saw practically nothing. That was the night the snow came and we were all lucky to make it back home in time for work.