New Zealand Rebreather Diver

Opunake in Spring

2007-09-17T00:04:00.000+12:00

Spring is a wonderful season here in New Zealand. Trees regrow their green canopies and gardens burst with wildlife. The ocean also undergoes a transformation with the water temps slowly coming back up prompting the start of the mating season for many marine creatures.

For me it is a time to observe the hustle and bustle of the underwater world, so I decided to take my first dive of Spring off the Old Wharf in Opunake, Taranaki. The shore dive is not spectacularly deep but it does offer the opportunity to mix with many different beasties.

The water was a bit murky with visibility at only a metre or so but that made it a bit more exciting. The only thing I had to watch for was large boulders which have a tendency to rush at you in the surging conditions (I've had more bumps to my head than I care to remember through surge-surfing underwater boulder mazes!) As my dive progressed I noticed the large number of kina (sea urchins) covering the reef. This was a sad sight as it demonstrated that the local Snapper population was insufficient to control the spread of these pests.

Elsewhere on the reef crayfish poked their feelers out from under boulders whist sheltering from the midday sunlight, Red Moki grazed away on their well groomed patches of muticoloured vegetation, and stingrays passed within centimetres of me coming silently out of the murk presumably to check out who the mystery diver was on their reef. At one point I stumbled upon an extremely large octopus which momentarily paused to take a look at me before it got back to its business of hunting down a crayfish in a hole.

All too soon it was time to leave the underwater world and get back to shore where my wife was waiting patiently for me.
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Photo Credit: Young, I.M., 2007 (September 16), The old wharf at Opunake. All rights reserved.

Time for gear servicing

2007-07-01T13:47:00.000+12:00

Today is an unpleasant winters day with plenty of wind and rain; not exactly ideal for diving but great for getting all the dive kit out on the workbench for a thorough check over.

Amoungst all the gear I checked was my old Inspo' rebreather electronics. These "Classic" APD Inspiration electronics have the new style co-axial wiring loom and use R22D-AP oxygen cells. I gently took the lid assembly apart and unscrewed the cells from the cell holder to test the mV output of the cells. Each cell's reading was a very basic reflection of their general fitness and mine were at the end of their useful life. Once the lid was reassembled, without the cells, it was cleaned as necessary before being packed away for storage in its container.
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Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2007 (July 1), AP Diving R22D-AP oxygen cells. All rights reserved.

OZTek7 in Sydney 17-18 March

2007-03-12T09:45:00.000+13:00

OZTek7 kicks off in Sydney, Australia, on March 17. The two day technical diving conference and exhibition has almost every technical dive gear manufacturer in the industry showcasing their latest and greatest innovations, and more distinguished speakers than you could ever shake a stick at!

At the last OZTek, I found that there wasn't enough time in the day to visit all the exhibitors stands and attend the many seminars/workshops. Careful planning is required to avoid disappointment. There was a workshop held by Simon Mitchell that turned out to be so popular that the organisers, Richard Taylor and David Strike, had to quickly amend the programme to try and fit in another workshop session to appease the masses that never managed to squeeze into the first workshop.

Pete Mesley is going to do a presentation on his and Simon Mitchell's recent dive on the Port Kembla. Simon Mitchell is presenting a seminar on "Prevention of decompression sickness for technical divers in the 21st century" and holding a workshop session titled "Respiratory physiology at extreme depth: Lessons from the Dave Shaw accident that deep divers should understand".

You can visit the OZTek7 website and see who the exhibitors and the speakers are at this link here: OZTek7 Dive Show. Tickets are available at the door of the venue (held at the Australian Technology Park, Locomotive Workshop Eveleigh).

Port Kembla rediscovered

2007-03-10T15:36:00.000+13:00

Here is the official post by Simon Mitchell to the Dive-Oz diving discussion forum about the shipwreck I blogged about on February 12.

Port Kembla wreck dived

Posted - 13 February 2007 : 10:47:07 AM

Gidday,

A small team from Auckland has located and dived the wreck of the "Port Kembla" in 96m some 8 miles west of Farewell Spit (top of the South Island). This wreck was significant in that she was lost to a mine in 1917 left by the same German raider that laid the mine that sank the Cumberland off southern NSW. As is often the case, local fishermen had marks they believed to be the wreck but there was no contemporary confirmation of that. The wreck had not been dived previously.

We dived the wreck last Friday and Saturday. It is a stunning site, or at least it was on the days we were there. A good 30 - 40m viz on the bottom with natural light to burn and the wreck was covered in fish. We did not begin to see the whole thing, but it was positively identified from plates bearing the company insignia (Commonwealth and Dominion Shipping Company). We also found the ship's bell.

The mode of sinking is not the only similarity with the Cumberland. The site also lies in very exposed and difficult waters; at the entrance to Cook Strait which is famous for its inclement weather and strong currents. Travelling to dive it will always be a bit of a gamble, but potentially with great rewards if our experience is anything to go by.

The team was: master and mate - Tony and Nick (local fishermen); deck boss - Geoff Payne; local logistics and deck support - Brian (Nelson diver); bottom divers - Pete Mesley and Simon Mitchell; safety diver - Dave Young; topside video and research - Mike Fraser. I will post a couple of stills from the video when they become available.

Simon M.

The article and forum discussion can be found here: Dive-Oz Discussion Forums/Technical Diving - Wreck Diving/Port Kembla wreck dived

There are pictures of the expedition on Pete Mesley's website and they can be found here: Port Kembla Expedition 2007
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Article Credit: Mitchell, S., Port Kembla wreck dived, 2007 (February 13), Dive-Oz Web Services. All rights reserved.
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Virgin shipwreck

2007-02-12T00:38:00.000+13:00

I'm just back from an expedition to locate and verify the identity of a 90 year old shipwreck lying off the coast of New Zealand. Two rebreather divers conducted two days of diving in about 100m of water and found items that will confirm the name of the vessel.

More details will be posted along with photos very shortly.

News article about Nigel Lees' Inquest

2007-01-24T17:55:00.000+13:00

Below is an article I stumbled across on the internet about the inquest held for Nigel Lees, my rebreather diving buddy who tragically died a while back. At the time of the accident, everyone involved was cautioned not to reveal any details until the inquest had run its due course. A month ago the Blenheim Coroner held the inquest and the findings were made public.

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Diver error cause of rebreather scuba diving fatality

by CYBER DIVER News Network - Original source: Marlborough Express

Marlborough, New Zealand (Dec 22, 2006)

A diver who drowned at Ship Cove last year had failed to turn on his oxygen providing rebreather equipment properly.

At an inquest this week Blenheim coroner Peter Radich found Nigel Peter Lees, 48 of Stratford, died of hypoxia with subsequent drowning on September 22, 2005, the result of the misuse of equipment.

A Police National Dive Squad report presented at the inquest stated Mr Lees had been diving alone off a chartered boat in good conditions to check his gear. He was also planning to clear mussels off the mooring line and collect crayfish.

Mr Lees, his wife Bronwyn and several other divers had charted the boat, the Sandpiper, to dive the Lermontov wreck and other wrecks over four days.

The report stated that because Mr Lees' electronic handsets were not turned on, additional oxygen was not being put into the system to compensate that being lost.

The report noted Mr Lees was an experienced diver and methodical in the maintenance of his equipment. However he went diving alone, which the report states is against safe diving practice and he failed to ensure his equipment was on. Mr Lees' equipment was in good condition prior to the dive, the report said.

Diver David Young, who was part of the dive trip, brought Mr Lees' body to the surface after the group became worried about how long he had been in the water for. He stated in written brief that he found Mr Lees lying face up at a depth of 15m with his rebreather switches turned off.

Mr Young said CPR compressions were attempted from the boat, unsuccessfully.

Mr Radich said the long delay between Mr Lees' death and the inquest was because the diving equipment was sent to England, where it was manufactured, to be investigated.

He said Mr Lees' death was "yet another diving death which highlights the dangers of diving" and the need for correct practices where equipment was concerned.
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Link to article at CDNN

Dive safe for 2007

2006-12-31T17:08:00.000+13:00

A big thanks to everyone who visits my New Zealand Rebreather Diver blog, your comments are what keeps it going.

2006 has been a slow year for my diving, but hopefully 2007 will see far more diving blogs from me as I'm taking up underwater photography and will share with you all the wonders that I encounter on my dives.

Have a fantastic 2007, and if you're a diver, dive safe.

Dave

Two very different dives

2006-12-21T22:35:00.000+13:00

On Saturday, December 17th, I was at the Poor Knights diving off the Yukon Dive Charters boat "Arrow". The rest of the divers aboard were all experienced divers so our skipper Noel anchored up at a site called "The Canyon" where black coral trees could be found in the depths.

Dive 1 - The Canyon

I dived with Greg van der Hulst, Pete Mesley, and Greg Lowe, who were all diving rebreathers. After getting into the 16C water, we descended down to the 50m mark and swam along the gently sloping white sand bottom. Quite quickly it was time for Greg Lowe to start his ascent back up the Canyon's walls to reduce his decompression obligations which were restricted by the amount of bailout he had available for the depth he was diving.

Pete had his camera and took photos of anything that was of interest. This included assorted nudibranchs and the rarer fish species which hide well away from the more popular diver trails. Greg van der Hulst managed to pose in the background as an aesthetic enhancement (eye candy!) for most of Pete's pictures.

We discovered a magnificent specimen of a black coral tree as we made our way back into the Canyon's entrance. It sat perched on the side of a large boulder and sprouted its many limbs far out into the food rich waters that flowed through the passageway. At about 45m I discovered a crayfish that showed no fear at all as Greg and myself poked our heads into its dark hiding place.

Our ascent took us back up the rich and colourful walls. The decompression penalties we incurred from the deeper section of our dive passed easily as there was just so much to see with every bit of wall covered in something different. Greg Lowe joined us and we did some of our decompression stops together, but when his deco was over he signalled that he was heading back to the boat. After a runtime of an hour and forty minutes, we all ascended from our last stop and returned to the boat.

Dive 2 - Imagination Point

The surface interval went by and it was soon time for my second dive. I opted to solo dive for this one because I was going to be on my SS-18 underwater scooter. The dive site was "Imagination Point" off the southern end of Archway Island.

Everyone was already in the water long before I jumped in. After a quick adjustment of the towing sling and the setting of the props pitch to number 5, I powered up the scooter and slowly descended to 30m. It was strange hearing the whine of the motor in contrast to the silence of the first dive but I didn't really care about it as I was enjoying myself way too much! I headed off in the opposite direction to all the divers and zoomed around the corner in a northerly direction.

Large overhanging ledges and deep cuts in the wall whizzed passed in a blur, barely giving me time to survey any of their hidden treasures so I released the power switch periodically and made a point of exploring the walls. It was soon time to start my no-deco ascent so I traversed backwards and forwards whilst slowly ascending a couple of metres a minute. When I got back to Arrow, Noel assisted me by taking the 32Kg scooter out of the water for me.

The dives were done on my AP Inspiration electronics which I had just got back from the factory in England. They worked perfectly on both my dives, but I'll keep them as a backup option to the Hammerhead electronics I mentioned in my last blog.
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Photo Credit: Young, I.M., 2006 (December 17), Looking north from The Canyon dive site. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Young, I.M., 2006 (December 17), Post-dive at The Canyon. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Young, I.M., 2006 (December 17), Dave Young with Pete Mesley in the background. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Young, I.M., 2006 (December 17), Aorangi Island and Ngoio Rock looking from Imagination Point. All rights reserved.

Hammerhead

2006-12-04T10:47:00.000+13:00

I now have a Juergensen Marine Hammerhead to replace my Ambient Pressure "Classic" electronics. The DIVA is the item that I'm most excited about because it will give me the additional feature of a heads-up-display to monitor how the rebreather is performing throughout the dive.

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Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2006 (December 2), Hammerhead Inspiration during calibration. All rights reserved.

The Rusty Ruskie revisited

2006-11-07T20:58:00.000+13:00

The dive trip to the Mikhail Lermontov (affectionately known as the "Rusty Ruskie") kicked off on Friday (November 3rd) aboard the charter boat “Affinity” which was berthed at Picton in the Marlborough Sounds. Ian Swan and myself were joined by a few other like minded wreck divers from New Zealand and Australia. Once the dive gear was loaded and stowed we set sail up the tranquil Queen Charlotte Sound to Ship Cove where we moored up for the night.

Ship Cove is where fellow diver Nigel Lees tragically lost his life just over a year ago in a diving accident. Memories of the incident replayed through my head leaving me feeling both sad and angry at the loss. When we set sail for Port Gore early in the morning I was very glad to be leaving despite the natural beauty of the surroundings.

Affinity soon passed around the infamous Cape Jackson and over the Pelham Rock which gouged the holes that were to eventually sink the ‘Mikhail Lermontov’ back on February 16th, 1986. We were soon at the Lermontov's final resting place in Port Gore where the Baltic Shipping Company liner lay on its starboard side in 37m of water.

I dived with Ian and we chose to visit the Lermontov’s stern where the covered swimming pool, gymnasium, and hospital were located on their various descending decks. We were blessed with the best visibility I’ve ever encountered in Port Gore and the water was a pleasant 13°C. Neither Ian or myself did any penetration into the ship on this dive but merely acquainted ourselves with the layout and even had time to fin the 155m from the stern to the bow, passing some eerily empty cabins and the ships bridge en route.

The second dive of the day saw Ian diving with Anna and Marcia where they did a penetration into the bridge. When everyone was off the Lermontov, I did a solo dive with a paint scrapper and a scrubbing brush in hand and went to the swimming pool to clean some of the heavily encrusted windows. This allowed some daylight to pour in and illuminated the Neptun(e) Bar in natural light. Here I found unopened cans of beer and packets of cigarettes behind the bar counter.

The swimming pool is also the home to a commemorative plaque for diver Erica Lowe who died whilst diving the Lermontov back in May 1987. She became separated from the rest of her dive group and it was a over a year before her body was discovered by some divers. I attempted to give the plaque a wee bit of a clean while I was there.

The borrowed Inspiration rebreather electronics I was using performed flawlessly throughout their use, but needed drying off ready for the next day’s diving. Once the rebreather was broken down and excess moisture removed from the loop, I changed my 3 litre oxygen cylinder and topped up my diluent cylinder. That evening, everybody ate a hearty meal and talked mostly about diving until it was time to retire to bed.

Both Ian and myself were first in the water the next morning and planned to dive to the kiosk storeroom. This took us back to the pool and down through some broken panes of glass into a passageway that lay level with the seabed. I led and reeled off line with Ian close behind. After negotiating a low hanging door, we arrived at the store. Ian had a look around and observed the weird sight of all the doll arms and legs that were floating at the top of the room. After I managed to stir up the silt from the rotting packages in the room, I suggested to Ian it was time to leave by the same route we took in. We exited without any fuss and visited lots of places on the exterior of the ship whilst we slowly ascended through our designated decompression stops.

After our long surface interval, we told the dive supervisor that we were heading to the hospital area of the Lermontov. The visibility of the water was beginning to drop a bit, but this had no real impact on the already murky water around the props and rudder. With our HID lights switched on, we moved over to the hospital entrance and I tied off the line from my reel to the watertight door and began my penetration leaving Ian to keep watch from outside the doorway. Room after room passed above and below. I carefully counted and took note of the sequence of fixtures, doorways, double doors until I reached the “Waiting Room”. There is no natural light this deep into the ship but my light lit up the areas above and below me. I could see open cupboards and drawers where divers had scavenged artefacts from them over the years. All too soon it was time to return down the passageway and back to Ian.

Back aboard Affinity we waited for everyone to finish their dives. Once they were on the boat, we steamed over to a sandy slope in Port Gore where a few of us dived for scallops. On the seabed at 18m I found an unusually large spotted stargazer (Genyagnus monopterygius) which was not bothered by my presence and just lay motionless as I finned around it. I was the last to get out of the water and my evening meal was waiting for me “…in the oven!”. We spent the night anchored there, sheltering out of the wind that was blowing across the rest of the bay.

My last dive of the trip was on Monday morning with a change of electronics on the rebreather. Pete Mesley lent me his “Vision” rebreather electronics which incorporated a HUD and a single arm-mounted module for the controllers/secondary displays. The dive was planned for the Bolshoi Lounge with Ian. Upon entering the cavernous room through the doorway below the bridge we quickly came across the remnants of the ornate ceiling lights. Ian followed me over to a point where I tied off my line and waited for me as I went exploring deeper into the darker recesses of the ship. After I finished and had all my line back on the reel we casually checked out the lounge. This turned out to be a great dive but it was soon over as we had to leave the Lermontov’s confines to start our ascent for decompression. Once back on Affinity, we both knew the trip was coming to an end so we packed away our dive gear ready for the journey home.

This was a good trip with some great people sharing similar interests, particularly a love of rust. :o)
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Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (November 6), Cape Jackson and the Jackson Head Beacon on the Walker Rock. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (November 4), Port Gore seen from the deck of Affinity. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (November 4), The encrusted swimming pool windows. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (November 4), Commemorative plaque to Erica Lowe. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (November 5), Dive gear on affinity. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (November 5), A sea anemone on the encrusted rails of the Lermontov. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (November 7), A sign in Russian. All rights reserved.

Pictures from the Poor Knights

2006-10-18T22:09:00.000+13:00

A crested blenny (Parablennius laticlavius) sits on an encrusted ledge.

A Yaldwyn's triplefin (Notoclinops yaldwyni) weighing in at only 7cm long.

A diver in Matt's Crack (aka Long Cave).

Dive Tutukaka's charter boats in the marina.

Rebreather divers preparing to enter the water at Shaft Cave for a 85m dive.

A fish filled swim-through at Bartle's Bay.

Two gem nudibranchs (Dendrodoris gemmacea).

Ian Swan after his second dive of the day.
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Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), A crested blenny (Parablennius laticlavius) sits on an encrusted ledge. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), A Yaldwyn's triplefin (Notoclinops yaldwyni). All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), A diver in Matt's Crack (aka Long Cave). All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2006 (October 15), Dive Tutukaka's charter boats in the marina. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), Rebreather divers preparing to enter the water at Shaft Cave for a 85m dive. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), A fish filled swim-through at Bartle's Bay. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), Two gem nudibranchs (Dendrodoris gemmacea). All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2006 (October 15), Ian Swan after his second dive of the day. All rights reserved.

Sunday 15th - The Poor Knights

2006-10-17T21:06:00.000+13:00

Sunday started off with a moderately overcast sky but the winds were slight and the sea was flat for the journey to the Poor Knights. Luke our skipper took Bright Arrow to the western side of Arorangaia Island where Pete, Simon, and Greg planned to enter the water at Shaft cave for their 85m deep trimix rebreather dive.

Before the start of their dive, Simon gave everyone on the boat another quick reading from an article known here in this blog as "Paul - A Zen Master's Journal". This work of genius brought us much joy through laughter and inspired all to have a good read of a dictionary. ;o)

Dive 1 - The Tunnel

Ian and myself decided to dive at another site closeby known as The Tunnel. It consists of a large 120m long archway that penetrates all the way through Arorangaia Island going down to a depth of 60m at the western entrance and then slowly ascends with a rock covered bottom to about 15m at the eastern end.

Despite Ian's underwater camera housing being rated only to 40m, we ascended to the bottom of the western entrance of the archway. Here we found a little beach of white sand between the large boulders that once clung to the steep cliffs of the island. Swimming along the northern wall of the archway and following the natural incline of the floor we found that the light dropped off to hazy blue glow. Here we found a massive shoal of the reclusive golden snapper (Centroberyx affinis) that were hiding in the darkness waiting for nightfall to start feeding. I managed to get within centimetres of the shoal on my rebreather and had them follow me as I moved from the northern wall to the southern wall of The Tunnel.

Delicate flask sponges clung to the walls where the light managed to penetrate. I came across large ledges and holes that were completely covered in encrusting growth and marine life. This became more and more abundant as we moved up and back toward the western entrance.

Mary and Scott silently swam passed us on their rebreathers near the 30m mark. After exchanging gestures, Ian and myself moved further up the wall and out of The Tunnel. Our decompression stops offered plenty of photo opportunities.

One little surprise we had was Ian's dive computer suddenly demanding an additional 30 minutes of decompression time at the shallow stop. This was not to much of a problem for me, but Ian was diving a drysuit and wished he had an overboard discharge valve fitted. After 110 minutes of runtime our dive ended with a wee swim back to the boat.

Dive 2 - Bartle's Bay

I missed out on this dive due to my rebreather's right controller/handset failing to switch on. It did eventually startup, but I thought it prudent not to dive the unit in this condition. Ian had a great dive and ended up in a tight swim-through filled with mado (Atypichthys latus) and other fish.

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Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), Simon Mitchell gives a reading from 'Paul - A Zen Master's Journal'. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), A sea star moving slowly across the encrusted wall. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), Flask sponge. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), Firebrick sea star. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), Nudibrach. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 15), Rebreather diver in a swim-through at Bartle's Bay. All rights reserved.

Saturday 14th - The Poor Knights

2006-10-17T15:26:00.000+13:00

Ian Swan and myself drove up to Tutukaka on the Friday 13th for a weekend of diving the Poor Knights Marine Reserve. We joined fellow divers Pete Mesley and Simon Mitchell at the Schnappa Rock Cafe by the Tutukaka Marina later that evening for an outstanding meal (there's new management and it's now serving the best meals I've had in the 5 years that I've been going there!).

Saturday morning kicked off with a gentle offshore breeze. We loaded our gear onto the Dive Tutukaka boat "Bright Arrow" and headed off on the 12 mile journey to the Poor Knights with Luke our skipper for the weekend. The divers onboard were Mary (an Inspo rebreather diver over from the UK), Greg (diving the "Sprayer", a modified Dolphin rebreather), Scott (twinset, normally an Inspo Classic rebreather), Brian (twinset), Ian (twinset), Pete (Inspo Vision rebreather), Simon (Mk15.5 rebreather), Christian (Inspo Classic rebreather), and myself (Inspo Classic rebreather).

Dive 1 - Cream Garden

Our first dive site was Cream Garden on the eastern side of Tawhiti Rahi Island. Ian and myself were last divers to enter the clear 16°C water, but we quickly made our way down the encrusted wall to the sandy bottom at 58m.

Large finger sponges dominated the walls at this depth and extended their reach far from the wall where they gently swayed in the dark blue water. There was a fine mist of descending dust particles that had been dislodged by divers further above us on the wall which were clearly visible and created the backscatter effect (the white splodges) on Ian's photographs.

We encountered many yellow moray and grey moray eels which clung to the wall waiting open mouthed and tightly sprung ready to snatch their next meal.

This yellow moray had it's head in a hole allowing Ian to photograph it's coiled tail.

As the dive progressed and we made our way slowly into the shallows for our decompression stops, the life on the wall multiplied tenfold. Colours became more vibrant as the sunlight penetrated through from the surface. A multitude of species of fish swam around us, inquisitively investigating what we might be looking at with our faces so close to the wall.

The highlight of diving Cream Garden has to be the opportunity to be checked out by the resident bronze whaler sharks, but unfortunately, they didn't appear during this dive. The rebreather electronics give out an electrical pulse every time the solenoid fires and this is thought to attract the sharks.

At 6m, I ran my rebreather as an oxygen rebreather breathing 100% oxygen to assist with my decompression and to check that my electronics were functioning within specification (a linearity check). Kingfish and butterfish swam around me playfully as the gentle surge moved the kelp from side to side on the ledge I had stopped on. The dive was over after one and half hours underwater.

Dive 2 - Matt's Crack

I skipped the second dive at Matt's Crack (the more politically correct name of Long Cave is often used) but Ian took his camera into the 100m long cave and captured some amazing images. He spent an hour exploring the cave along with the other divers on the boat. The water was crystal clear and the fish life was abundant.

With everyone onboard Bright Arrow, Luke took us back to Tutukaka over the swell free sea. Only wind chop from the blowing westerly stopped the water from being completely flat. When we arrived back in port Ian dropped off his tanks at Dive Tutukaka to get refilled for the next day of diving.
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Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), Luke overseeing an Inspo diver entering the water at Cream Garden. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), Finger sponges at 55m. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), Grey moray eel and an orange golf ball sponge. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), Yellow moray with its head in a hole. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), A sea star grazing on the wall in the depths. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), Demoiselles hiding in Matt's Crack. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (October 14), Two-spot demoiselles shoaling in Matt's Crack. All rights reserved.

Diving in the Bay of Plenty

2006-09-20T21:31:00.000+12:00

Today I was in Mount Maunganui and had a super wee shore dive. My mission was to look for the discarded eggcases of the paper nautilus (Argonauta Nodosa and Argonauta Argo). The last time I dived the site the eggcases were everywhere and some were completely intact whilst others were shattered in pieces amongst the boulders. Unfortunately this dive was quite different because there wasn't even a trace of a paper nautilus eggcase anywhere.

Still, not all was lost. On the dive I encountered eagle rays that were very inquisitive about my presence and they kept on checking me out with a regular fly-past. The rocks at the deepest part of the dive were covered in clusters of squid eggs and skittish octopus looked out from the dark spaces between boulders. As I slowly ascended the white sands towards the beach a huge long-tailed stingray stopped me in my path. It lay on the bottom and stared at me with its large eyes. Normally I would have joined it on the sand but I was running out of time to be back on the surface for my wife to clock me in, so I ascended a bit and swam over the top of the beast. It never moved and its tail remained motionless as I swan further up the beach leaving it behind to bathe in the sun drenched water of the South Pacific Ocean.

I felt really good after the dive. It was an awesome privilege to see all the different species of fish and marine animals in their own environment. :o)
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Photo Credit: Young, I.M., 2006 (September 20), Mount Maunganui beach. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Young, I.M., 2006 (September 20), The Mount. All rights reserved.

Port Taranaki underwater pictures

2006-08-29T18:55:00.000+12:00

The pictures below were taken by Ian Swan on our dive in Port Taranaki on the 29th July, using his Olympus C5050Z digital camera and underwater housing.

The image above shows a shrimp hiding in a dark hole between some boulders of the Lee Breakwater in Port Taranaki. As you can see, they are quite transparent and this must aid them to camouflage with their surroundings.

Crayfish often frequent the boulder slopes of the breakwater. They often come in from deeper water to cast their old shells and wait around until their new shells have hardened.

This seahorse saw us coming and decided that it didn't want to be photographed so it did its best to hide up against the boulder wall of the breakwater. Ian took this photo and moved away quickly so not to bother it any further.

The yellow encrusting sponges are a common sight around the breakwater. Their bright colour always contrasts greatly with the grey dust covered rocks that they inhabit.
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Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 29), A shrimp hiding in the rocks. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 29), Small red spiny lobster (crayfish) holding its ground. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 29), A camera shy seahorse. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 29), Yellow encrusting sponge with a native seashell on it. All rights reserved.

Pier dive in Port Taranaki

2006-07-29T22:35:00.000+12:00

At high tide today, Ian Swan and I found ourselves looking into some of the cleanest looking water that I've ever seen inside Port Taranaki. This sort of visibility usually only ever occurs during the settled weather of summer so it came as quite a plus to have it now during our mid-winter period.

We both chose to dive in our wetsuits. I was planning to wear my drysuit but Ian called me "soft" so I pulled on my wetsuit for the dive. We entered the water next to the old boat mooring pylons on the Lee Breakwater. To my dismay, I found the water felt rather cold as it percolated through the wetsuit; it was a not so warm 12ºC!

On Thursday, Ian had found a couple of octopus and seahorses in the area of the pier legs and wanted to photograph them today with his Olympus C5050Z digital camera and underwater housing. So with this objective in mind, we descended down the short rocky slope to the sandy bottom below the pier and started our search for the creatures. The pier legs were covered in bryozoans, orange sponges, and little patches of kelp. Some small triplefins and blennies tried their best to blend in with their backgrounds by playing the game of staying completely still and hiding in plain view, whilst others didn’t seem to care and just carried on buzzing about with their daily routines.

The junk that has been lost to the sea from the moorings is something else. We found assorted bottles, wire strops, tyres, ropes, metal objects of all shapes and sizes; all completely encrusted and sporting a common patchy grey colour with only their shapes giving away their possible true identity.

The sand to the outside of the pier was peppered with large horse mussels that seemed to be feeding voraciously from their gaping shells. Other than the mussels, there was only the odd spotty and sea cucumber to be seen.

We moved from along the length of pier, going from one set of pylons to the next still searching for the octopus. Ian would check out the pier and while I looked on the rocky slope. Unfortunately, we never found the octopus, but we did find a solitary seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis, or big-belled seahorse) clinging to the base of a stalked kelp. It was clearly quite shy as it turned its head away from the camera, so we didn’t stay long with it preferring to not stress it out.

After leaving the pier, Ian and I swam along the bottom of the rocky slope following the breakwater out to the mouth of the harbour. The boulders soon changed to large concrete blocks which made up the structure of the breakwater. These blocks were also encrusted grey but sported orange nipple sponges and yellow finger sponges. Small crayfish, transparent shrimps, and slender roughy (Optivus elongatus) peered out from the dark spaces in the concrete boulder field.

We called our dive after 73 minutes. The cold of the water had played havoc with my kidneys and I felt like my bladder was going to explode because it was so full. The climb out of the water and onto the Lee Breakwater required traversing the concrete blocks with a full set of dive gear on and our fins in our hands, so great care was needed not to fall down into any of the large gaps.

This was a good dive and really enjoyed it, especially getting to dive in such clear conditions at this time of the year. The forecast for tomorrow is a 3m swell, winds from the west and that will be the end of the diving for a wee while.

APD parts - some self-assembly required

2006-07-28T21:33:00.000+12:00

This morning a courier turned up at my door with a small parcel from the UK. Inside was my replacement mouthpiece and head strap. Joy! A big thanks has to go to Ambient Pressure Diving for getting the parts to me so quickly (ordered on Monday evening NZ time and here at my door by noon Friday).

The kit came in two parts and it looked like there could be a couple of ways to assemble the mouthpiece and head strap, so I turned to the internet to try and find a photo or maybe some instructions for its assembly. After a long while it was looking like there was no way I'd get the information I needed.

I've taken my best bet as to the correct build for fastening the head strap to the lugs on the mouthpiece. Put it this way, it appears to work as I'd expect it to and it's highly unlikely that I can go back without damaging something. Now all I have to do is locate some Ty-Rap® cable ties to secure the mouthpiece to the dive valve.
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UPDATE: 10:07 AM, SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2006
• Added a new picture to the blog.

I got hold of a Ty-Rap® cable tie this morning, so here is a picture of the Inspo dive valve with the mouthpiece fitted to it. "Bring out the gimp!" ;o)
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Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2006 (July 28), Mouthpiece and head strap kit. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2006 (July 29), Inspo dive valve with mouthpiece fitted. All rights reserved.

Buying essential dive gear

2006-07-24T21:36:00.000+12:00

Today I purchased a new bit of kit for my rebreather from Ambient Pressure – part number AP02/12 which is a replacement rubber mouthpiece with head strap attached. This new mouthpiece has the advantage of staying in a diver's mouth should they become incapacitated whilst diving. An example of when a diver may lose their mouthpiece during a rebreather dive, is if they experience a convulsion (a seizure) brought on by exposure to a high partial pressure of oxygen, known as hyperoxia. The theory is, if a diver should be unlucky enough to have a convulsion underwater with a head strap in place there is a good chance that the mouthpiece is still in their mouth when the seizure finally subsides, and they can recover enough to take a breath from the rebreather. Without a head strap it's more than likely that the diver will lose the mouthpiece from their mouth and that greatly increases the odds of drowning. :o(

The cost of this simple device is £48.20 (plus P&P and NZ import duties) which might appear a bit pricy, but I think it will be worth it.

Northern Arch in the Poor Knights

2006-07-20T10:53:00.000+12:00

Saturday 15th was looking very dodgy with regard to the weather. It was forecast for the winds to blow to 35 knots from the southeast, thus making the 12 mile trip out to the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve a very bumpy and uncomfortable one. In the end, the decision to go was made by our charter company, Dive Tutukaka, so we loaded 'Bright Arrow' (our boat for the trip) with our rebreathers, twinsets, underwater cameras, toolboxes and what seemed like every other bit of dive gear known to man.

The dive crew for the day were Scott Alker (OC twinset), Mark Gibson (CC Inspo), Greg Lowe (CC Inspo), Pete Mesley (CC Inspo), Gary Palmer (OC twinset), Ian Swan (OC twinset), and myself (CC Inspo). Our skipper for the day was Craig.

Whilst we were loading our gear onto the boat a call came in over the VHF radio requesting assistance from the Tutukaka Coastguard for a diver who had ascended quickly to the surface from the wreck of the HMNZS Waikato (a Leander class frigate sunk for diving off the Ngunguru estuary). They were requesting additional oxygen supplies as a precaution, so we set off to the Waikato and readied our oxygen kit should they require it. The journey there took a matter of minutes from leaving Tutukaka Harbour although the low profile of the moored RIB was difficult to spot initially amoungst the white capping swells. The diver was conscious and receiving oxygen administered by the skipper of the boat, so we stationed Bright Arrow near them should they have needed any additional assistance. Within a few minutes the Tutukaka Coastguard were in attendance, so we requested leave from the scene and left the Coastguard to evacuate the diver.

The journey to Poor Knights was quite rough as we fell into large troughs in the swells, but I positioned myself as far forward in Bright Arrow as possible and could look out at the horizon… a technique that seems to offset the urge to throw up (I've been known to be seasick in the past!) All the dive gear was stowed or tied down on the deck and seemed to be surviving the 50 minute crossing.

Dive 1

The sky was grey with showery clouds, but the large cliffs of the islands provided a welcome contrast. The swell and wind direction dictate which dive sites are accessible at the Poor Knights, and it looked very favourable for Northern Arch in the Tawhiti Rahi Island as being our first dive site. When we got there, Bright Arrow was out of the strong winds and we listened to Craig's dive site briefing. Dive buddy groups were established: Pete and Scott, Gary and Ian, Mark and I. Greg was going to conduct the first part of his dive with Gary and Ian and later join Mark and I when we were in a shallower part of our dive.

Looking down on the surface of the water, I could see it had that dark blue, almost black colour about it which usually means that the visibility would be fantastic. The excitement of dive was brewing up inside me as I pulled on my drysuit… no wait that was just a trapped fart which was quickly and somewhat noisily vented into the cabin. With the drysuit fully vented and zipped up, I pulled on my rebreather and began the 5 minute pre-breathe to activate the scrubber and check that it was working. The controllers read a steady 0.7 across all the displays and I could feel the gases in the loop become moist and warm. Craig assisted me with putting on my side-slung tank, and I was ready to get in the 15ºC water.

At 6m of depth, Mark and I did a bubble check before beginning our descent down the wall. The water was crystal clear and I could see right down into the blue below us. At 40m I paused my descent to check that everything was okay with the gear, made some necessary adjustments, and continued downwards. The slope of the wall took us to 58m where large boulders lay on the volcanic bedrock of the island. There were large finger sponges, and by contrast, some very small black coral trees hanging onto the rocks, but what caught my eye were the swim-throughs in the lava outcrops and I couldn't resist venturing through them. Mark met me on the far side of one such swim-through and then we set off to explore the rest of the archways' secrets.

Slowly ascending the boulder strewn slopes took us to the top of the mound which formed the bottom of the archway at 38m. Here we met up with Gary, Ian and Greg who were traversing back along the western wall. Mark and I pushed against the noticeable currents and found the white sandy beach that disappeared into the blue at the southern end of the arch's floor. Large porae and long finned boar fish swam about ignoring our invasion of their territory. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the stingrays which often frequent Northern Arch.

Due to the weather threatening to get nasty we were on a short run time of 90 minutes maximum, so our ascent began and we were joined by Greg on the eastern wall for the deco stops. Here I found a beauty of a mosaic moray, wound into tight curls about itself whilst hiding in a small undercut in the wall. Its transparent needle sharp teeth were very evident every time it opened its mouth… I've seen how fast and efficiently these beasts strike at their prey, so I kept my gloveless hands well away. Shortly after leaving the mosaic moray, Mark discovered a small female crayfish (red spiny rock lobster) in a vertical cut.

The wall was covered in colourful sponges, soft corals, large gorgonian coral fans, and was absolutely crawling with life. Small crested blennies peered out from their tiny holes in the rock, triplefins preened their patches of encrusting growth, mature male Sandager's wrasse patrolled their territories, and the almost invisibly camouflaged northern scorpionfish hid on the ledges and in the cracks of the wall.

Poor Mark and Greg must have thought I was mad doing the entire ascent and deco stops with my face pressed up to the busy wall. Unknown to them I was on a mission, and my primary objective was to try and find a pigmy seahorse! I never managed to complete my mission as the little beggar remained illusive to my intensive searching, but there is always next time.

At final stop near Bright Arrow and we met up with Gary and Ian, and we could all see Scott and Pete conducting deco away from the wall at the end of a blob (or also known as a delayed surface marker buoy). After 81 minutes of run time, I was out of the water and back in the boat. During the surface interval, Craig made me a hot cup of spring vegetable soup which I had one sip of and managed to spill the rest over everyone’s dive gear… oops!

Dive 2

The next dive was near Trevor's Rock in a shallow bay with crystal clear water. Ian and I buddied each other for the 56 minute dive. Because my ADV (auto diluent-addition valve) was continually leaking diluent into my loop during the deco on the last dive, so I shut the ADV off with the shut-off valve and manually added diluent as required during this dive. At the deepest depth of 16m we looked for stingrays in the sandy beaches between the large boulders and kelp fields, but never found any. Ian took photos of the assorted nudibranchs that were scattered everywhere around the site and I followed large snapper about. I did spot a fish I hadn’t seen before, a large solitary silver drummer… score!

The journey back to Tutukaka promised to be very rough, so I made a wee bed for myself in the forward cabin and went to sleep. A couple of times I woke with my whole body freefalling back onto the bunk as Bright Arrow fought her way home through the bucking seas. Ian explained later that there were a few times the boat looked like it was going to be pummelled/swamped by huge breaking waves. I woke to the sound of someone being seasick, and looked out the window to see we’d made it back to Tutukaka’s harbour. Poor Greg made it all the way across the rough ocean, only to make a "Technicolor rainbow" when we reached calm waters.
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UPDATE: 6:23 PM, SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2006
• Added pictures to the blog.

My mate Ian Swan took the pictures in this blog on his Olympus C5050Z digital camera and underwater housing. All the pictures were taken in the bay near Trevor's Rock and at a depth between 6 to 15m. The first image shows a rebreather diver, some passing koheru, an inquisitive Sandager's wrasse, and kelp covered lava outcrops.

The second image is of an awesome looking yellow moray with its mouth gaping open. The beastie is curled up in a hole and would have been hiding there waiting for its next meal to naively swim by.

The third image is of the often hard to spot northern scorpionfish. The camouflage is so good that sometimes you get within inches of them before you realise that their sitting there. These fish are “gulpers”, so the mouth extends out at lightning speeds creating a partial vacuum in the water and the prey gets sucked back into its mouth.

The last image is of a snapper. They have large mouths with big teeth and can crush shells with them.
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Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 15), Inspiration rebreather diver at the Poor Knights. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 15), Yellow moray. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 15), Northern scorpionfish. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Swan, I., 2006 (July 15), A mature snapper. All rights reserved.

Dive New Zealand magazine cover

2006-07-10T22:13:00.000+12:00

I was browsing through my collection of Dive New Zealand magazines tonight when I stumbled across issue 86 (published back in February 2005). On the front cover there was a picture of an AP Inspiration rebreather diver diving amongst large finger sponges at 55m. This was the first ever rebreather picture to be featured on the Dive New Zealand magazine's cover and I was the diver in the photograph. Simon Mitchell took the photo whilst we were diving a wall at the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve.

The website for the Dive New Zealand magazine can be found at: http://www.divenewzealand.com/
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Image Credit: Dive New Zealand & Sea Tech Ltd (Publishers), 2005 (February), Dive New Zealand magazine cover, February/March 2005 issue 86. All rights reserved.

Southern right whales

2006-07-05T22:24:00.000+12:00

We have had some southern right whales visiting our coastal waters off New Plymouth for the past week now. They appear to be females with calves and they have located themselves very close to the shore (no doubt sheltering from the winter storms pushing up from Antarctica).

They have been breaching and causally posing for photos all week, but I hope people will restrain themselves and not harass them to the point they move on prematurely.

Quick update

2006-07-03T12:31:00.000+12:00

I'm sorry for it being so long since my last post. Any diving I have done has mainly been commercial work building an artificial surf reef here in New Zealand, so the rebreather diving has been neglected a wee bit. My next trip is to White Island for a weekend in mid July. :o)

Because of my absence from diving the rebreather for a couple of months, I've been practicing my skills by doing regular bailout drills with the unit on. I look like a complete idiot, but it keeps me well acquainted with the operation of the unit (which should reduce anxiety levels a bit should the brown stuff hit the fan during a dive.)

There is still no word of when they are going to hold the Coroners Inquest for Nigel Lees (my rebreather diving buddy and mate who was tragically killed in a diving related accident last year), but hopefully proceedings will get underway soon.

I'll sign off now. Thanks for reading this blog, and look out for my trip report from White Island in the next couple of weeks. Kia ora.

Big swell and low visibility

2006-04-23T19:42:00.000+12:00

On Saturday I dived off Saddleback Island and Moturoa Island in the Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA). There was about 20 knots of wind blowing from the North, a 3m ground swell running from the South-West, and a wind driven surface current pushing towards the South, which makes for some nasty and confused sea conditions.

Ian Swan's boat 'Nitrox' handled the conditions well and we found a spot off Saddleback Island where it was possible to enter the boiling water between swells. When I entered the water, a large wave raced towards me so I quickly duck-dived downwards into the dirty green water. The visibility was about 1m in the first 6m of descent and dropped steadily as I worked my way down the boulder strewn slope. Huge surges in the water column frequently pushed me around as the large swells brushed along the side of the island... I just love this kind of diving! It offers lots of excitement and thrills. :o)

Fish life was not very abundant and there were only a few crayfish to be seen hiding deep in their dark holes. The stormy water was obviously not as much fun for them as it was for me.

I ascended to within 3m of the surface and took a 3 minute safety stop after 47 minutes of runtime. It would not have been wise to try and conduct a decompression dive in these conditions, so I stayed well within the no-decompression dive time allowable. Ian picked me up in 'Nitrox' and then we headed over to Moturoa Island to find a suitable site for the next dive.

The water around Moturoa Island was even dirtier looking but strong currents run through here and offer patches of better visibility. I jumped in and found the visibility varied from 1m to 3m. Straight away I found seahorses clinging to some of the kelp in the rocks. Big blue moki swan over to me and checked me out. Meanwhile, small crayfish withdrew quickly when I pushed my head into the gaps they were occupying, but I can understand why... just imagine you were sitting in your house when suddenly a huge masked face appears through your windows, it would certainly be enough to make you recoil and seek a safer place to hide!

The dive site was relatively calm compared to Saddleback Island, but my time in the water was only 30 minutes. Again Ian manoeuvred 'Nitrox' in to pick me up and soon we were back in the shelter of Port Taranaki.

Diving images

2006-04-17T20:42:00.000+12:00

Gareth Bellamy took this picture of me on my Inspiration rebreather whilst we were diving 'The Rock' at Archway Island in the Poor Knights Marine Reserve (Saturday, April 8th, 2006). Gareth's underwater camera system is a Pentax Optio 430RS and underwater housing.

Here is another of Gareth's pictures with me describing the size of some kingfish I had spotted in the water. A juvenile long-tailed stingray was doing the rounds and posed along with two-spot demoiselles and leatherjackets.

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Photo Credit: Bellamy, G.D.J., 2006 (April 8), Diver at the Poor Knights. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: Bellamy, G.D.J., 2006 (April 8), A juvenile long-tailed stingray. All rights reserved.

Mystery goes unsolved

2006-04-15T19:58:00.000+12:00

My rebreather was assembled and made ready with fresh batteries, a freshly packed scrubber, and the cylinders nicely topped up with their respective breathing gases. The planned decompression dive was to be at Saddleback Island (Motumahanga) in the Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA). Our mission: Dive to photograph and identify a mystery fish that didn’t appear in any of the New Zealand fish identification books and publications.

Award winning underwater photographer Ian Swan, my wife Irene, and myself, arrived at Saddleback Island around mid-morning in Ian’s boat ‘Nitrox’. There was a 1.5m south-westerly ground swell surging into the island that was turning the water white where it crashed into the rocky outcrops. New Zealand fur seals were everywhere casually playing about in the rushing water (they weren’t so casual a couple of months ago when our “Taranaki Terror”, a 6m great white shark, was feeding on them!)

We spent almost 10 minutes circling about searching for a sheltered place to anchor the boat and commence the dive, but it was not looking good at all. The passing swell had picked up all the loose sediment from the bottom and reduced the visibility to virtually zero, so with no visibility and nowhere suitable to anchor the boat we “canned” the dive.

So the mystery fish remains unidentified for now, but we’ll be back! :o)

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Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2005 (August 7), Sugar Loaf Islands (Nga Motu). All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: Young, D.C., 2006 (April 15), New Zealand fur seal in the Nga Motu Marine Park. All rights reserved.