D'Urville Island

19th March 2005

The morning started bright and early at Big Blue.  We arrived at Okiwi Bay in plenty of time to put in for the beautiful ride up the coast to D’ Urville Island. Angus took John H, Mark and myself (Peggy: newcomer i.e. Canadian on exchange with family for a year, relative neophyte in the diving world) while Nigel took Neil in his boat.

 

 

We stopped and checked the conditions at Greville Harbour and then elected to carry on up the coast to a point somewhere further north (secret location of major crayfish haul not to be disclosed to the general riff-raff that may visit this site but ask John if you really want to know).  Nigel and Neil somehow got lost in the venture and after doubling back we found that they had stayed at Greville Harbour as fuel concerns limited them from travelling further north.

 

Two dives later with Angus and Mark pairing off and John and I as buddies found us scoring big on the crayfish front.  This was a good thing as I was told by my husband that I could not return home empty handed.  I must admit that at first I was a bit too chicken to stick my hand into some dark crevice after seeing Mark’s bloodied finger (right through the glove) after he encountered the biggest cray of the day (estimated to be 50 years old by John’s reckoning).  But after watching John and then he showing me what to do – after a couple of tries I mastered it – well sort of!!   

 

 

 

We turned around and headed back to Greville Harbour to meet up with Nigel and Neil who had managed to bag a couple of crays and some barely legal blue cod.  Angus and Mark did their second dive here to up their crayfish numbers and secure their limit for the day.

 

After lunch we were off to Paddock Rocks for the last dive of the day.  This was a fairly cool place, shallow dive, couple of caves, the water was nice and calm and the sun was warm.  Being fairly new to diving, following John and his failing torch into a small cave did not impress me very much – so I waited outside!!  John managed to spear a couple of butter fish and blue cod. Nigel and Neil went for a long excursion underwater and had an equally long surface swim back to their boat.  Mark and Angus briefly contemplated picking them up but decided that the workout was good for them. 

 

The hunter/ gatherer type of diving is new to me as back home we mainly go for sight-seeing and floating around effortlessly looking at the sea life.   I have to say though the crayfish was pretty tasty and there is still some left in the freezer for future consumption. 

 

Thanks John, Angus and Mark for a great day and putting up with my feeble attempts to keep up with you all. 

 

Peggy    

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