Separation Point
Saturday 21st June 2008
Watching the outside air temperature gauge on the car flash at -3c on my way to pick up Angus at 0630 didn't fill me with warm fuzzies - however the thought of getting out on the water after a month or so was enough to make me keep driving. Angus and I met Grunter, Mark and Brian at the Railway Hotel (stupid name) at 0715, swapped the club boat onto the mighty Prado (AKA the Rolling Fuel Crisis) and headed off. After negotiating the extremely icy road into Kaiteriteri, we arrived to find the beach glistening with a thick layer of frost-not a cheery site!
We all geared up, I was lucky enough to be the poor bastard who disconnected the boat chains, the water rushing into my wetsuit boots being cold enough to ensure that I didn't feel my toes again until midday Sunday.
Sea conditions were calm and the 40 minute trip across to Separation Point sucked the last of the core body heat out of all of us, despite numerous layers of neoprene, Goretex and associated thermal wrappings. Arriving at Separation Point there was a rush to get into the water (yeah right) -the first group in endured the artic conditions for just over 30 minutes.
Before surfacing - Mark and I spent this time watching the hordes of ravenous looking seals frolicking around the boat as they stared hungrily into the depths below - much like customers lining up at Burger King. The boys reported seeing lots of bugs but all either in berry or in holes that required three metre long arms. Seal activity was pretty intense, with Angus reporting one particular specimen taking an unnaturally high amount of interest in him.
If you have seen Angus in a wetsuit you can see why this would occur although I would have thought Grunter would have more appeal for the average NZ Fur seal?
End result from the first dive was one just legal specimen and this set the scene for the next couple of dives. Everyone generally saw a few crays but without arms like Spongebob Squarepants they just weren't reachable. After a couple of dives everyone was exhibiting stage one hypothermia symptoms so the vote was to head back to the beach.
After putting the boat back on the trailer we changed into warm dry clothing (bliss) then headed off to the Mapua pub for a debrief. Sharing out the catch was a very quick affair, but all in all a good day out -final score for the day one stunted crayfish and one lost catchbag (I didn't like it anyway) . Well worth the effort but definitely a test of fortitude and endurance!!
Rob Hawkes
