Paua Diving Question

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    Posted: 26 May 2023 at 10:59am
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Hey I'm new to this board -- I know I'm probably going to break a bunch of unwritten rules on how this forum works or whatnot as it usually goes for a first-time forum post.

Anyways I'm sure you hear this a lot with newcomers, but I had a few questions about Paua on the North Island.

I am from California and I do a bunch of freediving at home for lobster (crays) but wanted to get into Paua here. I'm up in Auckland for work, but will get down to Wellington a few times hopefully to dive.

I wanted to know mostly how to somewhat forecast decent clarity for my dives. I won't ask much about spots because likely no one will want to give them away haha, but how often does the clarity go bad during the winter. Does it clear up down there after the swell dies a bit? Does the wind stir it up?

Obviously different areas will be affected differently, but general zones I might poke around in could be the Red Rocks area and Makara Beach area. I only will have a rental car and no boat so sadly I can't explore too far off the path, but I'll definitely going to walk/swim outside of the likely "overfished"/easy access areas hopefully.

I'm not worried too much about exploring or finding my own spots, I just can't afford to drive all the way from Auckland to get terrible, undiveable clarity so I was hoping to know what makes clarity good in the winter.

Whoever read all this thanks haha,

If anyone seriously helps out, I'll buy ya a beer as a thank you if I score some paua while I'm down in Wellington.

Jake
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote krow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2023 at 7:33pm
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I expect legal paua on east coast Auckland area will be hard to find. 
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote bigred1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2023 at 9:05pm
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CHeck out Ollie Craig -- Primal Pursuit, for some NZ freediving (I get full of inspiration watching him, then I have remind myself he is about 100X better than I am). From now until spring is actually some of the clearer water. There would be a lot of areas with an easy day trip from Auckland for spearing. Getting legal paua, as mentioned above, is getting pretty hard nowadays. You would really need to be finding somewhere inaccessable. Use google maps to look for rocky areas and water access away from population bases.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (3) Likes(3)   Quote e.m.p! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2023 at 9:27pm
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makara has lots of spots for paua, some of them are only knee deep. Wellington is quite spoiled for spots, if northerly blows go south, after and during a southerly, west will clear up. Swell at makara is never really a problem, south coast can get hammered though. Don't bother trying to find paua anywhere between the reserve and red rocks, that place has been stripped for a while.
I don't have a lot of times nowadays, but happy to take you out and show you around. Or at least give you a pointer in the right direction.
O2lll88ll4
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote jnilsc1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 May 2023 at 8:41am
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Thanks, I’ll give him a look for sure. Sadly I didn’t bring my gun — I couldn’t fit it in my surfboard bag and I didn’t want to possibly hassle with customs.

Yeah I didn’t even really think there was much in terms of paua anywhere near Auckland so I was thinking of getting close to Wellington for them. Well I’ll def try to find some far removed spots and see if find a patch that doesn’t get too much pressure. But that may be trickier than it seems haha. Thanks
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote jnilsc1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 May 2023 at 8:43am
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Yeah well I’m always open to that if you ever had the time. I’m think I’ll just try to find a really tricky spot to access and find out how to get there by walking or swimming and give it a go. I’ll see what happens haha.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote kimber7wsm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2023 at 7:07am
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The Wairarapa coast would be worth a look. What for a week of more of westerlies and low swell and it should be fine for vis.
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