Kaikoura
30th April 2005
With the charter boat cancelled due to the crayfishing season starting 2 weeks early only 4 hardy souls – Stu and I along with two new members to the club, Bill & Bryan, headed away on Friday after work hoping to get in a few dives off Barnacle Bills old boat. Alas someone had stuffed the throttle and it now only does 1 knot instead of four and has no reverse!! We decided to meet a few of the locals and enjoy a quiet drop of the amber liquid knowing that an early start was out of the question but with the intention of being home about midnight. Unfortunately we hadn’t counted on Barnacle Bill deciding that it was a good night to play up and lead us all astray!! Not to mention Skipper Hank, for those who remember him, who was in very fine form with many a tale and text jokes galore – some of you may even have received one or two. We also wont mention that the oldies showed the young ones a lesson or two playing pool – mis-spent youth and all that I suppose!! Needless to say after a great night it was well into the wee hours of the morning when we finally hit the “fart-sack” and even our trusty alarm clock “Barnacle” didn’t surface until we awoke him! The boys were not on great form and
After a good recovery period and some food the first shore dive was well into the afternoon and began with a very giant stride off the wharf and a 1/2 hour surface swim out to the Nine Pins (well not quite that long). Under we went and immediately found some crays and I thought this is good stuff. I showed Bill (still a cray virgin) how to catch the buggers and he caught his first one only to lose it in the silt while trying to put it into his catch bag. The only other crays we saw were all females in berry which was disappointing. We surfaced with 100 bar left took a bearing to the wharf, descended again and swam back collecting some big Kina for a few tourists on the wharf to try. Two of the party’s health had deteriorated somewhat and the slight surface swell caused them to lose their brekky! Barnacle saved the day with a few crays and some Butterfish for lunch. By the time we had lunch and decided to head out again the southerly front had quickly gone through and it was getting dark. A bit of a rest, filled up the tanks and then off to the pub for tea and to watch the Super 12. Home well before this time and up early on a magnificent day to get in a couple more dives before heading home. One involved a long walk out on a reef with your gear on before entering some great country with vibrant colours and caves and crevasses and plenty of fish life but only a few crays and mostly females in berry. More fish and crayfish for lunch and then we decided to head south but the southerly had stirred up the water terribly so it was back to plan H. Another leap, this time off the old wharf and a long swim into some more great country found a few crays and plenty of fish life, not to mention old chairs, stools and even an old washing machine!!!
We headed home with the intention of a snorkel for paua on the way but the northeaster had got up and ruined the viz for us. Never mind we had a couple of crays each, welcomed some new members to the club, and had a bloody good time. Oh and Bill lost his virginity which is always a plus!! The weather was surprisingly warm considering there was snow down on the mountains and the water was about 15 degrees. Thanks Barnacle – of course we’ll be back. John
