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.
Latest Dives
Houghton Bay - Dive 2 |
November 23, 2025 |
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.
Click here to continue reading...Houghton Bay - Dive 1 |
November 23, 2025 |
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.
Click here to continue reading...Curious Octopus |
November 16, 2025 |
At the end of my second dive of the season, I had an absolutely wild encounter with an octopus. It reached right up and grabbed ahold of my camera. Must have been curious about my camera settings! That’s me in the pics and video from other people on the dive.
I knew I had to part with it at some point and you can see me testing what it would be like to pry it off. Its strength and grip was firm enough that I was worried that I could hurt it by trying. Luckily its curiosity was satisfied and it eventually let go.
My video where the octopus covers the camera lens for a good portion of it.
I've had some amazing octopus encounters in my life but I think this one was the most intense and rewarding. The feeling of its arms and suckers curiously searching all over my camera and hands. I was able to look it in the eyes and see that it was really looking back at me.
iNaturalist NZ: Observations on 2025-11-16.
Click here to continue reading...
