Lori's NZ Blog

Boat Dive

I recently went on my very first scuba "boat dive." Boat dives are far superior to shore dives, for a variety of reasons, such as:

• You don't have to pick your way over slippery rocks wearing 50 pounds of scuba gear.
  
• You don't have to try and put your fins on or take them off in the water.
  
• You don't have to wear yourself out swimming to the buoy that marks your dive spot.
  
• To enter the water, you get to fall backwards off the boat while holding on tight to all your gear, which feels really scuba-y.
  
• You get to take a kick-ass ride in a boat driven by a crazed Kiwi who likes to see how many divers he can fling off the back of the boat by hitting 3-meter swells going 80 kph.
  

Another added bonus of this particular boat dive was that it took place right in my backyard. The boat entered the water right in Owhiro Bay, and we dove around the bend near Red Rocks, famous in Wellington for its seal colonies.

The flora and fauna under the water was quite cool - lots of algae flowing back and forth in the current, fish that come right up to you, tall crevasses that you can swim through and feel like Jacques Cousteau (or Steve Zissou). Our guide spent most of the dive hunting for crays (lobsters without pincers) but none of us found any. However, one of the dive masters who took another small group out on the same boat managed to catch a rather large one, and we all took turns posing with it.


And speaking of pictures, I didn't take my camera, but Kevin did and he's got this big ol' bulletproof clear case for it so he can take pictures and even video underwater. Here's his most excellent album. It's kinda hard to tell who is who with all the gear on -- I'm the one with the blue-rimmed mask and black snorkel. In photo (video) 10, I'm the one falling into the water first, and I'm also featured in photos 15, 16, and 20 for all you Lori fans out there.

One things for sure - no more shore dives for this girl, it's boat dives only from here on out!

posted by Lori @ 9:36 PM