Tory Channel Drift Dive

January 22, 2024

The last dive of our trip to the Marlborough Sounds was a drift dive in the Tory Channel. We were dropped in the channel and drifted along the coast of Arapaoa Island. The current wasn't particularly strong so the drift was pretty cruisy. We would encounter the occasional eddy that we had to kick to get through it and continue along in the main current.

I found a good-sized wandering anemone.

Wandering Anemone

I found the pipe-like structures amongst the seaweed and kelp really interesting.

Pipes

About 10 minutes into the dive I found this beautiful seahorse. It didn't take too much effort to plant ourselves and spend some time with it. The incredible noise at the start of the video is the sound of the Interislander ferry passing through the channel.

Seahorse

I found a very nice Jason Mirabilis Nudibranch too.

Jason Mirabilis Nudibranch

We also found an unfortunate amount of junk in the channel (and the other sites too). We picked up as much as we could and brought it back to the boat. This time I found a hat and a speargun!


Junk

At the end of the dive, I got one last pic of me with the speargun (Stuart, owner and operator of the Waikawa Dive Centre, in the background with his boat).


Speargun

Tory Channel


Location: South Island, Marlborough, New Zealand

Statistics


Dive Number:   247
Bottom Time: 50m
Time In: 11 a.m.
Tank In: 196 PSI
Max Depth: 14.60 ft
Table Used:
Mix:   Air
Safety Stop: 3m
Time Out: 11:50 a.m.
Tank Out: 70 PSI
Average Depth: 7.90 ft
Start Pressure Group:
 
 
 
 
Surface Interval:   57m
End Pressure Group:

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Everett Toews
TBT: 216h 37m