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.

During our surface interval we were visited by a fairly large, white bird. The picture doesn't quite do it justice but it was interesting nonetheless.

Bird

For our second dive of the morning we descended on the bow of the F69. When we got to the bottom, more cod we're waiting for us! I could spend an entire dive just playing with these fish. They're a handsome looking fish and have a lot of personality.

Cod

Blue cod

Eventually we moved on and toured the rest of the wreck.

F69

 

There were even a couple of spots where we could do an easy swim through of the wreck. 

F69

After our bottom time was finished we headed back to surface where we discovered a southerly wind had finally moved in. The swells we're probably 10 ft high at times. It definitely made getting back on board interesting. Once everybody had finally crawled their way back aboard, we turned tail and headed back to the shore. 

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My first boat dive and my first wreck dive in New Zealand. We launched the boat out of Owhiro Bay just a minute down the road from Dive Wellington. The dive boat is a cosy fit for 8 divers and the captain but it's a sturdy vessel, which was necessary by the end of our second dive of the morning.

The HMNZS Wellington (F69) was a Leander class frigate of the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Originally commissioned in 1969 for the Royal Navy as HMS Bacchante, she joined the RNZN in 1982. She was decommissioned in 1999 and deliberately sunk in 2005 off the south coast of Wellington, New Zealand, in Houghton Bay, just east of Island Bay, Wellington. The wreck was split into 2 major pieces during a storm in 2006.

We dove the aft section on our first dive of the morning. The wreck is pretty much entirely covered in kelp.

F69

F69

There were a few other interesting things growing on the wreck too.

Sea creature

The cod we're also out to play. They definitely aren't shy and a lot of them like to get right in your face ...

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It was an absolutely beautiful day on the surface of Island Bay. The bay is just short drive from the Dive Wellington shop.

Island Bay

The previous day had seen a southerly blow in so visibility wasn't great but it was passable.

Being a marine reserve, the crayfish who make it their home are safe and sound from being hunted. We came across a nest of them tucked away in a small crevasse.

Crayfish nest

Crayfish

As we dove along, one particular blue code took an interest in us. It would swim just underneath or behind us. It must have followed us for a good 15-20 minutes. I think it was pretty used to seeing divers in the area.

Blue cod

The blue cod definitely wasn't shy. It seemed to be interested in my camera and some of the gear dangling from our BCDs.

Blue cod

After a 20 minute dive out and a 20 minute dive back we walked out of the water back into the sun.

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