Bay of Islands

Diving NZ was on our must do list. The Bay of Islands lived up to its famed reputation for its stunning coastal scenery. The bay is punctuated by dozens of coves with 150 or so islands. In 1985 the Greenpeace Flagship Rainbow Warrior was bombed in Auckland Harbour by French saboteurs while enroute to Tahiti to protest French nuclear testing. The skeletal remains of the ship were taken just north of the Bay to the Cavalli Islands and re-sunk as an artificial reef that can be explored by divers. We tried to call Paihia Dive to arrange to dive the wreck but got no answer as it was already late afternoon. We decided just to show up in Paihia early the next morning. The sign on the shop door said it was open 10-2:00. We went and got breakfast and then found somebody at the shop at 9:30 who said there were no trips scheduled as their boat was out of the water (it being the slow winter season) so diving Rainbow Warrior was not possible. He suggested we try the Island Shuttle and Dive shop on the pier. It too was closed but Ruth in the ferry office next door said she could call the owner, Dusty for us. Doug got on the phone with him and next thing you knew we had a trip scheduled for 10:30. We left our suitcases in the ferry office and Doug parked the car down the beach at the free spots. I went to the ATM to get cash and to the bathroom in the park to put my contacts in. Dusty showed up with a boat captain and opened the dive stall. We changed into wet suits (5mil complete with hoods) behind the counter while Dusty looked the other way and the captain loaded the equipment on the Christmas Goose, and off we went. We motored along the south edge of the bay with fabulous views to Deep Water Cove and the wreck of the Canterbury. The HMNZS Canterbury was scuttled in Nov 2007 so is NZ newest artificial reef. We found out later that Dusty spent 20 years in the NZ Navy as a Diving Instructor and Diving Medical Technician and served on the Canterbury. The wreck was very friendly with several very comfortable swim throughs. Kelp, sponges, and corals are starting to grow on the ship. Visibility was pretty good but the water was very cold. The dive computer malfunctioned so we had to shorten the dive but we did not care. Thank goodness Doug knows how to use the manual tables. It was really lovely to have Dusty’s personal tour with just Doug and me. We anchored in the next small cove out of the wind for our surface interval and lunch. The meal they provided was fabulous with hot soup, hot tea, sandwich, chips, and candy. I couldn’t eat it all. Dive two was along the shore of a small island at the mouth of Deep Water Cove. Dusty wanted to check out the winter storm damage in the area. An underwater gravel slide had knocked out part of the area and a kelp field had been flattened. We went up into a sea cave and finished the dive by feeding urchins to the fish. The fish were very greedy nipping at my fingers. I was glad I had my gloves on. Rain squalls had moved in while we were underwater so the ride back was a bit rougher. Dusty got a call on the way back so we detoured to pick up two guys who had been planting kauri trees and doing landscaping work on one of the islands. It was a little incongruous to have a lawn mower on board the boat. Dusty said the boat had looked even funnier the day before with the 140 kauri trees onboard.

On the boat ride we saw a blue penguin and a fur seal in the water as well as identified a new tern for our bird list.

We stayed in Paihia at sea level to decrease the possibility of decompression sickness as driving across passes at altitude can be dangerous after diving.