Saturday 7th July - SODS day. Posted by Ant & Phil.

If you would like to join SODS (SOUTHERN OCEAN DIVING SOCIETY) contact president@sods.co.nz

From Ant  

There was a brief gap in the weather and the advanced divers from SODS were off to the Poor Knights. Flipper, Kaz, Azza, Packhorse, GregV, Powley, JonoP, Tim and me. Conditions weren't good but weren't that bad either, but once we arrived at the Poor Knights we found that the North-easterly swell was wrapping around effecting the western side. So we headed to the eastern side. We anchored on Fred's pinnacle the conditions here were Ok so we geared up and entered the water. GregV was in first, he had to play with his RB which he had put together early that morning! Tim, Jono and I shortly followed. We headed down the southside of the pinnacle. The vis was amazing, we could see thousands of fish, Pink and Blue Mao Mao were sitting in the up-current, with a odd kingie rushing around. I spotted a short tailed stingray charging up the near-verticle wall out of 70+metres.

I think it was interested in what all the noise was. When the ray got close to me it did a sharp right hand turn then surfed down the wall into the blue. On out way back to the boat, we saw the rest of the SODS heading down. We deco'd in the increasing rough sea under the boat. Getting back on Shadowfax looked like hardwork, as I watch the others struggle from just below surface.

After getting aboard I saw 4 SMBs popping out of the water, a while later a number of heads appeared 20-30m from the boat. The conditions were going downhill pretty quickly, and by the time the others had done the surface swim they looked pretty buggered. The crew had prepared a line with bouys to hang off the back of the boat which everyone hung on to before boarding in the increasingly rough seas.

After we were all aboard the skipper made the call that the weather conditions were not going to get any better, so the trip was called. The trip back was exciting with the boat surfing the waves, there were a pale faces staring intensely at the horizon.
 

From Phil

Looking out of the window on the Saturday morning, the weather didn’t seem half as bad as predicted. We made our way down to where Shadowfax was moored (stopping first for a greasy breakfast of course) and started lugging the twins & stages on board. The ride out wasn’t too bad, but certainly lively enough to wish I’d had toast instead of the “full kiwi”. We were a sub-group of 4 divers on twins with a various deco blends, and one diver on a Meg CCR. The dive plan was simple. 50 meters for 20 minutes (for those of us on OC). A quick run through vplanner gave an array of different, though largely similar profiles catering for our different gasses. We kitted up and dropped into the water. Once there, all seasickness disappeared, replaced with peace, tranquillity and fantastic vis. We descended a near vertical drop off down the side of Fred’s Pinnacle to the 45-50m level.

Once settled, a quick look around gave stunning blue vistas, and plenty of two spot demoiselle checking us out. I’d just started to melt into the setting when PH beckoned me over. I floated there to work out what the hell he was doing; he’d taken his reg out with on hand and was doing something with his mouth with his other hand. He didn’t look anxious at all, so I stayed in close range and tried to work out what he was up to. He took something out of his mouth and swapped over to the backup reg. It seemed that the mouthpiece of his primary had slipped off! Back on the primary, we carried on the dive.

It was a great view – 4 OC divers cruising along, with a CCR diver off on his own within visual range.

A few minutes later we came across a massive school of trevally; thousands of them darting all directions. The school seemed to be acting in an agitated manner – changing angle and occasionally the school splitting right down the middle. A minute or two later, the culprit was spotted – a lone king fish was on the prowl; just like watching a sheep dog at work. Further round the pinnacle, an interesting shaped sponge was growing – I couldn’t remember seeing one before so took a photo to check out what it was later [barrel sponge apparently!].

Soon after we started the ascent including a whole pile of deep stops (a Dory joining us for one of the deeper ones) followed by 5 minutes at 15, 6 minutes at 9, then over to O2 at 6 meter to finish it off. We deployed bags and enjoyed the ride. 15 odd minutes at 6 meters later we surfaced.

We’d dropped down Fred’s Pinnacle, swam round it, then ascended up it – we must be near the boat right? Not this time – we were now quite some way away, and while we’d been down, the weather and sea had deteriorated significantly. I inflated everything that could be inflated, but still the waves were pushing me under. After a dive like that, the last thing I wanted to do was to over exert myself and get a bend, but seeing as the boat wasn’t able to easily come over to get us (big waves, near by rock face & high winds – yeah I could see the problem). A signal came from the boat asking if I was ok. My call – was I? Yeah, course I was. Certainly not comfortable, but still with 50% of the gas left and an inflated drysuit & wing, I’d make it ok, if slowly. We eventually reached the boat, which had a good couple of meters of vertical movement on it. Getting on board with the twins & stages was sporting but with some much appreciated assistance from the guys on board, we all got on deck safely. I took off the heavy bits of kit, had a sit down, a drink of water and then a strange feeling came over me. Could it be a bend? Na, it felt too familiar. With all the swell and disorientation in the surf, my stomach had had enough and I spontaneously deposited the ‘full kiwi’. Ah well. Not a great look, but one hell of a great dive.

Monday 25th June - Film Shoot. Posted by Wade Doak

Yesterday we seemed to be the only boat at the Poor Knights. Stiff offshore breeze. Shadowfax took ten of us swiftly out on a filming exped. Andrew Penniket is making a film about marine reserves aided by my son, Brady. Martin Ward had a go with Brady's camera and did a very competent first video shoot. Foreknowledge of fish behaviour is a big advantage. I did bits to camera about the changes I have seen since the MR was made total no-take.

Blue Maomao Arch was full of demoiselles and blue maos, all in parking mode. No feeding. Very static schools hanging in mid-water. Others entering, in ropes, mixed species; heading straight at the camera. A bit of that skimming gamesplay by the maos. These plankters use the arch as a refuge on days when there is no plankton . Hard fr kingies etc to hunt them in there. It was so clear you could see right through the arch. 17 degrees. The dry suit divers did not notice it. But wet suit clad Shane and Karly had a ball , with hot showers and soup on offer up top. And cold roast duck, donated by skipper Adrian Thomas.

A bunch of about ten big snapper were cruising about in the vicinity of the arch. Or hovering motionless. One had a small trevally accompanying it , riding over its back or alongside its flank. Andrew saw it make rushes on oblique swimming blennies, using the snapper for cover.

>From cabin talk it seems that a more subtle aspect of a Marine Reserve bedding in may be the development of interspecies relationships like this, learnt behaviours that take time to evolve and depend on not being interrupted by fishing. There are a couple of big snapper out there that use divers in the same way to get near demoiselles. I recall a john dory near Trevs Rocks that did this, accompanying divers like a fox terrier. But its motives were not friendship;. One had the feeling of being used.. I am most interested in any other unusual relationships divers may observe.

Recalling the bit I put on this site earlier about the way snapper accompany rays fr their faeces: on a day when Northern Arch was full of rays dive guide Geoff Miller saw them all exit together , followed by a contingent of eager snapper. The rays took a mass dump and the snapper had a mass orgy of copraphagy. Lolly scramble. A nice bit of filming yesterday shows a big red moki munching away at the reef, with its fat kissing lips, gushing junk from its gills while female Sandagers wrasses hovered about for crumbs. I have seen them doing this with an eagle ray that could crush Cook's Turban shells in its powerful jaws. The wrasse girls had a helluva fight over the scraps and I got rare pic of one in negative coloration: a brown fish with two white blobs on its furious flanks.

Monday 4th June. Posted by Martin

Yesterday was one of those lovely unexpected dives. We dived magic wall in South Harbour and settled in a crack in the wall was a huge spotted black grouper-60cm and very agitated when we shone our torches on him. On our return to the boat he was still in the hole. 18 degrees, 20m viz.
2nd dive was Splendid arch. I decided to have a nose at the small cave to the right of the arch instead. Glad i did as just inside the cave to the right is a smaller cave. In here was a pair of yellow banded perch. One was twice the size of the other. The smallest was approx twice the size of a lord howe coralfish. They both bolted into a crack in the roof of the cave as soon as i shone my torch on them. Turning round to exit i was clipping my torch to my D ring when it illuminated a depression underneath the boulder i had to swim over to leave the cave. I shone my torch underneath to have a look and there was another BIG yellow banded perch who backed away slowly from my torchlight to reveal a whole load of fry! I didn't want to annoy her/him anymore as fish often eat their own young when threatened so i backed off and swam around the boulder to find a pair of lord howe coralfish hanging out too! We exited the cave with very big smiles. On my SS i noticed a small hole in the wall with some young two spot damoseilles in. Hoping to find a cleaner shrimp i shone my torch in the hole and there was a Saran Shrimp in there! These have been the centre of discussion for Wade and myself for a few months now.
The possibility that true 'tropical reef fish' are breeding at the Knights is quite exciting. My dives were absolutely ace. It's not everyday that you get pleasantly startled by some BIG fish.

Sunday 20th May. Posted by Lily Kozmian-Ledward www.oceanswatch.org

My first trip on Shadowfax, and first time diving at the Knights for over a year! Very excited to get back into the water after a long 6 months without a dive. The trip out was short but bumpy. Bums leaving seats on more than a few occasions as Shadowfax negotiated the choppy seas at 20 kts. South Harbour was calm in the northerly wind and we anchored between Ngaio Rock and Magic Wall (?). A group from The Dive Centre, Auckland were preparing for the Deep Dive of their PADI Advanced course and while they did their buddy checks I jumped in.

So many fish!! Dropping down the wall to the sandy floor at 30 m I was surrounding by Pink maomao and watched streams of Demoiselle and Koheru heading for some unknown destination. The vis had been spectacular over the preceding week apparently and had reduced now but still very respectable. Finning gently along the wall I found several John Dory, some large stingrays and hunted between the kelp to find grey and yellow moray eels intertwined with the grey sponges. On the return trip along the wall at around 12 m I switched to ‘macro’mode and scanned the colourful walls of  bryozoans, sponges, corals and anemones finding several pairs of Clown nudibranch. Why didn’t I bring my camera?! Time to head up and I did my safety stop by the wall watching the Red moki in the gentle swell.

Wade and Jan Doak had come out for the ride, great to catch up with this fascinating pair. I had spent the last winter diving in the unspoilt Ha’apai Group in Tonga and we discussed the similarities in fish biomass between the tropics and NZ. While coral reefs have huge numbers or fish, these are mainly small. In the Poor Knights there are many fish but of a larger size illustrating the merits of having a marine protected area. I have been diving in many places around the world and the Poor Knights is definitely one of my favourite areas.

Next stop, Maroro Bay and we anchored near Rikoriko cave for a good lunch and to relax during the hour and a half surface interval. Took my camera in on the second dive but unfortunately it decided not to play. Very frustrating having found a beautiful Mosaic moray settled comfortably in a crevice and happy for me to get close. As I watched in fascination at the glass-like teeth of the moray, a female Sandagers wrasse watched me. Probably marvelling at her reflection in my mask we stared eye to eye as I tried to shoo her back a little so I would have more than a mouth viewed in my camera lens. Despite the water being warm for this time of year (19oC), I was getting chilly and headed back after 45 min. Swimming back to Shadowfax in midwater it was great to see the large Snapper and the odd Kingfish which had congregated under the shadow of the boat.

All in all, a fantastic day and many thanks to the Shadowfax crew and to Wade and Jan for some wonderful discussions. Looking forward to the next trip.

Photo by Flipper

Sunday 13th May. Posted by Martin

I must thank everyone aboard Shadowfax today. My best shallow dive day this year so far. Good laugh with a bunch of great people, again.

First site was Northern Arch. Buddied with Kaz as she was trying out her new drysuit and she wanted to stay shallow to get to grips with it. As soon as i peered down into the water i yelped with joy. Fantastic viz, awesome viz! We descended to a shallow ledge and she got used to the inflator for a few minutes. Then we swam along the wall to the left-i could hardly watch the life on the wall as my attention was drawn to looking down, way down

Or out into the blue where a huge school of Damoseilles hang virtually motionless apart from the scattering few where a kingy cruised by. Snapper idle in the blue and trevally gliding gently around them. Kaz pointed out a lovely firebrick starfish & a little moray nestled in the head of a stalk of kelp. We turned round after a short distance and cruised towards the Arch. The rest of the gang passed underneath us and we all waved and gave ok signs. It was fantastic to watch them swim away, 10m, 20m, 30m... I then looked to my right and could see the entrance to the arch way about 30m away. Beautiful. Jamie was above us with Anna heading toward the arch way so i asked Kaz if she fancied a look in the arch. She did. We made our way slowly into the arch way. From 15m ish i could clearly see the plaque. Flipper will tell you who's name is on the plaque and at what depth. Aye Flipper? We spent a few minutes in the arch accompanied by a big school of blue Mao Mao, a shoal of golden snapper, a pair of Mado-which seemed to be hounding a Kingfish and a couple of big Snapper. The encrusting life was illuminated perfectly at that depth by the sparkling rays of sun spilling into the arch from above. Pure magic. But by that time it was time to make our way back to Shadowfax. So we relunctanctly left the arch and made our way back. Slowly cruising up to 8m till we got near the boat. I noticed a little Kingfish swimming slowly through the kelp opposite us and indicated to Kaz. We then watched it slowly appear out of the kelp and onto an area of sea cabbage and a school of free swimming triplefins. Where it charged the triplefins, caught and ate one. Right in front of our eyes! Awesome. Safety stop was over in no time. Soon we were back on the boat. Raving to the others about the viz. Kaz was dry and warm but felt she needed a few more dives to get properly comfortable and used to the drysuit. Great dive. Kaz seems to be my good luck buddy.

Anzac Day 2007 Posted by Hybrid

Many people were getting up early, getting ready to go to the Dawn parade, but I was heading for the Poor Knights for another trip on Shadowfax. I drove to Flipper and Kaz’s place before dawn seeing tanks on the doorstep lit by the front light. The drive up was easy without the normal buzz of people trying to get around.

We arrived at the marina at 8am on the dot, unloaded the gear and cast off. There was Martin and crew, plus myself, Flipper, Kaz, Aquakiwi, and Wade & Jan Doak aboard, and we powered out there over the half metre easterly swell.

Photo by UXB

Our first stop was Serpent rock. A spot that none of us had dived before - well except for the Doaks! Flipper and I buddied up, and headed around the rock in the clockwise direction. Starting at the most eastern side. The water was a warm 19 degrees and there was almost only a light northernly current. Serpent Rock comes up out of 50 -60metres of water, and at 30 metres it was easy to see the bottom without having to touch the sand. We came around the rock into the gentle current on the western point and swam amongst the thousands of demoiselles and Blue Mao Mao’s sitting in the current. The sea-life was prolific, big snapper sitting at random depths, with Porae in loose groups. The bright orange cleaner fish getting hassled by a circling demoiselles.

We completed our deco above a shallow lip where silver drummers moved around nipping at seaweed. Flipper got a chance to breath his new 02 sling, cutting his deco obligations in half! We ate lunch, listening to the stories from Wade about diving then it was time for the next dive.

Middle Arch, always a good dive. We all entered as a loose group and headed over the arch. I entered Bernie’s Cave, followed by Aquakiwi, I think all we did was photograph each other. I spend most of the time solo diving, seeing various divers coming and going from the cave. I was taking photos of silhouetted divers and fish. There were about 3 or 4 Mado - a brilliant dark brown and yellow striped fish, hanging around in the roof of the cave. It was a very relaxing dive max depth was only 16m, and the only reason I called the dive was that time was getting on a bit and thought everyone else would waiting for me as I’d been under for just on an 60mins. I did surface last and then we were quickly on our way back to Tutukaka. A great time had by all I’m sure.

ANZAC DAY 25 April 07 AT THE POOR KNIGHTS:  CHANGES IN THE SEA
Posted by Wade Doak

During a spell of ongoing calm autumn weather when the POOR KNIGHTS can be at their hooting best, Jan and I readily accepted an invite to boat slide across to our beloved isles on Shadowfax.  I used to have a habit of grabbing a bit of extra sleep on these boat trips.  But now it is too damned fast.  Seem to be arriving before I have left.

When we pulled up beside  Serpent rock surrounded by calm, our unhoused cameras started popping at a splendid shag, proudly erect at the water¹s edge, surrounded by white-fronted terns. .  

I love the dive at this rock.  You can easily circumnavigate it and end up back at the boat with a nice mix of deep, moderate and shallow regions: all interesting.  In the eighties we once watched from our catamaran as Calypso did a Denise saucer dive here.

First Jan and I glowed at the sight of a bevy of five mature butterfish mimicking  seaweed fronds, just below the surface and totally unafraid.  As old spearos we raised our kids on these.  So glad to be forgiven.  We enjoyed meeting a fat silver drummer and even a parore; species once more common on the coast.  Everywhere, like CIA agents, huge snapper shadowed us, possibly using us as cover to get near prey.  Tiny, newly settled demoiselles the size of corn flakes and schools of baby koheru flashing gold.  Water still has its summer warmth.  I have had many of my very best PK dives in April.

Out on the west end I was thrilled to find that the dense festoons of marine worms that I once filmed draped over gorgonian fans, bryzoan thickets, sponges and ascidians, -paranoid they were taking over, have all gone.  Snapper tucker perhaps.  I did not descend to the black coral tree I once did travelling shots around with my video camera.  I hope it is still there: really just a big stump with coppice like growth and lots of epizoic life.

Along the steep shaded wall on southeast side there are several amazing slots that go  right up to the surface, penetrating Serpent Rock.  Avery young Lord Howe Island coralfish hovered in one.  Martin Ward saw a large Tambja verconis nudibranch in this area.  Biggest I have ever heard of.  He could have climbed on for a ride I reckoned.  Then Jan and I saw a very small yellow moray entwined in a sponge: so yellow it was a fluorescent orange!  Hope it was not a new species

If changes through time were on my mind at Serpent Rock, it was change from day to day that themed our next dive: at Middle Arch.  Martin had dived there the day before, when Bernie¹s Cave was so densely crammed with demoiselles [all nesting is now complete] there was hardly room to move.  And down by the entrance on the west side he had seen a very fat, short conger like Danny De Vito, that was either on its way out of the world or had overfed.  Incongruous anyway. Remembering the very big conger that once lived up the back of Bernie¹s Cave under a ledge on the right, [we filmed it for a TV doco in the eighties] I was keen to see Martin¹s conger.  Sorry Jill.  No sign.  And no demoiselles in the cave.  They were all out in mid water, frantically feeding on animal plankton.  It is my theory that plankton-feeding fishes use arches etc for refuge from predators such as onrushing kingies, when there is no nourishing plankton flow.  If you cant feed, take shelter.  And changes at the PK can be very rapid.

On my way back along the cliff towards the boat I met a long finned boarfish in forty feet of water- unusually shallow-and then a large super female banded wrasse. [ I describe superfemalism in wrasses in my fish books: - PK LIBRARY]  a bit like a small tropical Napoleon fish, came so very close to me she would have sent a male banded wrasse¹s heart beating.  And then, she glided down into a cliff edge trench with a sand floor.  There she lay on her left side, all fins widely displayed, just barely hovering, eye moving to and fro, her yellow bands exaggerated in intensity: -while I observed.  What was she up to? How long would she do this?  Was a crested blenny underneath, cleaning her gill filaments?  Would she turn over to have the other side serviced?  Was she just wondering how long I would hang there watching her?  [ She was pretty and I have been diving a long time.]  Would Allan Morrison turn up soon with his camera to document this aberrant behaviour?  

Just below, on the next shelf, a short-tailed ray lay in a smaller depression, rather like a chook on a nest, tail dangling over the side.  A banded triple fin darted about over its skin, possibly doing a bit of dermal work.  I recalled seeing a ray cruising down Labrid Channel with a grey moray curled up on its back like a small, smug snake.

Cooling body drove me up eventually.  I have only a very thin wetsuit.  All my others have shrunk.  And when Allan arrived with his camera, he saw the ray; but no wrasse.  Then a runabout arrived and dropped its grapnel on him.  Bugger the diver¹s flag!

Meanwhile, with a perfectly calm sea Jan had been paddling around on a kayak taking superb pictures of the cliffs and archways. She has found she can stitch vertical shots together on the computer to make powerful images of
towering walls of rock sprigged with vegetation and pocked with caves and ledges. Eventually she would like to document all the coasts of the Poor Knights in this way. Linked by me in a series of photo essays they provide comfy armchair travel.

Sunday 8th April. Posted by Wade Doak. www.wadedoak.com

Yesterday aboard Shadowfax Jan and I scuba dived the PK with our son Brady and his wife Karen.  A benign autumn day.  Warm: 20 degrees.  Like swimming in a giant aquarium.  I saw a good-sized spotted black grouper hovering like a log alongside a wall of intricate gorgonian fans.  Brady saw a smaller one by Jans Tunnel.  This species is increasing amazingly since line fishing ceased.  It is incredible for us oldies to see such a difference in the marine life with total protection.  Truly an undersea parallel with the abundant birdlife we saw recently on Hauturu or Little Barrier Island.

A turtle was sighted over near Jans Tunnel and last week our skipper Llyw told us, our dear friend Luke Howe, testing a new camera, got pix of a huge snapper engulfing a blue maomao; a rare sight indeed; and then: a mother humpback with calf!

Swimming hard I checked out Labrid Channel to see if any of the exotic wrasses and other subtropicals were around.  I saw none.  Seems we are in a downswing for these visitors.  By the old, disused mooring blocks I watched a porae feeding in the sand.  A female Sandagers wrasse was close by its gulping, gill squirting mouth, watching for crumbs.  In the past, when trying to film such action, porae would never allow me so close.

For an oldie who began out there in the sixties, there are many changes to note at the PK.  Behaviours are emerging not possible in the past when fishing pressures were affecting the populations in ways we were unable to appreciate in the past when snapper and other predators were so scarce.  For example: I noticed several times big snapper are now accompanying stingrays to feed on their faeces.   Even a small ray lying snugly in a hollow, had two big snapper hovering above its back, awaiting dinner.  Clearly, the faecal diet is a big item.  Brady got good pix of two big snapper following a smallish ray.  He said there had been a third in the retinue... While rays are used as decoys by kingfish, snapper etc to get near prey by subterfuge, the crapper snappers have another reason for this odd association

Because Jan had a cold she had only one really good dive and went around Ngaio Rock.  She saw three Diadema urchins in a row.  She was amazed at how unafraid the red moki have become, one even coming between her and Karen as they sought photo subjects.  Then she took a handy little kayak from Shadowfax cabin top and with a good digicam in a waterproof bag, she paddled into her own tunnel and got some great pix from dynamic angles, exploring the rock formations and odd lighting effects..  We have been supplying several oil painters with reference material.  We are very keen to see the PK represented in art.

Meanwhile I was swimming into her tunnel down below, seeing two nice big mado as I went in and passing my daughter-in-law Karen with her close up rig, on the way out.  In the low autumn afternoon light I could see opportunities for a camera with fisheye lens to get some amazing pix with the reflections on the surface just before you clear the tunnel and enter the mini harbour.  Fill flash could light up the colourful, curvaceous wave -sculptured rock forms in the foreground.  Divers often stress going deep.  A dive into a shallow space like this extends the dimensions of experience the Poor Knights offer. Surfacing in the interior is close to the experience of landing on the PK: you can whiff that acrid PK aroma of guano and hear the chimes of bellbirds with demoiselles and bigeye around you.  Brady took some nice pix of his mum above him on the white kayak, all the fantasy ridges and rock windows of the internal harbour flickering above the surface.  Jans Tunnel is a photo studio.

On board we met Malcolm Kid, son of veteran diver Guy Kidd.  He was testing one of those space age head up display face masks.  Nice to have a yarn with the sonofadiver.  Quite a few second and third generation divers around nowadays. I was reminded of what a big contribution his dad, as a former no nonsense navy diver, had made to our diving world.

Another delightful day in our Poor Knights experience, whisked home at high speed by that lovely big white horse, Shadowfax.

Saturday 7th April. Posted by Alex

We started the day at Middle Arch in very calm conditions. 18 degree water was just fine for me, and we started off near the wall of the island. Lots of schooling Blue Mao Mao (with a few pink ones thrown in for effect), trevally and some snapper welcomed us as we descended down. Entering the arch behind Martin and Karl (Irish fella who was making up our dive team of three that day) I found a big old yellow moray in his hole coming out at me. Continuing in we were met by more Mao Mao and trevally as well as some interesting sponges. swimming through the arch and just out of the other side we were greeted by a HUGE stingray. By my estimations his wingspan must have been about 6 feet at least, maybe more (Martin??), anyway, he glided around us for a little as hung there checking him out - one of the highlights of the day.
We swam slowly back through the arch again checking out more schooling fish and we all saw a smaller yellow moray (not as big by any stretch as the first!) and I was on the lookout for any nudis (none that I saw though!). Exiting the arch we flicked round the corner to go check out the cave. Along with the schooling fish who seemed to be following us around that day we came across a scorpion fish at the bottom of the cave, just hanging out, the cave seemed to house some juvenile two spot demoiselles and some juve trevally as well. With a nod to the stone frog as we went past him, Martin and I surfaced in the air bubble of the cave (very odd seeing 7m on the computer but being able to take out the regs!) and purged some fresh air into the bubble, as it was pretty stale in there - a bit like breathing through a used gym sock! - and had a quick chat before returning back into the submerged part of the cave.
Exiting behind Karl and Martin I noticed a long finned boar fish (which I'd never seen before so was pretty cool) and spent a minute checking him out as he just looked for a few scraps to eat.
We made our way back along the wall of the island until I hit my return point and I signalled to Martin that I was going to surface (after my safety stop of course!). Martin and Karl had more air than me (air pig still, got to work on that!!) so stayed down there for a bit more. Great dive to start the day.

After the surface interval and a bit of lunch we moved round to Trevs Rocks for the second dive of the day. This time I would be diving with Karl only as Martin was going further round with one of the other divers Tim, who had spent the first dive testing a gizmo he had made that was an early stage of a buddy locator - very cool.

Karl and I set off for the first barely submerged pinnacle of the rocks. Descending down at that point we found many more Mao Mao and small juve fish. We did a circuit of the first pinnacle, checking out the sponges and small fish in the kelp. Plenty of female pig fish, small two spot demoiselles and mao mao to look at down there, along with the occasional leatherjacket.

Now this is where my direction goes off a bit and I can't remember our route, as when we eventually surfaced we were about 50m down the island from the boat! But it was still a great dive. Following Karl from the first pinnacle, we made our way across to another rock to have a look. This one had a swim through which we duly swam through, spotting another of the oddities left by a group of working divers at the Knights some time ago (remember the stone frog in the cave?), a frog sitting on a toad stool smiling at us! I then saw a swimming grey/brown moray eel (never seen them out of their hole before) and then found 5 clown nudibranchs all hanging out together on the rock. Spent a bit of time checking out these guys (have to admit to being a bit of a nudi nut) before going to catch up with Karl. A few more leatherjackets, a big old snapper some more mao mao, leatherjackets and a sinlge clown nudi later we had gently ascending to about 5m by being close to the island therefore had already completed any safety stop requirements and decided that we were ready to head back to the boat (saying I was ready to head back to the boat really means that I am getting low on air rather than I am ready to head back - I could stay there for days on end!)
Upon ascending where we thought the boat should be, we found that we were nowhere near where we should be! (Azza - you will need to teach me to nav properly on the AOW I think!!!) and commenced our little swim back to the boat. As we snorkelled nearer we found ourselves swimming through a sea of tiny jellies, thousands of them, you could feel them hitting your face as you swam.
Back on the boat, another cup of chicken soup (don't know whay I love cup a soups so much on dive boats!) and all too soon we were heading away from the Islands and back to Tut's, where I would soon remember that I had to drive back to Auckland!
Again, great day, great crew - and yes, maybe next time I will meet Jill!

Saturday 7th April. Posted by Martin

Middle Arch. First dive of the day and mostly in the shade of the island on our arrival. Water temp was 19 and the viz was around 10-15m. I buddied up with Alex and Carl and off we went. We descended against the island and then turned into the Arch itself. It was here that Alex pointed out after the dive that 'we' missed a big moray! We cruised down the right side of the arch a small way studying the encrusting life and keeping an eye out for anything unusual. Apart from the yellow, orange and purple encrusting sponges, literaly hundreds of triplefins and blennies, nudibranch's and the odd gorgonian nothing unusual. Untill an enormous long-tailed stingray appeared from nowhere. We watched it for quite a few minutes whilst it worked it's way round a few rocks and trenches. We then crossed over to the opposite wall. I spotted  2 more stingrays-only half the size of the big one, a lot more nudi's seemed to be on this side of the arch? There's probably some nudibranch reason for this. After the 'easy' pull through the arch we now got to the point where the pull became a push. There was a school of blue mao mao playing in the current which we all had to swim through. This brought us to the entrance of Bernie's air bubble cave. I went straight to see if my little Banded shrimp was at home but he wasn't. :-(  Then I waved at the teddy bear and gave the frog a pat on the way up to the air bubble at the top of the cave. Where Alex and I purged some air from our regs and had a chat at around 6m. Tee Hee. It always amuses me. We then descended back down to the cave opening and crossed over to our original descent point. Alex indicated that his time was up air wise and he made his ascent back to the surface. I then indicated to Carl that he and I buddy up and continue. We slowly cruised around ascending slowly, checking out the wall life and the huge schools of pink and blue mao mao, two spot damoseilles and small trevally. Our safety stop done, we surfaced.   Trevor's Rocks. Second dive site but we anchored to the left of the pinnacles known as trev's. I buddied with PKD regular and friend Tim. We decided to go 'nose about' to the left of the island rather than Trev's. There was some awesome wall life as we scurried about checking out this nook that cranny. Some really different camouflaged scorpionfish. An awesome wall with every spare holdfast taken by a flourishing gorgonian. Obviously we admired this for a while, venturing up to check out a window to the other side of the wall. Then we decided to go right round and check out the other side. Totally different topography and lots more fish life. Tim spotted a very big marblefish and i spotted a lovely moray. We traced our path back to the boat,  having done our safety stop on the anchor chain, we ascended.

Wednesday 5th April. Posted by Martin

The recent rain-and what rain it was, has chilled the Knights by a degree and reduced the viz doown to 5-8m.
They say it was the worst rain in 150 years but Wade recalls 1975, when he lived in Matapouri and was ready to leave the house by boat as the rain had been pouring for days and days. I got 19 degrees on my computer but more importantly I got a crap load of water down the neck seal of my drysuit. Brrrr.

Loads of stingrays, the black Angels have calmed down now, Juveniles of all species abound and 'the madding crowd' has subsided a little

Wednesday 21st March. Posted by Martin

Got wet today for the first time in a week. Dived the Sugarloaf with Llyw. We descended down to around the 20m mark and made our way round to the point where Llyw said he expects there to be a bit of current and schools of big fish hanging out. WOW!!! As we reached the point we grabbed onto a rock/kelp and peered over the edge to see a gnarly current aound 5-6kts with big kingies, trevally, snapper, moki and a couple of large rays holding station against the current. One of the rays gently cruised over to us and floated above me in the water. The water temp was 18 degrees here but with wonderful waves of gorgeously warm water every now and then. I spotted an all white moki. Apart from his stripes he was all white, very weird. A pair of Kingies cruised closer for a look, eyeing us over before joining the others again in the current. I signalled to Llyw that I was down to 100 bar only too soon and we headed back towards the boat. Llyw spotted a Cray hiding in a hole whilst i just enjoyed the awesome encrusting life. The encrusting sponges here are so abundant they cover the walls with orange and yellow patches virtually everywhere you look. Two rays seemed to be frolicing whilst we were doing our stop, one larger female being chased by a smaller male.

Saturday 17th March. Posted by Jamie

We dropped in around 5m at  Hope Point, beginning the dive in a shallow basin and found several red and packhorse crays in about 7m sheltering in a crevice. Following the wall east we noticed wild temperature changes (18 to 21 degrees C.) We noticed a distinct lack of pelagics and schooling fish until we got to the point and found an approx 3 knot current with hundreds of pink and blue mao mao, two-spots, trevally and snapper feeding.

We held on to the kelp at 18m for 10 minutes or so before quickly darting over to the pinnacle to face the current head on. We followed the wall back towards the basin at the start of the dive and entere the bubble cave in the back of the bay - this one having a surprising amount of head room. We spent our safety stop among the angelfish, Sandaggers's and various triplefins.

For the second dive we descended on the eastern side of Blue Mao Mao Arch and entered an oddly barren archway - although there was a toadstool grouper, several scorpionfish and two stingrays.

We exited the swin through on the western side and found the missing demoiselles and mao mao as well as several very large snapper out in the current from the channel. As we re-entered the archway so the mao mao and two spots and began forming a mixed school mid-water. Searching the eastern end among the boulders we found a large speckled moray and a few smaller yellows, before ending the dive among the snapper in the shallows.

Saturday 10th March-  Dive 1. Posted by Hybrid

Met up at 10am with other members aboard Shadowfax. Loaded up all the gear and headed out. There was a light 10 knot easterly blowing – nothing to worry about but we would be diving the west side of the Knights. The crew dropped anchor on Occulina Point, a dive site I don’t think any of us had dived before.
The water was that deep blue colour that can only mean one thing – clear water! A brief rundown of the dive site was given and we entered the water. The water was a warm 21 degrees and we diecide to dive in a group of five with a runtime of 45m for 15mins. We headed around the point, spotting various marine life, a long finned boar fish hanging in the cooler water below the 20m thermocline. While the snapper and demoiselles hang just above that.
We turn about 8mins into the dive and head for a cave described in the briefing.
The entrance is in about 10-12m and there is an old tree branch laying on the bottom. I enter the cave followed by the others.

Bigeyes rush around trying to stay out of my torch beam. The cave is a long narrow crack, with a sand bottom, slowly getting narrower as you head in further. As I get towards the back it is a tight fit, and my tanks touch the top while, my stage hits the sand. But after that restriction it opens up again, I slowly head further in until I get to a pile of smooth rocks where the sand stops being replaced by mud. Then I see a halocline shimmering in the water just above me. Slowly moving through is a weird experience, my vision goes from blurry to clear, and as I look down to see my fins a blur in the salt water below. After a quick look around I turn and head out of the cave to complete my deco obligations.

Saturday 10th March- Dive 2.  Posted by Flipper

Ok, so a trip report for Taravana Cave.
It was a second dive, so we had half a twinset full of EAN21 ;o) and quite slow tissue load full of nitrogen. So with this in mind we (Packhorse & myself) did a surface swim from ShadowFax to the point on the wall where we were assured the cave entrance was. Descending 20 meters and, yip, there it was; a huge cathedral arch – the top at around 20 meters, and the sea floor at around 40 meter. At this point it was quite a unique spectacle, however this was ‘just a shallow dive’ so I was all build up for something nice and scenic. Ok, so we entered the arch, keeping quite high so as to not eat into the deco time too much, swam along, and oh my word!! What an architecture. Plunging cave walls (anybody with a vertigo issue, be warned, this is quite real!), and heaps of fish. Ok. So my fish identification is lame to poor, however there these wee fish who swam prone to the walls of the cave – if the walls were at 90degrees, the fish swam at 90 degrees. For the roof of the cave, they swam upside down. Quite weird. Took me a couple of minutes to work out if it was the fish or if there was a shallow water-narcosis thing going on . In terms of marine life, the thing that really struck me was the size of the snapper. So many 6+kg snapper mooching around was a fabulous sight. So anyway, we kept mostly high and to the right hand side of the cave. Once the deco obligation Vs air reserves required (about 100-150 meters into the cave) we about turned and came back along the opposite wall of the cave. Torches in hand, about 2 thirds of the way back, there was as shimmering reflective layer on the right. I approached cautiously and poked my finger through. Perhaps some sort of teleport? To push the point home, Packhorse stuck his head in it. Ok, so it wasn’t a teleport just a layer of fresh water hitting the saline. At this point the entrance was a stunning arch or vivid blue. Simply outstanding, If I’d enough gas & deco time I could have hung there for hours just watching the silhouetted snapper mooching about in the blue. Just beautiful. 15 mins more bad navigation and we were back on Shadowfax.

Next time I’ll load up with a twinset of EAN32, a sling, and a map of the cave. One of the best dive sites I’ve seen in NZ to date

Friday 9th March. Posted by Andy

The first SODS trip aboard Shadowfax needs to be put in the context of a rather later-than-planned night before in Galbreiths! Thanks to Martin for agreeing to a 10am departure, else a 5am start from Auckland would have been a right PITA.

The bunch of lucky SODS met for breakfast in Schnapper Roack around 9am - those being myself, Powley, Diveclass-101, Dive Diva, Russ, Flipper + partner (sorry, I'm rubbish with names!), Packhorse and Catfish.

Despite a moderate easterly swell, the trip out to the islands was fast and uneventful - well, I think. I slept most of the way, only awakening to grunt some information to the crew.....

With a mixture of confidence levels, and the prevailing weather conditions there weren't many options for Llew to choose from - and the first dive site of the day was Riko Riko cave entrance. A quick check with Llyw that he was ok with solo divers, and I was into the water.

Conditions were fairly average for the PKs, visability outside the cave was maybe 15m and there wasn't an abundance of fish live - there was, however, a large amount of encrusting life. Cruising along the wall, I stopped for a while to voyuer at a couple of clown nudibranchs that were getting down and dirty! A bit later, a marvelous specimen of a Gem nudibranch.

I dropped down to the sand to the north of the Matterhorn, hoping to find some rays but the area was fairly barren so cruised up to the west side of the cave entrance and followed the wall to the back. Riko Riko is a great dive site, particularly at night, and it didn't disappoint today! The vis in the cave was much better, the sponges on the wall filter the junk out of the water, and towards the back you find life in shallows that you wouldn't normally expect to find with in recreational limits. There is also a great grandaddy of a crayfish who normally just sits out on the sand with a look of "what are you going to about it"? and large numbers of Big Eye in the nooks and crannies.

Coming out of the cave I came across the rest of the crew, before coming up shallower to eke out the most of the dive. Whilst the dive was missing the larger fish you often see at the Knights, the collection of triplefins and blennies darting across the wall kept the safety stop entertaining.

Saturday February 10th.. Posted by Tim www.turtlesarehere.com

Shadowfax is becoming my second home (I wish). Conditions were marginal with a 2 to 3 m swell with chop in a stiff easterly, but with the promise of easing conditions in the afternoon (never believe the Met).  The water was a tropical 20°C with visibility between 25 and 30 m. The conditions dictated the dive spots – Middle Arch and Mary’s Wall on the lee side of the island. The Knights provide fantastic shelter from the prevailing weather, but on days like this avoid a big greasy breakfast.

Martin didn’t join us on the day to accommodate an increase in the Dive HQ roll. Before departure he asked me to try and get some photos of schooling juvenile snapper, and the smaller the better. Apparently this phenomenon warrants some serious study. I can attest that they’re there but the little beggars are a sod to photograph as they are for-ever on the move.  Hopefully the one or two solo beasties that I photographed will be useful.

We were joined on the dive by Sharkbait and a team from Dive HQ.

My first dive was dedicated to field trials of my Buddy Locator. Working to a maximum depth of just over 30 m in close proximity to the boat gave me lots to think about.  Go to the Buddy Locator Page for details and a couple of photos.  At the end of the dive we were all entertained by Blue Maomao in a feeding frenzy at the surface

The second dive was with Jamie and Scott.  Before the dive I switched the camera to movie-mode to experiment.  While movies don’t have the clarity of full resolution stills and lack the benefit of flash, they provide a great feel for the underwater experience.  I must incorporate a rotary control for the camera mode select on the camera housing.

There was heaps of underwater activity.  Critters included Moray Eels, Yellow Tail, Black Angelfish, Two Spot Demoiselles, Snapper, Kingfish, Sanders Wrasse, two varieties of Ray, Blue Maomao, Goatfish, Porae, Sweep, Leatherjackets, Pigfish…

Saturday January 27th. Posted by Tim www.turtlesarehere.com

Another great boat dive aboard Shadowfax..  Martin had made some refinements to the boat making for a better dive platform.  Conditions were essentially flat for another three-dive day at the Knights, with the last dive on dusk. Visibility was around 15 m with a maximum depth of 26 m. The water was a balmy 18°C.  Wade Doak and his lovely wife Jan were on board and were happy to share their vast knowledge of the Knights, marine biology, a few stories and just a little philosophy with the other divers.  For many this experience alone will make going out with PKDive a must.  Wade has inspired me to start thinking about transmitting live images from a buoy-mounted camera to the mainland (maybe the www). It’s been a few years since I have played with video transmission and the technology has moved forward in leaps and bounds since then. There will be more on this in due course. 

I completed three great dives, two accompanied by Jamie, one of the PKDive crew. With my camera all set to go I was looking forward to some serious Nudibranch photography.  Just a few shots into the first dive the camera card gave up the ghost with a memory card error message and the camera locked on.  Darn! Nothing to do but enjoy the dive.

During the surface interval I set about resetting the camera and reformatting the card.  Alas on the second dive the camera pretended to let me take pictures for about 20 minutes before going haywire again. This was a jolly bother because I thought I’d snapped an awesome packhorse cray and several lock lobsters, the first crays that I’d seen at the Knights.  The best I’ve been able to do is to recover some of the thumbnail images.