Diving the Aldermen Islands

An early(ish) start today. We launched the fizz boat at about 8.30 and headed to Starling to drop Vela, Tina and Vita off while Nathan and James headed out to the Aldermen Islands. It was a grey day to start, but as we arrived the clouds were clearing and it looked like it would be an awesome day.

We hopped in the water and Nathan immediately shot a nice fat koheru. There were massive schools of koheru right under the boat, a favourite snack of kingfish, but unfortunately none of the bigger fish showed up. James tried out his surface breathing apparatus and was swimming around for a look. Nathan headed for some slightly shallower water, hoping to find some crevices filled with crayfish. Unfortunately no luck on that, and the water got very murky close to the rocks so we headed back towards the boat.

James hopped out of the water and pulled his rod out, while Nathan was diving with the schools of two-spot Demezel. Another school of koheru swam through, and Nathan shot another to add to the sashimi for later. Almost immediately after shooting the koheru, a kingfish swam past, but without a loaded gun Nathan just had to watch it swim by. The koheru were hanging around, and Nathan, excited by the chance to spear his first kingy, kept trying. He spotted another kingy, but it was right at the end of his breath hold, so again no opportunity to get a shot away. 10 more minutes and the koheru had cleared out and no more kingfish had turned up so we called it a day.

With the forecast set to get windy and choppy later, wet headed back to Starling. There was a little bit of action in the top water on our way back, spotting what we think was a school of Skipjack or Albacore Tuna, and later a shark swimming lazily on the surface.

Meanwhile, the girls on Starling had been enjoying the sun and a peaceful morning. Paddleboarding and hanging out in the beautiful clear water off Slipper Island. They were even nice enough to make noodles for the boys for lunch!

When the wind got up, and with a wet forecast for Sunday, James decided to head back to Auckland early. The girls took the opportunity to get a ride back to Pauanui with James, and left Nathan to keep an eye on Starling. After a rough trip back to Pauanui, they safely crossed the bar and said goodbye to James.

For dinner they made kina dumplings, which Nathan was a bit disappointed to miss out on, but someone has to be responsible and mind the yacht!Baca lagi