After the Storm

14/3/2017 (615)

The wild weather was over (at least in Auckland) so we packed the car and headed north to Leigh for a dive in the Goat Island marine reserve. The whole beach was covered with rotting kelp … as was the bottom in the shallows. Water had that tea-like tint and it was dirty. It was raining as well which was not helping either. I thought we would cancel our diving for the day, but Ivana was more brave and suggested not to hesitate, but to start kitting immediately.

I was glad she did that. The visibility improved quickly (to nothing special, but it was quite nice), fish were plentiful, even though no big schools, we saw snapper, trevally, leatherjacket, blue cod, red moki, parore, silver drummer, sweeps, blue maomao, mackerels and who knows what else. It was a very pleasant dive. Unfortunately Ivana’s mask was leaking for the most of the dive … it’s the old one brought from Europe, she’s been using it for more than fifteen years. It seems it’s time to get a new one.

Slovak

Divoké počasie sa skončilo (aspoň v Auckland), takže sme zbalili auto a vyrazili na sever k Leigh opäť sa ponoriť v rezervácii pri Goat Island (Kozí ostrov). Na pláži hnili kopy chalúh … podobne to bolo aj v plytkej vode. Mala čajovú farbu a bola dosť špinavá. Okrem toho aj pršalo, čo mojej nálade nepomáhalo. Myslel som, že potápanie úplne zrušíme, našťastie Ivana bola odvážnejšia a navrhla, aby sme neváhali a radšej začali chystať výstroj.

Bol som jej za to vďačný. Voda sa pomerne rýchlo vyčistila (teda nebolo to nič super, ale celkom fajn), rýb bolo dosť, hoci ani jedno veľké stádo, videli sme snapper, leatherjacket, blue cod, red moki, parore, silver drummer, sweeps, makrely (jediná ryba, ktorá má aj slovenský názov) a čo ja viem, čo ešte. V konečnom dôsledku to bol veľmi príjemný ponor. Nanešťastie Ivane tieklo do masky takmer celý čas … tú masku si priniesla ešte zo Slovenska, použiva ju už viac než pätnásť rokov. Zdá sa, že prišiel čas kúpiť novú.

Diver and big snapper

Ivana watching a big australasian snapper. A small group of them accompanied us for the most of our dive.

Leatherjacket in kelp

Leatherjacket Parika scaber watching the camera while hiding in brown kelp.

Juvenile fish in shallows

A school of juvenile fish of mixed species in shallow water on our way back to the shore. Note the water is starting to have that tea-like tint which is a result of brown kelp rotting in the shallows.

Diver equalizing

Ivana equalizing her ears while hovering just under the surface.