The winds had picked up this evening and there was a large swell. Not enough to cancel the dive but definitely what I'd call adverse conditions. I was buddied with someone who hadn't done much diving recently so I packed away the camera to focus on navigation and keeping an eye on my buddy.
Underwater, the swell rocked us to and fro. Felt a bit like being in a washing machine at some points. There were even some areas that were just too turbulent to go down. The visibility was reduced to feet and it even became difficult to see eachother. We had to turn around and back track, looking to go a deeper and avoid the worst of the swell.
All in all it was a challenging dive but it's good to have those once in a while. My buddy did admirably and stuck with me the whole time.
Mermaid's Kitchen East
Location: Wellington, Taputeranga Marine Reserve, New Zealand
