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.

Great visibility at the Island Bay Snorkel Trail so we went around the block from the shore on the left side of the carpark to the shore on the right side of the carpark.

The usual suspects were in the water.

Blue Moki

Crayfish

Common Triplefin

Then there were some uncommon critters.

Clown Nudibranch

Speckled Rock Anemone

And some new-to-me critters too.

Bastard Trumpeter (aka Copper Moki)

New Zealand Piper

 iNaturalist NZ: Observations on 2025-11-30.

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Despite the awful visibility on the first dive, we opted for a second dive. This time, we opted to enter on the Princess Bay side. Good choice. There was a slight swell but the visibility was much better and the diving was much better.

Silver Sweep

Variable Triplefin

Scarlet Wrasse

Prayinae

After going from 12 kg on the first dive to 8 kg on this dive, Nate's buoyancy control was much better. However, he probably would have been better off with 9 or 10 kg.

Nate

Crayfish

All in all, a good day for diving!

iNaturalist NZ: Observations on 2025-11-23.

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First dive of the season with my son Nate and his first dive in a while. We headed into Houghton Bay via Princess Beach. The visibility was truly awful at the start of the dive. It was 2 metres max in some places.

Nate

Seaweed

Blue Cod

After we got out of the pea soup, visibility improved slightly.

Nate

Crayfish

Wandering Anemone

Variable Triplefin in Paua Shell

Cigar Comb Jellies

iNaturalist NZ: Observations on 2025-11-23.

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