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


Owhiro Bay - Dive 2

January 25, 2025

It was a nice day with good conditions and great visibility and it was time for dive 2.

We spent more time on the "gravel road" through the site, where various species of wrasse were in the area.

Scarlett Wrasse

Brownspotted Wrasse

This wrasse hung around me long enough but it was still a bit coy about getting its picture taken.

Purple Wrasse

I also found these strings of eggs floating in the water. Unsure of what they are eggs of.

Eggs

I've taken to using iNaturalist NZ for fish identification and the findings for the day are at Observations on 2025-01-25.

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Owhiro Bay - Dive 1

January 25, 2025

Wellington has had its worst start to summer in 10 years, so this is my first dive of the summer and 2025. After a month of southerlies and swells on the south coast, things finally calmed down to a point where we could reasonably dive.

It was a nice day for diving, so we were off to Ōwhiro Bay with Dive HQ. I tried the Underwater HDR mode on my OM System Tough TG-7, but it made the pics a bit blurry. It's not the best for action shots.

Some Blue Cod at the site.

Blue Cod

It didn't take long to find the Yung Pen shipwreck and the nest of crayfish that call it home.

Yung Pen

Crayfish

There was also a family of Marblefish taking shelter in the wreck.

Marblefish

The "gravel road" had some common fish as well.

Blue Moki

Scarlet Wrasse

On the way back to shore, my dive buddy picked up the remains of a road cone (a common creature in Wellington) and tried to get a blue cod's opinion on it.

Traffic Cone

I've taken to using iNaturalist NZ for fish identification and the findings for the day are at ...

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Flat Island

June 3, 2024

The third dive of the day was the final dive of the trip at the appropriately named Flat Island.

 

Flat Island

Shortly after descending, we saw this bull ray eating something off of the sandy ocean floor. I couldn't make out what it was though.

Australian Bull Ray

There were a number of these giant snake eels in the area too.

Giant Snake Eel

Giant Snake Eel

And for one last dive, we were surrounded by demoiselles.

Demoiselle

Demoiselle

Demoiselle

I particularly enjoyed how they would come to the site. Seeing dozens of little slivers coming towards you and then flicking left or right to show you their much larger profile.

Demoiselle

Demoiselle

Demoiselle

Demoiselle

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Everett Toews
TBT: 229h 48m