Welcome to Total Bottom Time!

Total Bottom Time is my online personal dive log. A place where I can share my dives with friends, family, other divers, and the world. You can find out a bit more about me and see my full log of dives by clicking on my profile on the right. Feel free to subscribe to my dives via email or RSS.

Below are just some of my latest dives.

It was a typically windy day in Wellington but it was a northerly so we were still able to dive the south coast (northerly == good, southerly == bad).

Good thing too because it turned out to be a great dive. The Crayfish were out in force and the blue cod were as playful as ever.

Crayfish nest

Crayfish nest

 The blue cod are so use to divers in the marine park. I actually had one pecking at my mask!

Blue cod

Meeting of the minds

Blue cod

Blue cod following us

Even the more static wildlife was looking good today.

Sea urchin

Paua

We were enjoying the dive so much we spent a sliver over an hour under the water. One of my longest dives and I still had plenty of air to spare when we ascended and made the swim back to shore.

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The last dive of 2018 on New Year's Eve! We were out on Waiheke Island and I was diving with Waiheke Dive & Snorkel. We went to Enclosure Bay at low tide so it appears quite empty. We were able to walk pretty far out before having to get our fins on and diving out of the bay.

Enclosure Bay

This was a relatively uneventful dive but there was some action right at the outset when the dive master came across a fish that had a hook in its mouth. The hook was still attached to a lead sinker so the fish was weighted down. However the dive master and another diver managed to get the hook out of the fishes mouth and free it up.

Fish rescue

We continued along without too much else happening.

Sea Cucumber

Plant

Happy new year!

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On the second day of diving, I went out with Goat Island Dive & Snorkel. The waters surrounding Goat Island are a marine reserve. In fact, the reserve was created in 1975 as the first marine reserve in New Zealand so the whole area is in excellent condition and attracts a lot of visitors.

In the picture below Goat Island is the forested island off to the right.

Goat Island

Goat Island from the water

The bottom was thick with kelp and a variety of wildlife. By far the highlight of the dive was this encounter with a pregnant eagle ray feeding on the bottom. It was fairly docile due to its pregnancy so I was able to get pretty close to it through the kelp without disturbing it.

Pregnant eagle ray

It really was a forest of kelp in areas. While the other divers stayed above the kelp, I found it was much more interesting to venture below.

Kelp swim through

There was more to see on the rest of the dive too.

Crab

Coral

Snapper

Sea slug

It was a great dive at Goat Island! I highly recommend it if you're in the area.

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