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Trip Report by Simon Hutton
I spent last weekend on the live aboard to the Poor Knights aboard Pacific Hideaway with a great bunch of keen divers.
Having only completed my Open Water Course on July 12 and having not been for a dive in the briny due to the weather that weekend, I was excited at the thought of finally getting in and under the ocean. Excited and slightly nervous – nervous in a good way that is.
Alex and Simon in The Gardens / Photograph by Andrew Simpson
I wanted to make the most of the trip and do my Advanced Open Water course at the same time. I was very lucky in the fact that I was the only one doing the AOW that weekend. That meant I got one-on-one instruction from Alexandria.
Anticipation was high on Friday night and I didn’t get much sleep. I think I saw every hour in until others started to stir at around 7am. Conditions for the trip were great. None of the wind that we had been experiencing back in Auckland. About an hour after setting off we arrived at Northern Arch.
After a knowledge review and dive briefing, it was time for my first dive. We suited up, geared up and performed our buddy checks and then made our entry. Being in the sea was a strange sensation at first. Being pushed around by the surge also made it interesting trying to perform fin pivots and the hover.
Simon heads off on his last AOW dive - HMNZS Waikato / Photograph by Andrew Simpson
Second dive was a pleasure dive at Landing Bay pinnacle. This blew me away! I couldn’t believe the fish life here. Hundreds of fish, not too concerned with our intrusion. Big snapper aside, my favourite creature here would have been the banded coral shrimp we found hiding in a hole.
Third dive was navigation at The Gardens. Compass navigation went well. Straight line and reciprocal bearings weren’t a problem. My first attempt at the square went a little awry when I got the wrong bearing on the second or third leg, so ended up performing more of a triangle. I got rather lost on our first natural navigation attempt. I paid more attention on the second attempt and got us back to the starting point safe and sound.
Skipper Mark decided Riko Riko Cave would be us for the night. Most of the group went in outside the cave to swim the entrance at change of light. I admit to feeling slightly nervous the thought of doing a night dive. Once we were in the water I felt fine – relaxed as. Saw a few fish resting and the biggest leatherjacket I have ever laid eyes on! Some of the sponges were interesting as well as the phosphorescence on the walls.
After four dives on Saturday, I was feeling it more than a little. Thought I’d sleep like a log but didn’t sleep well at all. Just too excited about what was to come on Sunday I guess.
Simon on the HMNZS Waikato
Dawn finally arrived and as light began to seep into the cave, we made our departure. Our next destination was Ngaio Rock. This was where I did the deep dive. We settled on the sand at 30m where I then had to complete a couple of tasks which involved a bit of a co-ordination test. I was feeling sweet and thought the task was a piece of cake. That was until I couldn’t find the number 17 on the slate. Then I thought it was a trick until Alex pointed it out to me – Dooh! During the debrief I found out that I hadn’t just been touching my nose in between pointing out the numbers, but also the reg. I didn’t notice. It took me 58 seconds to complete the task at 30m and just over 20 seconds back onboard Pacific Hideaway. I also got both the age and maths equation wrong. At the time I knew my answers were incorrect, but I just thought “Oh well!” and handed the slate back to Alex. That was when I thought, “Wait a minute. Something’s not quiet right here!” I got ‘narked’.
I skipped the next casual dive to conserve a little energy for the dive on HMNZS Waikato on the way back to Tutukaka.
The wreck dive was fantastic! Visibility wasn’t flash and the water was green, which gave the wreck a rather eerie aura.
The trip seemed to come to an end as quickly as it had begun. It was a fantastic weekend! Great company, Mark and Pete were fantastic hosts, the food was great – especially the legendary lamb shanks I had heard so much about. Big thanks to Alex for being a fantastic instructor over the weekend. I learnt heaps!
It’s now Wednesday and I am still buzzing. Have got the silly grin I was carrying around all Monday under control finally.
