I read in the Truth News paper a few years ago that he was quite keen to "Soap up and have a splash" whenever he could get away from the farm? There were a few handy shore dive spots near by I beleive...

 

Me and Bokken went out to Port  Underwood Today. We left Nelson at 0630 and arrived at Robin hood at 0830 where we loaded the gear into me dingy and putted around a few bays.

 

Fair to say the conditions where very average, well thats probably too nice, it was crap. But who's going to let that hold you back.  Viz at best would be 3mtrs. Temp was good, swell map said 14d. Heaps of crap in the water.

 

Found a few crays around the place but most either too small or just that too far back to reach and of course a number missed for being to slow... Usual story, you've dropped ya gun and a nice butter swims by. Unfortunatley for a few Butters the gun wasn't that far away and some quick shots and bad placement meant for a few extra's in the catch bag.  Bokken got his first cray which is awesome plus a couple of butters.  Don't think the cray had many legs left after that.

 

I managed a little better (luck of the draw), 6 crays, 8 Butters and 10 Paua.  I can tell you dragging around that sort of weight is a struggle. But its nice coming home with a good feed. Already have people wanting seafood for Xmas, least this will cover it all thankfully. Next time its all mine!

 

The conditions were getting worse during the Am into the Pm. Whilst the viz didn't change the wind and swell came up a little. The trip home was memorable with my Pontoon Dingy filling half way up with waves that kept coming in. The Wind was blowing the spey into my eyes which made it hard to stear and as more water comeing the flippin motor stopped. Not ideal really. Grabbed the paddles but managed to get the thing going  and we were away, only to keep filling up with water. Faster/Slower....no difference. Figured it was a good way to keep the fish and crays etc fresh right....... Didn't notice but a cray got out and was swimming around the dingy. Bit of a laugh as one does not expect to see the food swiming in ones boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Took the day off work on Monday to go out spearfishing. Plan was to be in Havelock at 8am sharp for meet the boat, that did not happen really, first run for a new boat - 12 mtr alloy 3 jets (cruzed at 32knots and top speed of 45) had a few issues, e.g lost keys, someone forgot to fill a hole etc which meant we did not get away till around 11am. All good when you get a phone call from work at 3.50am to go in and help work before leaving. Precious sleep gone!. Anyho we left and headed for Durville. Conditions were good, was a bit bumpy when we got to open sea but as soon as we rounded the top of durville as you can see in the pic was flat az.

 

Viz was around 10mtrs which for the SI is great and nice and warm. Spend a few hours in the water and really enjoyed the viz and fish life. Not much around in terms of other species but area had nice large bommies coming up near the surface and dropping away to 10mtrs, nice weedlines with sandy patches. Its almost what you expect in the NI and expecting to see a Snapper around. But as you can see in the pic Butters and Moki. Some very large butters and good moki. I managed 11 butters and 3 Moki which is not too bad by my standard. Other guy only managed 2 butters...

 

Jumped in around some working birds to see if there is any kings around but as my luck goes, nothing.

Headed back into Ketu bay which is popular for scollies, only issue was heaps of dredges had been pulled through and it made a mess of the bottom. They were hard work even for the divers in the water. Managed my deepest dive with no issues at 19mtrs. Its amazing how deep you can dive when you don't know how deep it is when you go down.

 

All in all a good day, viz and terrain made for a really great day.

 

A long day in the end. Got home at 10pm.

my first moki, so very happy with it, will be getting smoke, so cant wait to eat it