Kaikoura Trip - Feb 2004
KAIKOURA COMPETITION – BARNACLE BILLS – FEB 13TH – 15TH
Arriving at Barnacle Bill's on Friday night, Angus didn’t make it passed the gate before qualifying for the Plastic Poo Hat! He tried to remove Bill's letterbox with his boat trailer. Angus was sentenced to one hour under the Plastic Poo for his malicious act of vandalism. I for one thought the hat suited him, brought out the colour in his cheeks. Bill, our most gracious and generous host shared his secret recipe for paua. I filmed the process and the video will be available at Whitcoulls early spring. A critical technique for softening the paua steaks involved a concrete path, towel and a dive tank. After Bill's demonstration we were all invited to have a go. Some did end up making pauamache paste and in their enthusiasm, someone even managed to burst the towel - but nothing was wasted. Kikkoman Paua RULES!
That night I plugged my ears with industrial grade five earplugs and plummeted into deep sleep. I was rocked from my pleasant slumber by a couple of Massey Fergusons trying to start up right in the bunkroom. Industrial grade my foot! Early morning Bill excelled once more. This time with a cooked breakfast of venison burgers, hash browns, sausages, eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushies etc etc. The thing is - Bill believed he was cooking for Men. Little did he know we had the combined appetite of three weight-conscious school girls. Fact. Oh well...sorry Bill.
Well, Angus must have really liked that hat because by morning he had devised a cunning plan to make it his again. After breakfast he declared that he had left his boat keys at home (only 250km away) "What the ...?" So Paul was handed the task of hotwiring the beast. No sweat for Paulie, misspent youth and all that. Made us an hour late hitting the water. Thanks Angus, we love you. His boat headed south following Jan Tamarua. On board were Angus, Brian, Billy Molloy, Stu, Pauline, Hanna, and Romana, with Jan, Jim & Sean on Jan’s boat, while the rest of us headed around the peninsular in Bill and Nigel’s boats. This was my first dive since qualifying for Open Water Diver two years ago and I was privileged to be making that dive from Bill’s trusty scow 'Renee' just round the Heads from South Bay, with my brother Paul, Bill and two locals. I buddied with Paul and before we hit the top of the reef I speared my first butterfish with the ol' Hawaiian sling. I'm told it was a good size, and with it stashed in Paul's catch bag we headed off down to around 20 metres for a look around. It was beautiful. Viz was excellent. The reef was bright like a painting with a large variety of smaller fish swimming around and swaying with the light swell. Surprisingly it was as good as some of the tropical island snorkelling I have done. Exploring the reef was a blast and rewarding too. Went down without a catch bag of my own and returned to the boat with two. One, an empty old crusty US Divers bag and the other full of freshly plundered fish and crays with weight belt attached. Back onboard, Rex had already resigned himself to the fact that his belt and bag were history. I think I made his day when I said, "Guess what I found!" Bill returned to the boat with a bag of large butterfish. He told us how he sat on a rock and just picked them off as they came around the corner. Mark Hellewell lost his crayfishing virginity on his first dive with the club under the guidance of John.
Second dive was in the afternoon and was great too. Very different feel all together, more exposed somehow, on a pinnacle of rock in the middle of South Bay. I caught my first crays as well, three in all. Good fun. Then I found a sheer wall that seemed to plummet vertically into the darkness beneath. I got a bit excited and wanted to see where it went. Started to glide down the face and felt a tug on my leg. Paul was shaking his head and pointing at my computer as we were 25 metres already and time to mosey on up. What a buzz. I felt perfectly comfortable on both dives and can't wait to do it again. Prize giving at the Commercial Hotel was full of laughter and a most pleasant way to end the day. Angus got to wear his Plastic Poo hat again. The locals were very friendly and let us win at pool, most of the evening. Then the DJ in the second bar kept us entertained until the early morning. We left John at the pub, angling for the prettiest fish of the day. I told him the competition had closed at 3:30pm but he didn't seem to hear me. Jim, Billy M & John woke us all up on their return to the digs at 4.00am before crashing out themselves. Waking on Sunday morning to those tractors still stuttering and thrumming away, with the hint of a howling gale and pouring rain in the background, thoughts of diving were immediately canned and we packed up and headed home content with our catch.
Brilliant weekend. - John Newcombe
Kaikoura Trip Continued – (A different story)
A reasonable trip across South Bay bought us to a position I had been advised of by a local Kaikoura fisherman. It was as he described; only good viz about five times a year, and this was not one of those times! We followed Jan over to some rocks, and Stu volunteered that I and Brian to go first. We dropped onto a rocky bottom at 18 metres with viz varying from 1-2 metres. The crays were there, but the usual number of small ones the norm. Swimming south the rocks became very sparse and with air getting lower, we surfaced only to have difficulty seeing the boat between swells. A couple of ear piercing blasts with my whistle and they were over to us in a minute. Bags emptied and three keepers into the bin. Next in Stu and Billy were dropped on the other side of the reef system – the latter finding the bottom by hitting it – great viz again!! They were soon back on board with a similar catch. Jan and his crew were doing a lot better so we searched and located a good looking pinnacle, where Brian and I had our 2nd dive. The viz was better away from the bottom and every crevice in this rock was full of feelers. It was a matter of just picking the larger bugs. Thirty minutes provided us with a better catch and it was back to the boat via another safety stop. We checked in with the other boat and headed for shore as weigh in time was looming. A very bumpy ride saw some relieved (and much lighter) passengers on dry land, and our bounty delivered to Barnacle Bills for weighing. - Angus
