ABEL TASMAN
19th May 2007
Dare I say it, I tend to be one of those members who always has other commitments and month after month misses out on club outings. Thankfully this month I put diving first.
The crew for this month's trip was Alan, Bryan, Claire, Grant, Ian and I. Ian being an Aussie who has not long made the move from Adelaide to Golden Bay. He is understandably finding the pace of life slightly different but enjoying not having to wear his shark repelling device.
The journey over to Kaiteriteri and launching of "Downtime" went smoothly. With near flat sea conditions the decision was made to steam past Tonga Island and do two dives at Separation Point. We started the search for crayfish on the Golden Bay side of Separation Point. Despite the poor visibility, the first group (Claire, Alan and Grant) surfaced with 3 keepers and only Bryan from the second group managed to have any luck.
After a short wait the second set of dives were conducted on the Tasman Bay side of the point. Here the visibility was slightly better and crayfish were more plentiful. Claire managed to land her first. I saw plenty and finally found a couple that I could reach. Bryan came up trumps with a good size one. With everyone in possession of a couple of crayfish and the potential issue of getting the boat onto the trailer at low tide, we headed back to Kaiteriteri. The cleaning of the boat was made interesting by a wild pig trotting down the road and heading out for a swim from the main beach. Pork was almost on the menu as well! Thanks to the others for a good day out.
Dan McCall