13 February 2024
10:40am High tide
Vis 9m
Wave height 0.5m
Wind 5 knots
Current 0 (slack)
53 minutes
Max depth 18.6m
Launched from Kawakawa Bay and boated up the east side of Ponui Island. No workups but I did see a few shearwater on John Dory which was odd. I got a close up look at the rare breed of Donkey that are feral on the island. It was disappointing to see the damage they and other livestock were doing to the foreshore and shorebird breeding habitat.
I anchored on a visible barren (8m) in the Western Bay and decided on an east-west transect. I saw three eagle rays while looking for an anchor spot and one swam up as I descended, I saw Orca on the other side of the island after I left. The kelp was in good shape with just a few patches of barren. Some of the sponges looked damaged and I will send photos to University of Auckland researchers. There were a few sweep but no maomao, many spotty, a few small snapper and one silver drummer around the kelp. I did not see any red moki. I great surprise was a large shark causing past me from behind, I saw it too late to get and identifiable photograph and it was swimming to fast for me to catch up, it was very exciting to see as it was the first time I have seen a shark while scuba diving in the Gulf. I imagine the excellent visibility was one of the reasons I saw it.
Not long after that I was joined by a huge school of jack mackerel (one of the largest I have experienced). They stayed with me for 15 minutes. I also saw a really big school of goatfish after that. There was a lot of variation in the terrain and I documented the sponges, a large stiff hydroid was a highlight and some of the undersides were very complex. Just before the edge of the rocky reef I was briefly joined by several large kingfish. The reef finished next to a large dog cockle bed at around 18m. I explored that for a few minutes then headed back. The visibility had declined a lot by the time I got back to the boat, which was strange as I had not noticed any current, it was still awesome, just grainy.
It was cool to see three reef heron while I was drying off and several spotted shags flying past. Great spot, looking forward to seeing more fish here in future.
Pair of VOC nearby
Showing rare breed of feral donkey damaging foreshore and impacting shorebirds habitat.
Showing access to foreshore
Scavenged by three Rako and a Southern Black Backed Gull
One of three scavenging John Dory with a Southern Black Backed Gull
Three seen, at one point there was a squabble between them
Two adults and two calves. First photo off Tarahiki Island where they were working the shallow reefs, the larger male was about 200m away and slapped his pectoral fin against the water. I kept my distance and just took a few photos on my 400mm lens. The female left the calves to check me out and was longer than my 4.1 meter boat. Seen again heading west along Ponui Island at 5pm (second photo). The larger calf has a distinctive notch in its dorsal fin (both photos).
Several, skittish, orca feeding on the other side of the island
A few but no maomao, many spotty, one silver drummer and one large shark
Huge school, c30
Sorry lots going on here, ID for the branching yellow bryozoan near the centre. Let me know if worth duplicating the observation for another species.
Covered in skeleton shrimp* Edit Arcturidae
At about 18m
Not sure what the lined whelk is doing to the Mediterranean Fanworm
This ID is for the green and brown algae with red spots / pores
Not sure what the lined whelk is doing to the Mediterranean Fanworm
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