Summer fun.

Prior to christmas Jocelyn and I decided to head back to Coromandel for a few days.  We pulled into the MCA camp right in town.  While there I had the kayak off and tried a bit of fishing but without much luck initially.
  Henry and Deb Blyth gave us a call and said they had a few days off and were going to come up.   So they arrived and Henry and I took the kayaks out again.  This time I caught quite a good kingi but I didn't have a measure on board so as I wasn't sure about it reaching 75cms I let it go.  But I followed that with a couple of large kahawai and Henry caught a nice snapper so we had plenty for a feed.
  Next day we left Coromandel and went to Waikawau Bay on the eastern side of the peninsula.  There is a large DOC camp there with park like grounds and nice trees for shade.  Henry had bought his little inflatable boat with a small outboard motor and it turned out to be just the thing to get us out to some good snorkelling spots.  We put the boat in at Little Bay and travelled around the coastline a bit then got geared up and jumped in.  There were lots of butterfish around and the water was very clear so I had 6 or 7  on the string in no time.
  On the way back we checked out another spot and found a rock with lots of large mussels,so I was back over the side and collected about 40 for dinner.  Yum.  Rolled in flour and fried on the bbq.  Hard to beat.

Henry Deb and Jocelyn at Waikawau.

   We also went for a look at Tuateawa which is a bit further around the coast.   This was another of the places our family used to camp when we were still very young.  So I had memories of good times spent here long ago. The water wasn't as clear here but I found a small octopus camouflaged on the sea floor.  I thought initially it was dead and rotting on the bottom but I dived down and picked it up and it came to life.  I find them amazing creatures.
 

  We found Waikawau to be another lovely Kiwi camping spot.  It has a nice long sandy beach with safe swimming and if you want to fish and dive, there are handy places to get access to the water.  Though apparently it is chaos over christmas so for us we would wait for the quieter times.
  Next stop we travelled back to Omokoroa for yet another expensive trip to the dentist.  We stayed with our neighbours Bill and Liz.  Parked up on their lawn.  Was great to catch up again with a bbq and some beers and wines.  Beans and Glynn from down the road came up as well and we all had a very nice evening. Then a few days at Heidi and Pauls before christmas day.
  The family seems to have exploded all over the country now so christmas day the numbers are dwindling.  This year we were off to John and Margots on Christmas eve and the plan was to head over to Whitianga boxing day morning to jump on the boat with Ken,Vicki and James for a couple of days at the Mercury Islands.
  We had a lovely day for christmas with the traditional big meal of turkey, ham, new potatoes,  and then trifle and custard etc.  There were only 7 of us with John and Margot, Michelle and Nathan, Maureen and us.  John and Margots vege garden looks stunning and we enjoyed the fruits of it on the table with the new potatoes and salads so fresh and tasty.
 Jocelyn and I headed back to Heidi's in the evening with the intension of getting up at 4 am to head to Whitianga, but arriving at Papamoa I was feeling quite fresh and awake so we decided to get on the road straight away.  The plan was to avoid the madness of the Auckland traffic heading to the Coromandel Peninsula on Boxing Day.  After a quick stop at Omokoroa dump station to empty the tanks we left at about 9pm.  The roads got emptier as the time got later and we arrived in Whitianga about 11.10pm.  Ken and James were still up but ready for bed so after a quick g'day and goodnight,we hit the sack.

James and Jess.

Jess and Bailey. Ship dogs.

  Next morning we loaded Papillon with food and water or if you were not too keen on the water there was the odd bottle of beer or wine.  There were also lots of fishing and diving gear bags and boxes to be loaded into the holds.  It wasn't long and we were heading out of the waterways and moving along the channel on our way to the sea.  It was a lovely trip out to the Mercs.  There are a lot of Islands out around Mercury Bay and it is really a boaties paradise.  In summer the game fish come in close and all year you can target snapper , kingis or many other fish for the table.  Also there is plenty to keep the divers occupied with good numbers of crayfish spots and in season plenty of scallop beds to harvest.
  As soon as we got to Home Bay at Great Mercury Island the skipper suggested now would be a good time for me to get wet and supplement the larder with some tasty scallops. It had been awhile since I had the tanks on but it wasn't long and I was over the side and on the bottom.  It was only about 13 metres deep and the water was clear.  There were good numbers of scallops spread through the sand and bits of weed and it wasn't long and I was ascending with a bag full.
   After the dive we moved back around the point to a spot that looked good for spearfishing.  James was keen to get in and spear some north island butterfish.  After anchoring we winched the small inflatable off the bow and Ken took us over to a likely spot and dropped us off. It wasn't long and we found a spot with plenty of the target species. I had one on my string out the back and another one on my spear when I felt a sharp pull on my line.  Looking back to my float I saw a large sealion ripping my butterfish off my line. I wasn't too worried as seals are meant to be friendly cuddly critters aye.  I was in the process of taking the other butterfish off my spear when the bugger came straight in and aggressively ripped the fish out of my hands.
  This sealion was very large and showed no fear of us at all.  It downed the butterfish in one gulp and then came straight back in at me and was right in my face. I was having to push it away with my spear while backing up on to a handy rock.  It was so close I was looking straight into its mouth and it had lots of very large teeth.  I ended up giving it a few good jabs with my spear tip to keep it away then it shot over to check out James.  I had warned James about what was going on and he was half out of the water by a rock and ended up trying to beat it off with his speargun. This sealion didn't intend giving up.  By this time Ken had figured out something was up back at Papillon so he jumped into the dinghy and came over and rescued us.
  After a settling of the nerves and a quick coffee we were back in the water but heading for the other side of the bay away from the not too friendly sealion. We had a really nice evening on board with a calm anchorage and next morning we went back to see if the sealion had gone.  We new there were lots of butterfish here so James geared up and I was the boatman.  Straight away he was on to fish and ended up with 7 good fish and no sign of that pesky seal. Then it was back to the mooring in the waterways.
  Dane and Laurie had arrived for a few days and Ken,Vicki and James  were back to work. Dane had brought his boat and we ended up doing some snorkelling and Dane had a short wakeboard but the conditions weren't that great. We had a very pleasant few days then Ken rang and said they had some days off and we were to head to sea again.  Jocelyn bought some supplies and stocked the boat and we said bye to Dane and Laurie and were off to the Mercs again.

Barrier snapper

  We arrived just before dark at the Mercs and had a pleasant evening and night.  Then the next morning a decision was made to go to Great Barrier.  The seas were calm and it was a stunning day with the boat cruising along about 13 knots.  We came across a pod of common dolphins who came straight in and rode the wake off the bow.  Then about an hour later a few bottlenose dolphins came and did the same.  The bottlenose dolphins are really impressive as they are huge. The adults must weigh in excess of 300kgs.  You never get sick of watching them ride the pressure wave.

Dolphins riding the bow.

Jocelyn in the crows nest.

  About half way along the Barrier we stopped for a fish off a headland and first cast with a softbait I landed a good snapper. Then a slightly smaller one then Ken landed a really good one around the 10lb mark.  So we had plenty of fish for dinner.
  Over the next couple of days we had a great time. No pressure.  A fair bit of lazing around, a bit of exploring, and some lovely evenings on board with great food, some bevies and good company.  Unfortunately Vicki got one of her bad migraines and was out of action for a while.  Not what you want on your precious holiday time.
  With one day to go we headed back to the mercs for the night.  One the way we came across some large mackerel smashing up the surface, so in went the softbaits and we had 4 in the bin.  Back at the Mercs I was chucked in again to get more scallops and after another successful dive we headed around to a calm cove to anchor up.  Friends of Ken and Vicki's were also anchored there and arrangements made for them to come aboard for dinner later.
  Seeing as guests were coming I decided to grab the spear and see if I could get some fish for the menu.  It was a very pretty place to snorkel with lots of kelp and large boulders pushing up from the bottom. All sorts of reef fish swimming around and jack mackerel grouped together in large shoals.  I decided to go out to the headland which was probably about 250 metres from the boat as there is usually a current there and you will find more fish there.  Sure enough the butterfish were there in good numbers so it wasn't long and I had 5 on the string. Normally that would be enough but seeing as we had 2 extra people for dinner I thought a couple more would be good.  When I spear a fish I always grab it quickly and icki it with a sharp spike straight down into its head.  This kills the fish straight away so not only ends any suffering to the fish it hopefully helps lesson the chances of predators arriving to a distressed fish struggling in the water.
  There were plenty of butters around so I quickly had another to add to my string then another one popped out of the kelp and I had him on the end of my spear.  That was seven and I thought great thats enough.  Just as I pulled the fish out of the kelp a movement over  to my left pulled my gaze around and there about 4 metres away a huge bronze whaler shark cruised gracefully past me.  It was hard to drag my eyes away.
   Underwater they look just amazing, but also very scary.  I was only in about 4 metres of water and I had a number of rocks quite handy so I wasn't panicking.  I had obviously pushed my luck with how many fish I had put on my string and it had attracted the sharks attention.  I clambered up onto a nearby rock and by this time the bronze was onto my string and thrashing around ripping a fish off.  First thing I did was rip out my knife and cut the string, then I couldn't be dragged back into the water.  Next I grabbed the string and hauled it in and surprisingly only one fish was missing.
   The shark was not happy to see his dinner disappear and was tearing around in the shallow water trying to find them again.  Its hard to judge a sharks size but this one would probably weigh between 200 and 250kgs.  I heard a shout and looked over and there was a guy in a small inflatable.  He said he had seen the shark thrashing around my buoy and thought I was getting eaten.  He was relieved when he saw me up on the rock.  I was also relieved as I wasn't too keen to get back in the water and swim back to the boat.
     So I hitched a ride with him and left the shark still circling around looking for those butterfish.  I left a couple of the bigger fish with my rescuer for his dinner.  So I guess the moral of the story is don't be greedy.  I only ended up with 4 butterfish after the shark took one and I gave 2 to the boatman.  With the scallops we had 4 was plenty.  The senses of these predators is what they survive on and staying in with lots of dead fish on a string line is asking for a visit.
  We had a great evening on board papillon with guests Phil and Louie and next morning we weighed anchor early and were off back to Whitianga.
 

Looking from the crows nest to the bow of Papillon.

A bag of tasty scallops