Dive Pacific Iss169 AprMayJun 2019

NEW ZEALAND'S DIVE MAGAZINE 

NEW ZEALAND’S ONLY DIVE MAGAZINE 

ISSUE 169 - $9.90 inc GST 

April / May / June 2019 

P A C I F I C 


P A C I F I C 

Magic at Munda 

Why do the Silky Sharks 

of Savusavu keep returning? 

www.Dive-Pacific.com 

‘We are the only species that can solve 

problems. Nature doesn’t care’ 

Jean-Michel Cousteau - INTERVIEW 

Why RAINBOW REEF is rated a top world dive destination 

Finding the good spots for spearfishing 

Dive News from all over 

www.dive-pacific.com 1

2 Dive New Zealand | Dive Pacific

RUN1167 

What you see is what you get in Niue. And what you see diving is everything. 

With crystal clear waters, surrounding the world’s largest uplifted coral atoll, 

you can see up to 80m in any direction. A world teeming with healthy marine life. 

A world waiting for you to discover. 

Start discovering Niue today, www.niueisland.com 


contents 

24 

29 

20 

IN DEPTH 

5 EDITORIAL: Shark exploration. Last hapuku? Dumping of 

toxic filth continues... 

with Editor at Large Dave Moran 

SOUNDINGS Local and international news & comment 

4 Will you use the new u/w hand signal? 

Bob Rosemergy, dive hero - obit. 

7 Women’s annual PADI Day scheduled 

Rolex u/w scholarship awarded 

Travelling watch to honour Women’s Diving Hall of Fame 

Women sought for World Spearfish champs 

8 Ancient submarine turns up at Middlemarch 

9 Matt Watson’s spear tag attracts global interest 

10 Freediver Shuebridge swims Cook Strait underwater 

Diver emulates Jonah 

11 Beaked whales get the bends, and suicide 

18 Taputeranga NZ's top biodiversity site? 

19 Free diver breaks under ice record 

Reef check Malaysia reports 

23 Shark attacks plummet 

DAN $10,000 scholarship 

46 Grave concerns held for Solomon’s Rennell Island 

47 All charges dropped against Sea Shepherd’s Paul Watson 

48 Wakatobi adds to boat fleet 

SPECIAL FEATURES 

12 A dive on the HMNZS Puriri 

20 Project Baseline founder drops in 

Why is Lake Pupuke dying? 

29 NATURE DOESN’T CARE - JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU - Interview 

36 David Doubilet, Jennifer Hayes headline Underwater Tour 

31 

BUCKET LIST DESTINATIONS 

16 Tahiti, richest aquarium on earth 

24 The best of Fiji… may be farther out? 

with Gilbert Peterson on an all too brief trip to Taveuni Island, 

Fiji 

31 Silky (shark) days! 

with Tobias Bernhard off Savusavu, Fiji 

38 Munda, Jewel in Solomon’s crown 

with Dave Abbott (The Solomon Islands story Pt III) 

56 EXCLUSIVE! FIJI GETAWAY PACKAGE OFFER! 


www.dive-pacific.com 1 


P A C I F I C 

NEW NEW ZEALAND’S ZEALAND'S ONLY DIVE MAGAZINE 


April / May / June 2019 

P A C I F I C 


Cover Photo 

Image taken with Panasonic GH4 in Nauticam 

housing, lit with Inon Z240 strobe & Lume Cube 

Photo: At Munda, Solomons by Dave Abbott 

- see p38 

Magic at Munda 

Do you have a possible cover image? 

E: divenz@divenewzealand.co.nz 

NZ$100 will be paid if used 

Must be relevant to the marine world 


Why do the Silky Sharks 

of Savusavu keep returning? 

‘We are the only species that can solve 

problems. Nature doesn’t care’ 

Jean-Michel Cousteau - INTERVIEW 

Why RAINBOW REEF is rated a top world dive destination 

Finding the good spots for spearfishing 

Dive News from all over 

24 

12 

GEAR BAG 

50 U/w lights - three torches 

Hand held shark deterrent a first 

Pulse SX metal detector top rated for 32 years 

Mini cam upgraded 

OUR EXPERT COLUMNISTS 

14 Finding ‘Good spots’ for spear fishing 

SPEARO’S NOTEBOOK! with Jackson Shields 

53 John Dory 

SPECIES FOCUS with Paul Caiger 

54 Decompression illness? Or Stroke? 

INCIDENT INSIGHTS with DAN, the Divers Alert Network 

36 

58 SHADES OF COLOUR: More stunning images from our regular 

photo competition 

62 About pixels, file size and resolution 

Digital Imaging with Hans Weichselbaum 

64 BACK TO BASICS Underwater Photography, A Practical Guide 

for Beginners Ch 3 Pt II 

by Alexey Zaystev. Translated from Russian exclusively for DIVE PACIFIC 

50 BACK IN THE DAY 

“Boxnet not a satisfactory fishing method“ 

(From DIVE Underwater Magazine June 1973) 

68 Classifieds 

38 

Check out our website www.divenewzealand.co.nz 

Dive Pacific magazine is available in the lounges & 

inflight libraries of these airlines. 


INDEPTH 

EDITORIAL 

New hand signal for divers: P for Plastic 

Divers use underwater hand signals for 

squid, turtles and sharks but not yet 

for the largest polluter in our ocean, 

plastic, and if nothing changes, by 2050 

there will be more plastic than fish in 

the ocean. 

So a group of diving companies and 

divers, together with the Plastic Soup 

Foundation, are introducing a new 

hand signal: P for Plastic. The signal 

can be used under water to let dive 

buddies know they see plastic and 

want to pick it up. 

The goal of the hand signal is to spread 

awareness and take action against the 

plastic plague our ocean is facing. 

Download the image with the hand signal 

& share it with your diving buddies on 

social media. Use the hashtag #PforPlastic. 

The hand signal was initiated by a 

group of Dutch diving companies and 

the Plastic Soup Foundation. 

www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/divers 

Bob Rosemergy, 

dive hero 

(Comments abridged) 

Jon Rosemergy - It’s clearly 

obvious my father shared his life 

with many people. He was gifted 

in his chosen sports and enjoyed 

helping many others find their 

own passion. 

Soon after his 80th birthday we 

went out to his favourite place, 

Makara, where he said “I’ll show 

you a cray hole I have here,’ 

though I had dived it with him 

many times in the last 35+ years. 

He swam into a tight cave and 

20 seconds later wriggled back 

out with two good 2kg+ crays! 

Bob also used to spear a lot of 

butterfish! A LOT! The start of 

summer in our house was marked 

by butterfish for dinner! And 

obviously crayfish too. 

Bob led much more by example 

than words. To stand up for 

what’s right, even if unpopular, 

was paramount, and to never drop 

your own personal standards. 

Pat Swanson - Bob Rosemergy to 

me was a hero first. Spearing huge 

fish - five hapuku in a morning at 

White Island! Along with the likes 

of Eddie Davidson, Dave Shields 

and co he was a mythical god-like 

merman. 

I met Bob finally in 1987 and he 

Bob Rosemergy 

provided needed wisdom when 

I first competed in the National 

Spearfishing Champs in 1989. He 

became a hero to me again in his 

leadership of Spearfishing New 

Zealand. No single person has 

done so much for spearfishing in 

this country. His legacy will live 

on. 

Dave Mundell - I first met Bob 

around 1966 when he was already 

a well-respected and very skilled 

diver, always willing to pass on 

his knowledge. He won the North 

Island Spearfishing Champs a 

number of times and the National 

Spearfishing Champs in 1967. He 

represented New Zealand at the 

World Champs in Peru in 1975, and 

competed successfully at national 

level well into later life. His love of 

trout fishing at Turangi led to his 

concern for the health of the 

lake and the creation of, along 

with Pat Swanson and Aaron 

Dowman, the Great Lake 

Taupo Catfish Cull, one of the 

biggest spearfishing events in 

the world. 

We salute Bob’s many 

achievements and triumphs 

with fondness and affection. 

Malcolm Bird - The second 

National Underwater Hockey 

Championships in Palmerston 

North in 1979 was where I 

first met Bob and his Taita 

College Team. They got 

smashed but afterwards Bob 

said: "Malcolm, I want you to 

come and play for my team." I said, 

"Bob, I'm in the New Zealand team 

and you want me to play with 

schoolboys?" Bob laughed and 

said "Well Malcolm, they will get 

bigger." And with that I agreed. 

Fast forward four years. The New 

Zealand Underwater Hockey 

Team was in Canberra competing 

against Australia in a five test 

series. No team had ever beaten 

Australia. Bob was team manager 

with Jeff Jewel our coach. Six 

of our members were from the 

Taita club and yes, they had 

gotten bigger. They were also 

faster and had developed a great 

set of skills. We won that first 

test and after three days we had 

beaten Australia 5 nil. Bob always 

believed in us. 


INDEPTH 

EDITORIAL 

Shark exploration. 

Last photograph of hapuku? 

Dumping of toxic filth continues! 

I cannot commence writing this 

editorial without mentioning the 

incomprehensible massacre that 

occurred in Christchurch on Friday the 

15th March in this beautiful country we 

call home. 

On behalf of the DIVE Pacific magazine 

team and I’m sure all our readers and 

advertisers, we sincerely wish peace 

and a steady loving rebuilding of those 

families whose lives were ripped apart 

by this senseless act. 

I recently passed through Auckland 

and Melbourne International 

airports and was taken aback by a 

product promotion by Southpole 

Oceanking, a Melbourne-based 

company established in 1998. 

Products derived from sharks were 

in full view. 

The company is big into selling 

so-called health and wellbeing 

products. The product range of what 

may assist you living a healthier life 

is impressive. To give you an idea 

of the broad range of concoctions 

available there is thistle milk, 

essence of kangaroo, Antarctic krill 

oil, plus of course New Zealand’s 

renowned Manuka honey, even as a 

toothpaste! 

One of the products being 

highlighted at the airports was Deep 

Ocean Shark Squalene. 

"…Deep Ocean Shark Squalene is 

derived from Deep Ocean Shark 

Liver Oil. It has been found to play 

a key role in maintaining health. All 

the sharks to produce this natural 

and pure squalene are obtained 

from the most pollution free deep 

ocean…" 

You have to give their marketing 

guys top marks for the line: “All the 

sharks to produce this natural and 

pure squalene are obtained from the 

most pollution free deep ocean.” 

I was sickened by this promotion. 

As environmental groups and 

Governments grapple with the 

senseless yearly slaughter of 

millions of sharks for their fins, 

here in New Zealand, Australia and 

an ever-expanding Asian market, 

Southpole Oceanking is contributing 

to the relentless pressure for shark 

carcases to manufacture mythical 

wellbeing products! 

Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions. 

Let’s hope we hear from Southpole 

Oceanking re what type of shark and 

which “pollution-free deep ocean” 

they are caught in? 

Recently I have been communicating 

with my old friend Wade Doak. 

I guess like most divers of our 

era, we started our diving by 

spearfishing. 

Spearing a fish in the ‘60s was really 

not that hard due to the number of 

fish we encountered. 

It is very sobering discussing with 

Wade now how the marine life 

and the marine ecosystem has 

been smashed by human greed 

and activities on land in our short 

lifetime. 

Wade reminisced of the days when 

hapuku were in abundance in 

northern New Zealand waters. They 

are now virtually extinct. Ask any 

diver today who has been diving for 

20 years, how many hapuku has he/ 

she seen? 

Just a wee peek into Wade’s online 

book, Lament for the Hapuku gives 

you a glimpse of what it was like in 

the ‘60s and ‘70s: In late June 1970 a 

large grotto at the Pinnacles (part of the 

Poor Knights Marine Reserve) that Kelly 

Tarlton and I called The Slot, harboured 

a spawning group of up to 30 hapuku, 

ranging in size from 10 to 60kg. The 

biggest would have measured 1.8m. 

Renowned conservationist 

Dr Roger Grace commented in 2018 

on Facebook: 

I believe the devastating consequences 

have already been realised. With 

hapuku down to probably less than 

5% of its pre-fished biomass, and now 

extinct in less than 100 metres of 

water, populations of this magnificent 

animal are just a shadow of what they 

once were. All because of ignorance, 

greed and poor fisheries management. 

Few would admit it. 


SOUNDINGS 

LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL 

Why haven't I got a nice hapuku 

photo to post? Because they are now 

virtually impossible to photograph! 

Wade has the best hapuku photo in 

existence and it is probably about 50 

years old. 

Wade also discussed the impact of 

water-carried sediment smothering 

inshore reefs. The dredging of 

Auckland’s harbour entrance to 

allow larger cargo and cruise ships 

and housing developments beside 

dumping. It’s NOT rocket science to 

recognize the impacts that dumped 

dredging material has on the 

marine environment. The Hauraki 

Gulf’s reefs are covered in “dust”. 

You only have to brush the reef top 

to create a cloud of “dust”. 

The survey of a reef using a remote 

controlled vehicle (ROV) off Great 

Barrier in May 2002 revealed 

stunning glass sponges, black coral 

and Lord Howe coralfish within a 

Sadly, it’s the old mentality – out 

of sight, out of mind. The general 

public really have no idea what is 

going on and, if they did, they are 

most likely too busy with their 

own personal issues to voice their 

opinion. 

Let’s hope the people on Great 

Barrier Island win this battle as we 

and the marine environment all 

benefit from a healthy biomass. 

For further information visit: 

https://www.change.org/p/dr-alanfreeth-stop-the-dumping-of-toxicdredge-sludge-onto-new-zealandsgreat-barrier-island 

http://tinyurl.com/y3sp3nfg 

Voice your opinion on Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/ 

groups/682942015150399/ 

Wow what a summer we have had 

in New Zealand! Sunny, sunny and 

reasonable sea conditions. I trust 

you had time to escape making a 

dollar to enjoy our amazing sport. 

- Dave Moran Editor at Large 

A healthy reef at the Poor Knights very similar to the reef off the North 

East cost of Great Barrier Island Photo: Ian Skipworth 

the coast and waterways has had 

an immense impact on the reefs 

within the Hauraki Gulf’s so called 

“Marine Park”. 

Wade brought to my attention the 

proposed plan to suck up the toxic 

sludge below Auckland’s marinas 

and to dump this contaminated 

material at sea a few kilometres 

off the east coast of Great 


Barrier Island. Local residents 

are challenging this proposed 

pristine reef full spectacular life. 

What a tragedy it would be to 

smother this marine treasure 

in toxic silt from the Auckland’s 

marinas. 

Have not the Council/authorities 

learned anything re the damage 

the inner gulf has suffered by 

mismanagement of dredging and 

land and storm water runoff into 

the gulf? 

CORRECTION 

In the last Dive issue, Feb/Mar # 

168 Editorial there was a comment 

re a Rahui in place in Matauri Bay 

Northland. This should have been 

Matai Bay. 

Canterbury to host 

NZU AGM 

New Zealand Underwater’s Annual 

General Meeting this year is being 

held in Christchurch and hosted by 

the Canterbury Dive Club on June 

28th – 30th. Diary the date. 

The next issue of Dive, No.170, will 

be published in August 2019. 

P A C I F I C 

established 1990 


P A C I F I C 

April/May/June 2019 Issue 169 

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Australia : +61-8-8212 9242 

Publisher 

Gilbert Peterson +64 27 494 9629 

Dive Publishing 

P.O. Box 34 687 

Birkenhead, Auckland, New Zealand 0746 

divenz@divenewzealand.co.nz 

Editor at Large 

Dave Moran +64 9 521 0684 

davem@divenewzealand.co.nz 

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Colin Gestro +64 272 568 014 

colin@affinityads.com 

Art Director 

Mark Grogan +64 9 262 0303 

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Printed by Crucial Colour Ltd 

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All rights reserved. Reprinting in whole 

or part is expressly forbidden except 

by written permission of the publisher. 

Opinions expressed in the publication are 

those of the authors and not necessarily 

the publishers. All material is accepted in 

good faith and the publisher accepts no 

responsibility whatsoever. 

www.DiveNewZealand.co.nz 


Registered Publication 

Dive Pacific ISSN 2624-134X (print) 

ISSN 2324-3236 (online) 


SOUNDINGS 


Women’s annual PADI day scheduled 

Largest single day of organized diving coming on 20 July 

On July 20th PADI Dive Centres and 

Resorts will again host thousands 

of divers for the fifth time for 

a celebration of adventure and 

passion for the ocean at hundreds 

of events around the world. 

PADI launched the first PADI 

Women’s Dive Day in 2015 and by 

last year it had grown to more than 

1,000 events in 104 countries. 

PADI says the positive influence 

of these events extends beyond 

he Australasian Our World- 

T Underwater Scholarship 

Society has announced their Rolex 

Scholar for 2019/20 is Joanna Smart 

from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. 

Joanna holds a Bachelor’s degree in 

Marine and Antarctic Science from 

the University of Tasmania (UTAS) 

with majors in Marine Biology, 

Marine and Antarctic Ecology and 

Seaweed Physiology. 

Her key areas of interest are 

underwater exploration, marine 

science including ecology, polar 

gender since, with conservation 

and community-mindedness at 

their core, they are an opportunity 

to give back above and below 

the surface. Examples last year 

included: 

• In the Bahamas a course on 

corals was presented with divers 

learning how to maintain coral 

trees and plant their own coral 

with personalized tags so they 

can monitor them. 

Rolex underwater scholarship awarded 

he Women Divers Hall of 

T Fame is celebrating its 20th 

Anniversary in a unique collaboration 

with the Abingdon Watch 

company which is keen to promote 

women in adventurous industries. 

For the celebration a specially 

encased Nadia dive watch will 

travel around the world to dive 

with many Women Hall of Fame 

science, sustainability and veterinary 

science, communication and 

media. 

Joanna has over 300 logged dives 

and a PADI Open Water Scuba 

Instructor, AAUS Scientific Diver 

and Part 1 ADAS diver. The 

Scholarship will provide Joanna 

with an incredible learning opportunity 

to help develop a career 

path in a way that will allow her to 

make the most significant contribution 

she can to our oceans. 

Joanna says: "Many of the 

problems the oceans currently face 

such as overfishing, plastic pollution 

and intensive aquaculture 

can have realistic and sustainable 

members each of whom will sign 

off their dive logged with it. 

Once the dive watch has completed 

its year-long world journey it will 

be auctioned off along with its 

logbook with the proceeds going to 

Women’s Hall of Fame Scholarship 

Fund. 

“This dive watch is truly amazing, 

just like the women who will be 

• Women in Saudi Arabia drove 

themselves, for the first time in 

their lives, to do a night dive. 

• Blue Corner Dive in Bali 

offered two free professionaldevelopment 

internships to local 

Indonesian women to take them 

from PADI Open Water Diver to 

PADI Divemaster. 

Interested in taking part this 

year? Contact your local PADI Dive 

Centre or visit padi.com for more. 

Joanna Smart 

solutions. I hope to develop the 

skills and knowledge to contribute 

to solving these problems.” 

www.owuscholarship.org 

Travelling dive watch to commemorate Women Divers 

Hall of Fame 20th anniversary 

wearing it," said Bobbie Scholley, 

Chairman of WDHOF. 

First stop for the watch? Fiji. 

You can follow the Nadia watch 

journey on Facebook, Instagram, 

and Twitter - hashtags #2020Nadia, 

#LadiesItsTimeToDive and 

#SisterhoodOfTheTravelingWatch. 

www.TheAbingdonCo.com/Nadia 

Women’s team wanted for World Spearfishing Championships 

in Sardinia next year 

Spearfishing New Zealand is 

looking at taking a women’s team 

to the World Spearfishing Champs 

in Sardinia in September 2020. 

Ian Warnock says it will be 

extremely deep diving and a 

very high level of competition. If 

you’re interested contact him at 

ianwarnock@xtra.co.nz 


SOUNDINGS 


1870s submarine washes up in Middlemarch 

In the landlocked Otago town of 

Middlemarch resides a rare French 

designed 19th century submarine, 

and now the town is determined to 

see it, The Platypus, restored. 

The 150-year-old submarine is 

thought to be one of only two of its 

vintage still in existence, reported 

John Bisset on Stuff in February. 

"In the history of submarines it's 

quite amazing and would certainly 

be the only one ever built in New 

Zealand," Middlemarch’s museum 

curator Dawn Coburn said. 

The Platypus had its maiden voyage 

in Otago Harbour just three years 

after Jules Verne released the 

underwater science fiction classic 

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1870. 

A second trial was more successful 

with samples from the seafloor 

brought to the surface but a lack 

of investors brought the project to 

a stand-still and it languished on 

the wharf in Dunedin for 10 years. 

In 1924 it was cut into pieces and 

sold to a farmer in Barewood near 

Middlemarch where it remained 

until donated to the Middlemarch 

Museum in 1991. 

years so there's a possibility it's 

still lying on an industrial site 

somewhere. 

"For the first stage we're looking 

at $60,000 to construct a custommade 

shelter and lift it off the 

ground onto a specially designed 

cradle. 

"As it sits the submarine will 

deteriorate over time so it's 

It was lowered into the Otago 

Harbour with seven crew inside, 

powered by paddle wheels and 

with ballast tanks allowing it to 

sink and rise. A hatch on top let 

the submariners in, and a hatch 

below provided access to the 

seabed. 

Five hours later it was raised back 

to the surface after those on board 

had been pumping furiously for 

air and trying to keep water from 

leaking in. 

The sub was built in Dunedin by 

Sparrow, an engineering firm, to 

dig and sluice for gold underwater 

on the Clutha River. 

Middlemarch’s museum curator Dawn Coburn 

The small community is now 

seeking funds to preserve it and 

also locate a missing piece from 

the middle of the submarine. 

"We've even heard rumours of (the 

missing piece) being someone's 

water tank. It was at McLeods 

Soaps factory in Dunedin for many 

important we protect it from the 

elements." 

Once protected the group hopes to 

split the submarine in the middle 

allowing visitors to step inside and 

experience what it would have felt 

like inside the 10.6m vessel. 

Watson to join expert line-up at 

Hutchwilco Boat Show 

TV fishing star Matt Watson will be 

among the line-up of Master Class 

speakers at this year’s Hutchwilco 

New Zealand Boat Show. The show 

will be at the ASB Showgrounds 

in Greenlane, Auckland on May 

16-19. The Master Class free fishing 

seminars will be held throughout 

the show. 

Matt will be joined in the Master 

Class seminar series by a wide 

range of top fishing experts, keen 

to share their latest tips and 

techniques on a variety of topics 

from new techniques for catching 

snapper and kingfish to kayak, 

jetski and even drone fishing. 

A full timetable of speakers and 

topics will be posted on the show’s 

website www.boatshow.co.nz 

and also on the show’s Yamaha 

Information Boards and in the 

Official Show Guide. 

Those attending the show will also 

be able to win a wide variety of 

great prizes including the $250,000 

Surtees/Yamaha Grand Prize, daily 

Viking Kayak packages and both 

domestic and international holiday 

fishing packages. 

Tickets are now available to 

purchase and print at home from 

www.boatshow.co.nz All tickets 

bought on line qualify for a second, 

bonus entry into the Surtees/ 

Yamaha Grand Prize draw, giving 

two chances to win this incredible 

quarter of a million dollar prize. 

Tickets bought on line also 

automatically go into the draw 

to win a Viking Kayaks Powered 

Reload Package, worth over $8000. 

What: Hutchwilco New Zealand 

Boat Show 

Where: ASB Showgrounds, 

Greenlane, Auckland 

When: May 16-19, 2019. 

Open: 10am to 6pm; late night 

Friday to 9pm. 

Admission: Adults: $20; children 

16 & under FREE. 


SOUNDINGS 

LOCAL NEWS 

Matt Watson’s spear tag invention gets global interest 

Spear fishers can now choose 

whether to kill the fish they shoot 

for food, or release them with a 

research tag. 

While hook and line fishers have 

been tagging and releasing fish 

for decades with millions of fish 

around the world released with 

tags, the same option for spear 

fishers been absent, til now. 

Tagging fish allows scientists 

to understand their growth and 

migration to apply for conservation 

measures and set fishery limits. 

Tagging free-swimming fish 

has a greater value to research 

because the fish has not been 

hooked and fought. Video footage 

showing Watson testing the tagger 

by swimming amongst dozens 

of marlin and firing tags into 

them has been viewed by several 

hundreds of thousands of viewers 

already. 

It works just as well on inshore 

fish like snapper and kingfish, and 

this is where Watson sees a more 

immediate conservation benefit. 

“The research value of this is 

obvious, but more immediately 

what it means is spear fishers can 

spend a day in the water hunting 

and shoot multiple fish, yet only 

the ones they need for a meal are 

killed,” he says. 

The key to the spear tagger 

being widely adopted is that it 

fits all spear guns, uses all tags 

used around the world, and is 

inexpensive and easy to use. 

“Spearfishing is already a very 

selective form of harvesting fish, 

every fish is picked out and then 

shot. With the tagger, spear fishers 

can shoot to their hearts content 

and every fish tagged is another 

opportunity for science to learn 

more about that species.” 

This is not the first bit of 

innovative marine conservation 

project Watson has developed. 

In 2008 he devised a new format 

for fishing competitions where 

instead of bringing all fish in 

to be weighed, a photo of a fish 

on a measuring mat was all 

that was needed, allowing the 

angler the freedom to choose to 

keep or release the fish. Many 

tournaments have adopted this 

system resulting in many more 

fish being released. 

Watson says, “It’s also about the 

story capturing people’s hearts 

and minds, and this will help the 

attitude shift, from being entitled 

to take whatever we want, to being 

grateful to take what we need”. 

Matt is currently in discussion 

with a large international 

spearfishing company about the 

manufacture and distribution of 

the spear tagger, where he wants 

to see proceeds go towards marine 

conservation. 

“I’m not in the business of selling 

spear fishing products, I just 

want to get it out to the world as 

quickly as possible. I got the patent 

only so I could stop it getting 

ripped off and commercialised. 

If I can’t get the tagger made and 

distributed cheaply, I’ll make all 

the information and design open 

source online”. 

The video is at: 

https://www.ultimatefishing.tv/home/video/459/spear-tagging-revolution 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=402730770467441 

You can put it on for tagging and take it off when you 

want to take a fish for food in seconds 


SOUNDINGS 

LOCAL NEWS 

Freediver champion William Trubridge swims Cook 

Strait underwater 

Using a special fin freedive world 

champion William Trubridge 

swam 22 kilometres underwater 

in 930 dives of around 25 metres 

each from the North to the South 

Island on February 16th. The goal 

was to raise awareness of critically 

endangered Hector's and Māui 

dolphins. 

Speaking with Radio New Zealand, 

Trubridge said "I really didn't know 

what to expect because I've never 

even swum in that stretch of water 

before, let alone done anything like 

this, so I was going a bit blind. 

"The whole time I was swimming, 

I was getting pushed different 

directions, north and south and 

then north again, 

but in the last 

stretch I was getting 

pushed sideways 

and almost missed 

the headland…I was 

lucky on so many 

levels." 

Trubridge was 

hopeful his story 

would apply 

pressure on the 

government to 

revisit their fishing 

regulations and help better protect 

the endangered dolphins. 

The 38-year-old and partner 

Sachiko Fukumoto recently 

William Trubridge swam Cook Strait underwater. 

Photo / Instagram NZ Herald 

returned to New Zealand as they 

prepare for the birth to their first 

child. 

Trubridge set a new freediving 

world record of 102m in 2016. 

Stopping marine pests 

Biosecurity New Zealand has 

put out a discussion document 

on how to protect the north 

of New Zealand from marine 

pests. 

Northland, Auckland, Bay of 

Plenty and Waikato regional 

Diver emulates Jonah 

A diver narrowly escaped after he 

was sucked into the mouth of a 

Bryde’s whale east of Cape Town in 

South Africa last month. 

Director of Dive Expert Tours 

Rainer Schimpf and his team were 

documenting a sardine run where 

gannets, seals, dolphins, whales 

and sharks come together to dine. 

councils, with support from 

Biosecurity New Zealand and 

boaties from all over have been 

working together for some years 

to stop their spread. 

The discussion document 

outlines different options for 

They were 25 miles from shore 

when Mr Schimpf was sucked into 

the mouth of the whale like the 

Biblical Jonah. But unlike Jonah, 

who was reported to have spent 

three days in its belly, Mr Schimpf 

was released right away. 

He told Barcroft TV he had been 

trying to film a shark going 

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited 

getting consistent inter-regional 

rules in place. 

You can give your feedback 

until Friday 24 May 2019 at 

www.bionet.nz “Better Ways 

to stop marine pests? Have your 

say!” 

through a bait 

ball when his 

surroundings 

suddenly 

became dark 

and he felt 

the large 

whale grab 

hold of his 

body. 

'I could feel the pressure on my 

hip, there is no time for fear in a 

situation like that – you have to use 

your instinct.' He instantly held his 

breath, fearing the whale was going 

to dive and spit him out deep below 

the surface. 

“The next moment I felt the whale 

was turning, and the pressure was 

released, and I was washed out,” Mr 

Schimpf said. 

Bryde’s whales can weigh up to 

20 tonnes. Colleagues said the 

incident was undoubtedly an 

accident. 


Beaked whales get the bends, 

bringing on suicide 

Scientists have figured out 

why exposure to naval sonar 

drives beaked whales to beach 

themselves in bouts of apparently 

suicidal behaviour. 

According to new research, the 

mammals are driven to suicide 

by the bends or decompression 

sickness. 

Just like when scuba divers 

suffer from 

decompression 

sickness, nitrogen 

bubbles form in 

the whales' bodies. 

But instead of 

this being caused 

by rising to the 

surface too quickly, 

the gas forms due 

to fear. 

"In the presence of 

sonar the whales 

are stressed and 

swim vigorously 

away from the 

sound source, 

changing their 

diving pattern," 

said lead author Yara Bernaldo 

de Quiros, a researcher at the 

University of Las Palmas de Gran 

Canaria in Spain. 

Starting in the 1950s, ships began 

emitting un derwater signals in a 

range of about five kilohertz - and 

that's when the mass beaching of 

beaked whales began 

"The stress response, in other 

words, overrides the diving 

response, which makes the 

animals accumulate nitrogen," 

Dr Bernaldo de Quiros added in 

Proceedings of the Royal Society. 

"It's like an adrenaline shot." 

Academics are placing the blame 

on sonar developed in the 1950s 

to detect submarines, especially 

sonar buzzing at around five 

kilohertz as used by the US and 

NATO allies. 

In the 1950s the mass beachings 

of beaked whales began in the 

Mediterranean. 

According to the researchers, there 

were 121 mass strandings between 

1960 and 2004, at least 40 of which 

were closely linked to naval 

activities. 

The so-called "atypical" mass 

strandings didn't feature 

individuals or old and sick animals, 

but a handful or more of beaked 

whales washing ashore within a 

day and a few kilometres of each 

other. 

During one NATO naval exercise in 

2002, 14 whales were stranded over 

a 36-hour period in the Canary 

Islands. 

"Within a few hours of the sonar 

being deployed, the animals 

started showing up on the beach," 

Dr Bernaldo de Quiros said. 

While these whales showed 

no outward sign of disease, 

inside their veins were filled 

with nitrogen gas bubbles and 

their brains had suffered severe 

haemorrhaging. 

A study in 2003 led to the Spanish 

government prohibiting naval 

exercises near the Canary Islands 

in 2004. 

"Up until then, the Canaries were 

a hotspot for this kind of 'atypical' 

strandings," said Dr de Quiros. 

"Since the moratorium, none have 

occurred." 

The new study has called for 

similar bans to be extended to 

other areas where whales are 

known to congregate. 

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Talking tech diving 

A dive on the HMNZS Puriri 

By Martin Wallis 

The HMNZS Puriri is one of New 

Zealand’s very historic wrecks 

and a number of us were very 

lucky to be able to dive her over 

the 4th and 5th of March this year. 

The Puriri was originally requisitioned 

in 1940 and put into service 

in 1941 to sweep German mines in 

the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. 

On the 14th May that year she 

hit a mine and sank immediately 

with a loss of five lives. (For more 

information: https://en.wikipedia. 

org/wiki/HMNZS_Puriri_(T02) 

https://tinyurl.com/y3pxz4s3 

The wreck sits in exactly 100m of 

water roughly eight miles north 

east of Bream head so is a proper 

technical dive that takes some 

planning and copious amounts 

of team effort of which there was 

no shortage. She lies on an even 

keel with both port and starboard 

propellers sitting off the sand 

which make a great navigational 

reference for divers. 

From the stern heading forward 

over the top, the helm’s wheel is 

easily distinguishable as you carry 


on forward to the bow. There is 

no penetration diving available on 

this wreck as it is quite small. 

I’d previously dived this wreck a 

couple of years ago during which 

I had a full camera flood so I was 

really looking forward to getting 

some usable images. The team 

members were Andrew Simpson 

of Global Dive, Darryl Lowndes, 

Guy Bate, Damian Simpson and 

myself. Yukon Dive Charters were 

the operators of choice and we 

were all 100% at ease knowing 

we were in the capable hands of 

skipper Glenn Edney. 

Each day a team of four divers 

dived the wreck (I did day one 

and swapped out with Damian 

on day two). Our basic procedures 

were to hook a shot line into the 

wreck marked with three small 

buoys to use as the descent line, 

spend 25 minutes on the wreck 

including the five minute descent, 

then ascend on a floating decompression 

line marked with a large 

buoy. To ensure we made the 

deco line the team was to shoot 

an SMB at the beginning of our 

ascent marked with a green tag 

indicating that the team of four 

were all together. 

Our surface support team made 

up of Dave Pearce and Kirsten 

Henry (and me on day two) would 

then attach the 40m floating deco 

line to the diver’s reel line and 

drop it down into the water. On 

top of the open circuit bail out 

gases that we all carried there 

were additional cylinders attached 

to the line. The team then reeled 

up the thick weighted rope and 

continued decompression on this 

line. 

The dives were carried out 

without a hitch to the divers 

(equipment was another story) 

on both days and happy divers 

emerged after roughly three hours 

decompression making for 3 and a 

half hour dives on both days. 

As for those camera issues 

from a couple of years ago... 

I cracked a glass dome port 

(which was only rated to 80m 

to be fair). I did manage to 

fire a few shots off before 

water started running over 

the inside of the dome 

port, but from about 12 

minutes into the dive no 

more images were made. I 

obviously couldn’t leave the 

team so swam aimlessly 

about with them until the 

25 minutes was up and we 

were able to start the ascent. 

Amazingly the port didn’t 

implode and there was no 

damage to the camera, lens 

or housing electronics. The 

other casualty of day one 

was Andrew’s scooter which 

flooded fully. 

Being so close to the coast 

the visibility isn’t what you 

typically find at the Poor Knights 

- it’s just about pitch black on the 

wreck but there is a fair amount 

of life on her. We saw a number of 

not very big Golden snapper, some 

Butterfly perch, one small Hapuka 

and some tiny black coral. 

The wreck is fully covered in 

old fishing nets which do pose a 

hazard to divers and probably to 

the fish life still to this day. 


S pearos notebook 

Finding the Good Spots 

for spearfishing 

As the summer holidays wound 

down at the end of January the 

best spearfishing started to kick 

in. The fish heard the camp sites 

and boats packing up and started 

to head back home – they realised 

it was safe to come out of their 

hiding places. The water temperature 

stabilised over the 20 degree 

mark and with that corridors of 

blue water formed. 

with Jackson Shields 

This is when I typically like to 

spend most time in the water. 

The months of February, March 

and April offer the best all round 

spearfishing experience. And 

in the upper North Island we 

can encounter the migration of 

Boarfish and influxes of school 

fish. 

Locating a Good Spot 

Local knowledge can be the key to 

successful spearfishing and that 

doesn’t necessarily mean knowing 

where the Good Spots are. Because 

there so many variables in finding 

a Good Spot: the time of year, the 

weather, the moon phase, tide, 

water clarity, food … the list goes 

on and on. 

I dive many places that are productive 

some days and empty others. 

I don’t put this down to luck. I 

analyse all the variables noted 

above and work out what their 

correlations are. The location of a 

Good Spot can change… 

What works 

Each spot can have a different 

recipe as to what works, and once 

you work out what the recipe is, 

you can translate it to almost 

anywhere in New Zealand to find 

success in unfamiliar areas. 

The best way to learn about what 

makes a Good Spot is to go out and 

swim there. Cover lots of seafloor 

in an attempt to learn about them. 

First-hand experience is always 

better than hearing from someone 

Finding the right bait - these big Koheru are every predators favourite 

else second hand about a spot they 

told you about. Fish behaviour 

is a never ending education; and 

sometimes it is unexplainable, 

which makes it even more of a 

challenge. 

Tide and current 

For instance tidal movement is one 

of the most obvious and important 

variables to finding fish. Most fish 

we target like tide and current, and 

often the stronger the better. Fish 

like swimming into current, so you 

do the same. Dive the up current 

side of a rock, not the down 

current side. 

Tidal flow relates to moon phase; 

typically the bigger the moon the 

bigger the tide and the stronger the 

flow. But the moon phase can also 

relate to feeding habits by fish. A 

big moon means more light to feed 

at night. A strong tidal flow and 

a big moon can then relate to a 

bigger upwelling of food for small 

fish, which then results in the 

bigger fish becoming more active. 

Time of year 

One of the biggest factors to try 

and align with these variables 

is the time of year, and this can 

only be found through trial and 

error. Different times of year result 

in different species, and all the 

species have different relationships 

with their environments. 

One bait fish is more important 

than another bait fish if you are 

looking for a specific species. 

Bait fish in the water? 

Often I can predict the productivity 

of a spot as soon as I see the bait in 

the area. Though not always fool 

proof, it proves more successful 

than not. Fish feed on different 

fish differently at different times 

of year, which can be important to 

know. 

Now when it comes to finding 

these Good Spots I am about to 

ruin a myth for a lot of people. 

Heading farther out does not 

necessarily result in more fish 

and better spearfishing. All the 


Dan Roger with outer Gulf big kingfish late summer in inky bluewater 

islands around New Zealand have 

become accessible to anyone with 

the technology available on boats 

these days. Far out islands are not so 

untouched anymore. Besides that, 

fish aggregate and occupy inshore 

and offshore places at different times 

of year. 

Inshore early summer snapper in clear water 

Inshore better? 

Sometimes the inshore coastline can 

be better than outer islands for small 

and big fish. In the Hauraki Gulf for 

example, the coastline and inner 

islands tend to be more productive 

in early summer which is most likely 

due to fish moving in close to spawn. 

You will also find bluewater touching 

Kawau and Tiri before places like 

the Mokahinaus and Great Barrier 

Island in early summer. Then, in late 

summer to autumn is when the outer 

islands become their most productive 

when fish there tend to spawn later, 

and an influx of warm blue currents 

flood the outer gulf. 

Analysing your dives through the 

year can result in good successes 

and minimise the need for ‘luck’. 

Hopefully everyone can get out there 

and find their own Good Spot. 


Tahiti, 

richest aquarium 

on earth 

Photo: Philippe Bacchet 

Proudly displayed on the bodies of Tahitians, you’ll 

find manta ray, shark, whale and sea turtle tattoos 

that tell the story of a people defined by the sea. 

Divers come from around the world to experience 

these sacred sea creatures, which, in The Islands of 

Tahiti hold a place of reverence among the gods. 

It’s only natural that the sea around these islands 

is both figuratively and literally a clear blue heaven 

on earth. The warm waters that surround The Islands 

of Tahiti teem with life from flirty clown fish to 

ever-present sharks, to awe-inspiring humpback 

whales which arrive between July and November. 

When you’re ready to do some diving and snorkelling, 

the heavens await. 

There are dozens of unique dive sites around each 

island and atoll and expert certified dive operators will 

take care of all the details. 

Dives and other activities can be arranged in advance 

by your Preferred Travel Professional or through your 

resort or cruise ship. 

Marine environment 

The crystal-clear waters of The Islands of Tahiti are 

home to more than 1,000 species of fish with an 

unmatched variety of colour, size and shape. The 

smallest fish are often the most colourful and prefer 

the coral gardens and shallow depths of lagoons, while 

larger species enjoy the bustle of life in the inlets and 

reef complexes and beyond, out in the open sea. 

The combination of canyons, caverns and coral 

beds provides a multitude of nooks and crannies for 

marine life. 

A 4 million km² natural aquarium 

Because of its exceptional biodiversity, scientists 

consider the French Polynesian sea zone to be the 

“richest aquarium on earth”. 

In 2000 the entire region was classified as an 

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a wildlife sanctuary 

where, among other things, drift fishing is prohibited, 

earning French Polynesia top honours from the WWF 

(World Wildlife Fund). 

The jade and turquoise waters of the lagoons of 

the Tuamotu and the Society Islands archipelagos, 

where slender, multi-coloured fish species have 

evolved, attract nearly a third of all dolphin species 

from every ocean. Schools of damselfish, mullet and 

soldierfish frolic in the coral lacework as striped 

convict surgeonfish and frowning Picasso triggerfish 

pass by. 

Manta rays gliding across the shimmering sea bottom 

can suddenly leap skyward and re-enter the water 

right next to placid sharks basking in the lagoons. 

Photo: Bruno David 

Sea turtles bury their eggs in the warm sands of 

deserted beaches as whales mate and calve in the 

undisturbed bays of our archipelagos: the Austral 

Islands, the Gambier Islands, the Tuamotu and the 

Society Islands. 


© Grégoire Le Bacon © Gilles Diraimondo/AMV Voyages 

BIG 

SMALL 

There are many sides to The Islands of Tahiti. Yet they are all 

connected by Mana. Mana is a life force and spirit that surrounds us. 

You can see it. Touch it. Taste it. Feel it. And from the 

moment you arrive, you will understand why we say 

our Islands are 

To discover Mana for yourself, visit Tahiti-Tourisme.co.nz 

www.divenewzealand.com www.dive-pacific.com 17 73

SOUNDINGS 

LOCAL NEWS 

Taputeranga Marine Reserve New Zealand’s top 

marine biodiversity hotspot? 

More marine species have 

now been recorded by 

citizens at Wellington’s South 

Coast marine reserve than in 

New Zealand’s most internationally 

famous dive destination, 

the Poor Knights Marine 

Reserve. 

Nearly 2000 observations 

have been reported by citizen 

scientists in the 10 year old 

Taputeranga Marine Reserve, 

as part of an online project 

hosted by iNaturalistNZ. The 

project curated by Department 

of Conservation marine scientists 

has clocked up nearly 

350 recorded species in 

Taputeranga, compared to about 

Half Naked Hatchet Fish 

Goniobranchus aureomarginatus Photo: Sarah Milicich 

there are just more nature 

geeks in Wellington!” he 

said, and it probably reflects 

Taputeranga’s urban location, 

including proximity to Victoria 

University, NIWA and several 

dive shops. 

Some of the unusual finds 

include a rare deep-water 

species called a half-naked 

hatchetfish, (Argyropelecus 

hemigymnus), and the hula 

skirt siphonophore (Physophora 

hydrostatica), a relative of jellyfish 

and corals. 

Colin Ryder, Chair of Friends of 

Taputeranga Marine Reserve, 

says there is still much more to 

find as coverage of the deepest 

parts of the reserve is almost 

non-existent. Species usually 

harvested for food, such as 

paua, rock crayfish, blue moki, 

tarakihi and blue cod appear 

to be thriving. Large schools of 

trevally are also being photographed. 

200 for the Poor Knights. 

Marine scientists estimate 

perhaps as much as 80% of New 

Zealand's indigenous biodiversity 

is found in the sea and 

while many of our marine fish 

are found in other countries' 

seas, many of our benthic 

(bottom dwelling) marine 

species are found only in New 

Zealand. 

Clinton Duffy of DOC’s Marine 

Ecosystems team says it’s 

unclear why there is such a 

difference between observations 

at the Wellington site and 

those in eight other marine 

reserves, including the Poor 

Knights. 

“One credible theory is that 

Sea anemone Photo: Karin Stillberg 

Conger eel Photo: Sean Geange 

www.inaturalist.org/projects/ 

taputeranga-marine-reserve 

http://tinyurl.com/y2mnfa63 


SOUNDINGS 

LOCAL NEWS 

Free diver breaks under ice record 

New Zealand-born free diver 

Ant Williams has broken the 

world record for the deepest 

dive under ice in Norway. 

He swam to 70m to beat the 

previous world record by 5m, 

a feat overseen by Guinness 

World Records. The next day 

he went one better swimming 

another 5m deeper. 

The 47-year-old now resides 

in Australia and trained for 

months beforehand, including 

trips to Finland and Lake Taupo. 

His team dug through two 

metres of snow before sawing 

a hole in the frozen surface of 

a Norwegian fjord. Then with a 

torch he swam into the blackness. 

Williams said he was ecstatic 

to enter the record 

books. "It feels 

fantastic to have 

finally achieved this 

radical goal," he 

said on his Facebook 

page. 

"It was a super 

challenging dive. 

The brutal cold and 

the darkness were 

far beyond anything 

I have experienced. 

It was a relief to be 

back at the surface. 

"I felt relaxed on the 

way down, but the swim up 

was tough going. I think I was 

over-weighted and when my 

dive response kicked in at depth 

my legs felt like lead. It took me 

nearly 30 seconds longer than 

Ant Williams breaks the world record for 

the deepest dive under ice 

normal to swim up.” 

Williams has been free diving 

for nearly 20 years and can hold 

his breath underwater for eight 

minutes. 

Reef Check Malaysia recommends local reef 

management 

Reef Check Malaysia latest 

report on the health of coral 

reefs around Malaysia finds 

them generally in fair condition 

though ‘averages’ mask variations 

in different reef areas. 

Across 212 sites surveyed the 

live coral cover is relatively 

high at an average of 42%, 

similar to 2017. However low 

numbers of high-value species 

of fish (such as grouper) and 

shellfish (such as lobster) were 

recorded, and some coral reefs 

are showing increasing algae, 

an indicator of possible pollution. 

Reef Check was established 

in the USA in 1996 to raise 

awareness on the importance 

of, and threats to, coral reefs. 

Reef Check Malaysia (RCM), 

was registered in 2007 as a 

non-profit company to engage 

with local stakeholders to 

protect, restore and revive coral 

reefs in Malaysia. 

Its surveys have highlighted 

various problems including 

overfishing, pollution and 

sedimentation from land-based 

development. 

Julian Hyde, General Manager of 

Reef Check Malaysia, said this 

is the 12th year we have been 

conducting surveys so we have 

a pretty good idea of what is 

happening to coral reefs in our 

survey areas. 

He said: “Coral reefs are 

important ecosystems, 

providing food as well as jobs 

in tourism for many island 

communities. But they face 

growing global threats such as 

bleaching and ocean acidification 

associated with climate 

change. 

We need to focus on building 

the resilience, or health, of 

coral reefs through more 

effective management of local 

threats such as pollution and 

overfishing.” 

Saving Our Reefs research, education 

& conservation 

RCM is advocating for co-management 

committees to be 

established in each marine 

park to localise some decision 

making and get greater commitment 

to reef conservation from 

local stakeholders. 

“Giving local stakeholders 

a voice helps involve them 

more in management which in 

turn creates greater buy-in to 

conservation activities because 

they understand how this 

will impact their livelihoods 

and their futures”, says Alvin 

Chelliah, Programme Manager 

for RCM’s Cintai Tioman 

programme. 

RCM also conducts education 

and awareness programmes for 

schools, organisations and local 

communities. It also runs coral 

reef rehabilitation programmes 

to foster the scientific understanding 

of coral reef ecology. 

Reef Check is active in 82 

countries and territories 

throughout the world. 

www.reefcheck.org.my 


SOUNDINGS 

LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

Project Baseline founder 

Todd Kincaid stops by 

Dr Todd Kincaid 

The crystal clear springs I knew 

in Florida growing up are now 

basically gone, Dr Todd Kincaid 

told 50 or so divers in Auckland on 

April 1st. The springs represent 

my personal baseline, he said, 

and they were killed by algae and 

bacteria as their waters became 

de-oxygenated through nutrient 

and pollutant run off, a process 

generically called eutrophication. 

the measures by 

which future change 

can be scientifically 

monitored and 

verified. 

But the aim mainly is to harness 

volunteer divers and others in a 

citizen science effort to collect the 

data whereby baselines are established. 

reefs are at risk – we know this 

from the impacts on the Great 

Barrier Reef. So why is nothing 

happening to prevent it? The issue 

needs to be kept in the public eye. 

“So far we have 450 divers engaged, 

and need at least 10 times that. 

The underwater world needs this 

and if not divers, then who? 

…100 new species were discovered during 28 dives over 32 

mission days, with many at 60-90 metres technical depth… 

Todd who is head of Science 

and Conservation for Global 

Underwater Explorers (GUE) 

and Director of Project Baseline 

stopped off on his way back to 

the US from the recent Oztek in 

Australia. 

The life supporting oxygen in the 

springs’ water was stripped out 

only over the past 20 years or so 

and “when algae blooms everything 

dies except the algae and 

bacteria,” he said. 

He said he realized the springs 

were dying but worse, perhaps we 

were all losing the political will to 

do anything about it. Hence Project 

Baseline. The goal now is to make 

the organization independent and 

self-supporting. www.projectbaseline.org 

The organization has collaborated 

with several research organisations 

to help establish baselines, 

An example locally is the data 

being collected on Lake Pupuke 

on Auckland’s North Shore (see 

below). 

The major problems for lakes and 

springs are usually waste water 

outfalls, but 

in the oceans, 

warming seas 

and sedimentary 

deposits are 

causes of eutrophication. 

As Dr Brian 

Lapointe of the 

Fau Harbour 

Oceanographic 

Institute said by 

video, “Corals 

evolved over 

thousands of 

years to live in 

clean water…” 

Todd said all 

Project Baseline does not aim to 

supplant any other organisation 

but complement and support them. 

“The oceans are changing rapidly 

so its important to get the baseline 

information,” Todd said. 


SOUNDINGS 

LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

Why is Lake Pupuke dying? 

Project Baseline in 

A Auckland’s North Shore 

seeks answers 

Lake Pupuke on Auckland’s 

North Shore is unique on 

many ways and it is dying. 

Eutrophication is sapping oxygen 

from its water preventing the 

lake’s ability to sustain plant 

growth. Ebi Hussain is making it 

his business to find out why 

The lake made up of two craters 

formed 150,000 years ago is 60 m 

deep and surrounded by urban 

development. It has no direct 

inflows or outflows yet is heavily 

used for recreation. 

In 2014 an algae bloom occurred 

and no one knows the reasons. 

Ebi Hussain’s citizen science 

initiative, Project Baseline Lake 

Pupuke has joined forces with 

the Auckland Council and the 

Cawthron Institute, a research 

A range of sensors have been placed in the lake and are being monitored 

by volunteer divers 

organisation to study what interventions might 

best manage the lake’s health. 

To do that they first need to understand what is 

driving the lake’s processes. And to do that Ebi 

has installed a range of sensors in the lake, taken 

samples and otherwise researching it with the 

help of a small army of volunteer divers. 

He has found areas in the lake unable to support 

life any more, and other areas at risk. Any water 

with less than 5% oxygen dissolved in it means 

plant life will struggle, he says, only algae and 

bacteria will thrive. 

The collecting of the lake’s Project Baseline data is 

ongoing. 

www.projectbaseline.org/project-baseline-lake-pupuke-monitoring-lake-and-building-collaborations 

Major Missions in Bermuda, Fiji 

A major mission in 2016 in 

Bermuda used several vessels 

including a research ship and 

submersibles to collect data to 

compile more for this index of 

oceanography. 100 new species 

were discovered during 28 dives 

over 32 mission days, with many at 

60-90 metres technical depth and 

with some dives lasting 6 hours. 

In Fiji on 2017 a group of New 

Zealand divers gathered baseline 

data at the Great Astrolabe reef 

at Kadavu in a Project Baseline 

assignment during 14 days with 12 

days of diving. 

They found while the reefs there 

are healthy they are not undamaged. 

Though there was no 

evidence of bleaching there was 

evidence of some disease and 

harm from over fishing. 

“Project Baseline is seeking your 

support,” Todd said. 

“For each project the scientists set 

the goals that dictate the skills that 

are in demand for them. 

“We need to get as many people 

involved as possible.” 


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NEW ZEALAND'S DIVE MAGAZINE 



DIVE NZ D168.indd 1 29/01/19 10:40 AM 

Shark attacks plummet 

SOUNDINGS 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

The number of unprovoked 

shark attacks on humans was 

far below average in 2018, 

according to an annual report 

by the University of Florida 

International Shark Attack File. 

Worldwide there were 66 

unprovoked attacks, four of 

which were fatal. Over the 

previous five years there were 

on average 84 incidents. In 

2018 another 34 attacks were 

confirmed as being provoked 

by humans. 

The United States again saw 

the most unprovoked attacks 

last year (32), followed again 

by Australia (20). Half of the 

US attacks occurred in Florida. 

The report didn’t specifically 

state why the statistics on 

shark attacks dropped away 

so sharply last year but did 

mention that shark-attack 

fatalities have been trending 

downward for decades due to 

improvements in ocean rescue, 

medical care and increased 

awareness about sharks. 

Gavin Naylor, director of the 

Florida Museum of Natural 

History’s shark research 

programme said “statistically, 

this is an anomaly. It (also) begs 

the question of whether we’re 

seeing fewer bites because there 

are fewer sharks. Or it could 

be that the general public is 

heeding the advice of beach 

safety officials. My hope is that 

the lower numbers are a consequence 

of people becoming 

more aware and accepting of 

the fact that they’re sharing the 

ocean with these animals.” 

Most attacks happened to 

people who were surfing or 

doing board sports (53%). 

Snorkelers and freedivers 

accounted for 6% of attacks, and 

scuba divers 5%. 

In all, there were five shark-attack 

fatalities in 2018 which 

was consistent with yearly 

averages. Shark attacks may 

receive a lot of media attention 

but researchers point 

out that sharks pose a very 

low threat to humans with 

billions of people engaged 

in ocean activities each 

year. And while sharks kill 

an average of six people in 

unprovoked attacks worldwide 

“fisheries kill about 

100 million sharks and rays 

annually,” according to the 

International Shark Attack 

File report. 

“An increase in sharks is a 

symptom of restoring healthy 

oceans,” Naylor said. “What 

the public needs to do is become 

informed about these animals, 

understand their behaviour 

patterns and listen to the guidelines 

issued by beach safety 

patrols.” 

DAN announces $10,000 research grant 

Applications are now open 

for the 2019 DAN/R.W. “Bill” 

Hamilton Dive Medicine 

Research Grant, a year-long 

$US10,000 grant for new or 

ongoing research on decompression 

techniques, treatments and 

related issues. 

DAN established the research 

grant in honour of Dr Hamilton 

who died in 2011 aged 81. Dr 

Hamilton researched dive 

physiology, authored numerous 

papers, reports and workshop 

proceedings, and was perhaps 

best known for co-developing 

the Diving Computational 

Analysis Program (DCAP) which 

analyzes decompression procedures 

for a wide variety of 

exposures 

NEW ZEALAND’S 

to pressure. 

ONLY DIVE MAGAZINE 

To apply, email Frauke Tillmans 

at FTillmans@DAN.org by April 

24th, 2019. 


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Why is Wakatobi so 

compelling? 

Our definitive guide 

What to do when a shark shows up? 

P A C I F I C 

The wrecks & reefs of Gizo 

NIWA’s underwater photo magician 

The seas are warming... 

Leopard seal applies for residency 

Three dive pioneers pass on 



The best of Fiji… 

By Gilbert Peterson, Managing editor, Dive Pacific 

…can be farther out 

(I travelled to Fiji in mid-March courtesy of Tourism Fiji for a 

week long fiesta of highly memorable diving and meeting up with 

dive operators. Our international group stayed at four resorts 

each uniformly excellent while catering to different markets and 

budgets.) 

Taveuni and Vanua Levu islands 

in Fiji – yes they’re very much 

about the superb diving, but there 

are so many other things to see 

and do too. 

On Sunday I attend a church 

service at 7 am at the Wairiki 

mission church. The acoustics of 

this historic 128 year old church 

echo the pleasure of the 300 voice 

congregation singing. Fine French 

architecture. No pews. Everyone 

cross legged on the floor. A 

mahogany ceiling. Stained glass 

reflecting across the bay to distant 

neighbor islands. 

Then there’s Bauma Falls in 

the Tavora National Park, three 

of them, ranked in the top 100 

falls around the world, a rating 

bestowed I imagine for the sheer 

Just the flight getting to Taveuni 

and/or Vanua Levu from Nadi is an 

adventure, at gawping height, only 

just above the mountains of Viti 

Levu, across the emerald straits. 

The 20 seater Twin Otters are new 

as well. 

There’s the natural water slide 

up a track over the road from 

Garden Island Resort at Waitavala. 

I thought I’d see how others took 

this on before giving it a go. I 

wanted to see how banged up and 

bruised they got. What a super 

adrenalin trigger that was! The 

stream rushes you down in a 

tearing hurry, on a turning rock 

surface as smooth as moss. No 

body parts bashed at all. Just a 

flush of water up the nose. 

Australians Dirk and Claudia Werner-Lutrop, me, our dive guides and Jackie, a 

travel editor from China, heading out to the Great White Wall. 


Blue Ribbon Eel at Jerry's Jelly 

Aptly named Rainbow Reef 

©adamwalters.com 

presence of the drop, and the setting. The walk up to the first one was 

very easy and very pretty, a contrast to the bouncing ride along the last 

bit of the road getting there. Past a pineapple plantation, and an offshore 

island, Laucala, owned by the Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, 

co-owner of Red Bull. Taveuni is unimaginably fertile. Children spend 

the end of the day leaping off a bridge, swimming… its an idyllic spot. 

And on the island there’s other falls and day walks, hiking up higher, 

bird watching, plenty of snorkeling spots and lots of other things to see 

and do. 

Cabbage Patch 


Rainbow Reef magic 

Now we’re into two dives on Day 

One. Hosted by the very capable 

team at Garden Island Resort 

(www.gardenislandresort.com), 

Nuku Reef and the Cabbage Patch 

are just two of the 25 or so dive 

sites of the Rainbow Reef, a 28 

km wonder stretching between 

Taveuni and Vanua Levu islands. 

(Fiji’s second and third biggest). 

Rainbow Reef simply lives up to its 

name, a must do magnet for divers 

of all capabilities. Here, there’s also 

work afoot to protect more of the 

reef which it demands due to its 

sheer diversity and value otherwise. 

(See Panel p.21) 

Great White Wall 

By virtue of its location in the 

strait with tidal currents ‘cleaning’ 

them out every day, the reef is 

host to wildly diverse soft and 

hard healthy corals side by side. 

Look in any direction for more 

colour. While Cyclone Winstone 

in 2016 is still fresh in locals’ 

minds, damage was limited to 

corals within a metre or two of the 

surface, and recovery of those is 

rapidly underway. Not so fortunate 

was Garden Island Resort. A two 

year old jetty was swept away and 

waves pounded in the windows of 

first floor apartments. The resort 

is pristine again now, reasonably 

priced, and generous with both 

hospitality and providing festivities 

such as lovo dining (meals 

cooked on hot stones) and cultural 

performances. 

Prehistoric 

Cabbage Patch features - you 

guessed it - an area of large green, 

vegetable like corals hosting 

clouds of fusiliers and many other 

multi coloured fish. The light or 

something down here makes the 

atmosphere redolent of pre-historic 

times when these corals were 

first alive, when dinosaurs inhabited 

the planet. It’s not so much 

spooky as meditative. Without 

consciously thinking about it we 

swim with respect above and 

around them. 

From Taveuni Dive Resort, which 

would have to be one of Fiji’s most 


Cataloguing coral 

Marine scientist Helen Sykes says the 

corals in Fiji are the healthiest in the world. 

“Fiji is an oasis for resilient corals,” she 

says. From an event like Cyclone Winstone 

which hit in 2016, she says, the corals are 

recovering really fast, within five years. 

She adds if climate change happened to 

reverse in future, Fiji could act as a nursery 

for the world to restock reefs elsewhere. 

Lately Helen has been working in the 

Rainbow Reef area cataloguing the soft and 

hard corals that abound here. The aim is 

to underscore how ecologically valuable 

the Somosomo Strait area is in general, 

and the Rainbow Reef in particular, both 

for the health of Fijian oceans and for dive 

tourism. A goal is to raise the protection of 

important reef sites. 

While the traditional Qoliqolis owners whereby 

local villages’ have fishing rights in the seas related 

to their lands, the sea bed below high tide is vested 

in the government. This can lead to complex 

conservation and management issues. In the 

Map not to scale 

Somosomo strait area there are over 20 Qoliqolis. 

One of them may agree to a tabu on fishing an 

area but it often takes government involvement to 

enforce protection from those outside the community. 

If the villages and dive operators agree which 

sites are to be protected they can put a powerful 

case to the government. 

Some of the Rainbow Reef's critters 

In Fiji there have been five main ways used to 

create Marine Conservation Areas (MCAs): 

1) Informal, where subsistence fishing is mainly 

done by the land owning unit 

2) Verbal or documented Tabu where the heads 

of fishing rigths owning clans ( matagai) can 

declare and are ‘no- take’ or tabu. 

3) Exclusion from Commercial Fishing. 

Traditional tabu areas may become part of the 

Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas (FLMMA) 

network to aid community based management. 

4) Foreshore lease or licence whereby the ownership 

of the foreshore is vested in the government 

and can be developed eg for aquaculture. 

5) Statutory ‘Gazetted’ Reserves for which 

the Minister of Fisheries may declare areas 

protected reserves either for a species, or 

entirely, and which applies to both traditional 

fishing resources and any others including 

commercial fishers. 

At present MCAs rely heavily on traditional 

verbal or documented tabu areas and therefore 

on traditional ownership rights and management 

of fisheries. 

Tourism operators including dive operators 

are currently evenly split with 51% content 

with their current MCA arrangements and 49% 

wanting more formal agreements. 

www.marineecologyfiji.com/news 


organized, professional and conscientious 

resorts for divers, (www. 

taveunidiveresort.com) we head 

out next day to the Great White 

Wall. For me this was the dive of 

the trip. The guides tell us this 

is the one place where Fiji Time 

does not apply! Diving the Wall is 

totally time and tide dependent. If 

the currents are not right you see 

a great brown wall; if they’re too 

fierce you don’t get to dive. (Check 

Taveuni Dive’s website for when 

dives will be possible). 

Frisson 

We were lucky. The weather was 

great, scarcely a breeze. To start 

we went down to about 12 metres. 

A white tip headed away. We 

entered a swim through ‘cave’ 

going down to 22 metres. A frisson 

of excitement. Another few metres 

and here is the wall. A vertical 

rock face blanketed with soft white 

coral blooming, down as far as the 

eye can see. 

We drift along the white face. Time 

disappears. One minute I have 100 

bar of air, next minute just 50. Its 

time to head up. But the currents 

here are deceptive, and strong. 

They force us to stay low, swim 

hard, using up air much faster. We 

work around some rock mounds, 

under a ledge, then with a touch 

of relief, up to five metres for the 

safety stop. At the surface for the 

first time my gauge reads zero. 

Jerry’s Jelly 

Then we get a bonus at 

Jerry’s Jelly where the 

reef’s biodiversity comes 

into its own, two pinnacles 

and a ledge, with soft 

white corals underneath, 

though hard corals tend 

to predominate. Here 

we met a patch of shy 

garden eels and nearby, 

the scorching bright blue 

ribbon eel, plus lots of 

schooling fish including 

snapper, sweetlips, 

pipefish and fusiliers, 

all at no more than 18 

metres depth. 

We make the journey 

to Vanua Levu from 

Taveuni by fast dive boat 

across Somosomo Strait’s 

glassy seas - so easy - to 

meet up with others of 

our party coming from 

the opposite direction. 

By coach for an hour 

and a half we travel to 

Savusavu for a night’s 

stay at the Koro Sun 

Resort & Rainforest Spa 

(https://korosunresort. 

com) before heading 

to the Jean-Michel 

Cousteau Resort (www. 

fijiresort.com) where we 

enjoy a final dive and 

a last night. But what 

happened on this part of 

the journey will have to 

wait til the next issue. 

Bauma Falls 

The natural water slide at Waitavala 

Info Tips 

Getting there: Fiji Airways operates twice daily flights to Taveuni Island 

and more to Vanua Levu, either to Savusavu, or Labasa which can be at 

less cost and an hour and half by road from Savusavu. 

Garden Island Resort, Taveuni Dive and Paradise Taveuni (www. 

paradiseinfiji.com) are well-equipped to cater for divers and snorkelers as 

well as plenty of other excursion options. Talk to them. 


Dive interview: 

Jean-Michel Cousteau 

On the recent trip to Fiji Dive magazine was quick to take an opportunity 

to interview the legendary Jean-Michel Cousteau, founder of Ocean Futures 

Society. He has been diving for 73 years. Jean- Michel has just been made an 

ambassador for Fiji Airways and was at the Dive Fiji Expo in March to give 

the key address. Gilbert Peterson started the conversation and he was off. 

Fiji is nature’s paradise. He 

began. I’ve been coming here for 

29 years and I’m an ocean guy and 

to me Fiji is the top underwater 

destination and it’s the same with 

the people. I like the culture. It’s a 

treasure. 

When we drink water we’re 

drinking from the ocean. It’s 

the same for the snow on the 

mountains. There’s only one water 

system. So we have to stop using 

the sea as a sewer. Every human 

being is connected in this way, 

plankton which oysters and clams 

eat, and we eat them. 

We need to sit down with fishing 

people who need to make a living. 

We don’t want them to lose their 

jobs but there must be limitations 

Fijians are the nicest people 

I’ve met anywhere in the world. 

They’re the nicest human beings. 

I accepted becoming ambassador 

to Fiji Air because they bring 

people together, and we’re all 

connected to the ocean in one way 

or another. Fiji is the best destination 

in the world, in my opinion, 

probably because no one else 

has impacted Fijian culture until 

recently. 

…There’s only one water system. So we have to stop using 

the sea as a sewer. Every human being is connected in this 

way, through the oceans… 

through the oceans. The ocean is 

our life support system. 

Out of about 27 countries in the 

Pacific, maybe 10 of them are going 

to go, those countries below five 

metres. A lot needs to be done. 

In the middle of the north Pacific 

on an island in Hawaii we 

found birds with 8 to 12 

pieces of plastic in them. 

And there’s the micro 

plastics which are like zoo 

on how much they catch. Today 

there are huge opportunities to 

farm herbivores. Their poop can 

grow the plants they feed on, a 

closed system. It can be the same 

for fish farms. The farms can be 

near where the human population 

are. But farming carnivores is a big 

mistake. 

There are hundreds of thousands 

of species still to be discovered 

but how can we protect what we 

don’t understand? Education is the 

On March 20th the Fiji Fiesta Dive Group celebrated World Happiness Day. The occasion coincided with the 

launch in Fiji of Bulanaires.com. Bulanaires are people rich in happiness and as Fijians always say "BULA". 


exciting feature of the EXOSUIT is 

that for the first time we can dive to 

1000 feet in 5 short minutes, walk 

on the ocean floor, swim like a fish, 

be moved through the water with 

propellers, stay down for up to 10 

hours and be back at the surface in 5 

minutes.”) 

But a person alone in the sea is in 

bad company so they had to make 

two of them, he said. 

Jean-Michel speaking at the Dive Expo 

solution for people to learn every 

human is connected. 

And we have the technology. We 

can film up close in slow motion 

and in 3D and I have made a film 

using this called “Wonders of the 

Sea.” 

(ADS) maintains a cabin pressure 

of the surface and still allows the 

suit to bend due to a unique rotary 

joint invented by Dr Phil Nuytten. 

Developed and built in North 

Vancouver by Nuytco Research 

Ltd, the hard metal dive suit allows 

divers to operate safely down to a 

…We are the only species with the capacity to solve 

problems. Nature doesn’t care… 

Things are changing. We’re going 

to stop abusing women. We’re 

going to stabilize the world population. 

We are the only species with 

the capacity to solve problems. 

Nature doesn’t care. 

My father co-invented the 

regulator and tested it in Paris. 

When I was seven he put a tank 

on my back and every weekend we 

went diving. It’s never stopped. My 

aim is to scuba dive for 100 years! 

Now I’m often asked, ‘what is your 

favourite dive?’ and I say, ’the 

next one’ because you always see 

something new and I’m always 

looking forward. 

The Exosuit has been invented 

and I was invited to go down 

using it. (The technology of the 

EXOSUIT atmospheric diving system 

depth of 1000 feet and yet still have 

exceptional dexterity and flexibility 

to perform delicate work. EXOSUIT 

please visit nuytco.com. As Jean – 

Michel said elsewhere: “The most 

(In a side note asked about New 

Zealand, Jean-Michel made special 

mention of New Zealand’s Orca 

expert Ingrid Visser. “She’s unbelievable,” 

he said.) 

Tourism Fiji's James Pridgeon 


Silky days 

Tobias Bernhard took the photos and tells the story about 

freediving with Silky Sharks offshore from Savusavu in Fiji. 

While you might be chilling through a balmy summer, to us in the tropics this 

is “cyclone season” meaning sweltering heat, suffocating humidity with 

towering, cloud formations pregnant with flood rains, three showers and as 

many fresh t-shirts in a day. 

But I love the cyclone season in Fiji. It is full of drama, adventure and passion, 

decay and renewal of life. If you stand still long enough you grow mould. 

Underwater there is all the annual spawning and breeding going on; coral, 

palolo worm and fish. Every summer I spot another juvenile critter I have never 

seen before. After two days of this weather forecasting becomes as trustworthy 

as a crystal ball. 

There are the storms of course, but an undying optimist would say even they 

wipe the slate clean and let nature erupt with renewed vigor. 


What I love most about the 

cyclone season though are the 

intermittent halcyon days and on 

such dreamy days we like to steer 

a course until the land is a distant 

memory. Then, just when it feels 

far enough we cut the engine and 

drift. I am content to be here in the 

moment – nothing else. 

For freedivers this is, incidentally, 

the state of mind that makes our 

special brand of pre-dive relaxation 

easy. De-clutter your surroundings 

and the mind seems to follow. The 

need to breath becomes insignificant. 

I like to drop the safety line just 

about to the edge of visibility, around 

30-40 metres, even if I do not intend 

to dive that deep, but just because I 

can. 

…Seemingly out of nowhere 

and for no reason I can 

discern, a few sleek shapes 

glide under the boat… as 

if the boat had a magnetic 

quality to it… 

Sea gift 

And on these special days, when you 

really don’t need anything more, the 

sea may offer a special gift. 

Seemingly out of nowhere and for 

no reason I can discern, a few sleek 

shapes glide under the boat. And as 

if the boat had a magnetic quality to 

it, more and more of these gleaming, 

coppery creatures appear. Silky 

sharks (Carcharhinus falsiformis), the 

most aptly named shark I have ever 

seen. 

They are supposedly the most 

prolific pelagic shark in the tropics 

before the oceanic white tip and blue 

shark. Though no shark can rightly 

be called prolific these days with 

populations down to less than 10% 

of what they were 50 years ago. Ever 

more reason to appreciate encounters 

like these. 

Sniffing you out 

Silky sharks reputedly have a highly 

developed sense of hearing, and 

one of my more cynical theories 

why they appeared around our boat 


Nexus in calm lagoon sunset 

within minutes of stopping in the 

middle of nowhere, is that the engine 

noise signature of our low revving 

diesel is similar to those of the long 

liners that frequent the Koro Sea. 

The sharks might follow us in the 

hope of snatching bait or a tuna off 

a hook. This definitely does happen, 

because a few of the sharks we see 

have long line hooks in their mouths 

and steel traces trailing behind 

them. The ones that got away… 

…a few of the sharks we see 

have long line hooks in their 

mouths and steel traces 

trailing behind them. The 

ones that got away… 

In my New Zealand shark watching 

days I used to wait hours and spend 

a small fortune on bait before I would 

see a blue or a mako. Here this is too 

easy. I almost have to pinch myself. 

When you slip into the water with 

these open ocean dwellers there is 

a ritual, a curious sniffing out goes 

on. The sharks are not shy; they 

genuinely interact with us, bumping 

us gently to check us out. This phase 

doesn’t last long and you might 

think after they have satisfied their 

curiosity they would leave. They 

don’t. They keep cruising around 

us sedately and at a slightly more 

respectful distance for hours. We 

commence our relaxation breath-up 

on the down-line to prepare for a 

dive. 

Their interest gets peaked again 

when one of us dives straight 

down. They follow us down the line 

and circle us at the turn-around 

(the tennis ball before the bottom 

weight), then scatter. As freedivers 

we turn inside ourselves during a 

dive and I like to believe this attitude 

is something the sharks’ sense and 

regard as non-threatening. 

Or is it is more the absence of any 

attitude that makes them behave like 

this? I have observed the same with 

other sea creatures when you keep 

your eyes closed falling down the 

line, to open them for the turn just 

to see a big old turtle staring at you 

in apparent wonder. It only seems to 

apply when we dive on the line with 

proper relaxation technique. If you 

swim down after them you get to see 

mostly shark tail. 


…A curious sniffing out goes on. The sharks are not 

shy; they genuinely interact with us, bumping us 

gently to check us out… 

Chance? 

What I love so much about these 

encounters is that they seem to be 

simply by chance, but the animals 

choose to stay with us. Very different 

from a shark feed or a whale watch 

encounter. A wild animal, unhabituated, 

not running away from you 

and letting you be amongst them for 

hours … I don’t know about you, but 

it gives me a feeling of euphoria and 

happiness. 

I never tire of it and it’s usually the 

breeze announcing one of those 

classic, dark, cyclone season squalls 

that can turn serenity in an instant 

into wet mayhem that ends it. Or 

sometimes it’s the cold. Three hours 

…What I love about these encounters is they seem to 

be simply by chance, but the animals choose to stay 

with us. Very different from a shark feed or a whale 

watch encounter… 


in 30 degrees of water 

does that, even in a 

3mm steamer. I’ve 

definitely been in 

the tropics too long. 

Pilot whales, 

Spinner Dolphins, 

Minki Whales… 

Silky Sharks are not 

the only transients 

in this vast habitat. 

Sometimes the blue 

desert comes to life with a pod 

of pilot whales accompanied by 

spinner dolphins, or a boil up of 

bait fish and skip jack. On rarer 

occasions, Minki whales. 

Much as I love these encounters, 

they are comparatively fleeting 

and involve a good deal of stealthy 

approach if you want to see the 

animals underwater. In my experience 

our love for cetaceans is not 

really reciprocated much. Which is 

why I love the Silky days. 

Info tips 

The Silky Shark encounters take 

place frequently in the Koro Sea 

between Koro island, Namena 

marine reserve and Vanua Levu 

from the beginning of December to 

the end of March. 

Liquidstate Freediving www. 

liqudstatefreediving.com is the 

only operator that facilitates these 

encounters out of the small town of 

Savusavu on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s big 

Northern Island. Savusavu is well 

connected by local carriers from 

Nadi international. 

Liquidstate prefer to take certified 

(PADI freediver/ AIDA1/ SSI1 or 

similar) freedivers. They also offer 

freediving courses from beginner to 

advanced, year round. 

Excursions take the whole day and 

are weather dependent. For those 

interested check with Liquidstate 

freediving by email in advance, or 

keep an eye on their Facebook page 

for recent encounters. 


David Doubilet and Jennifer 

Hayes headline Underwater 

Tour in Australia 

stellar international line-up 

A of underwater photographers 

headline this year’s nationwide 

Underwater Tour speaker event 

being held in Australia’s five 

biggest cities in May. 

David Doubilet, Jennifer Hayes 

and William Tan will share their 

extraordinary images and stories 

of discovery. (A sample of their 

images are on these pages) 

Doubilet and Hayes are National 

Geographic legends, and amongst 

the world’s most recognisable and 

inspirational ambassadors of the 

oceans. They have logged 26,000 

and 11,000 hours 

beneath the surface 

respectively. 

Doubilet’s 75 plus 

feature publications 

with National 

Geographic document 

the diversity of marine 

environments - from 

equatorial coral 

reefs to life beneath 

the polar ice. He is 

feature presenter of 

National Geographic 

Live, a columnist, 

contributing editor 

and author of 12 

books, and recipient 

of international 

awards including 

The Academy of 

Achievement Award, 

The Explorers Club 

Lowell Thomas Award, 

and The Lennart 

Nilsson Award in 

Scientific Photography. 

Hayes’ photography and 

journalism is underpinned by her 

marine science background and 

focus on science communication 

and conservation of endangered 

species. Her current work includes 

documenting UNESCO World 

Heritage Site coral reef ecosystems 

Sharpear Enope squid larva 

David Doubilet on assignment 

at risk of climate change, exploring 

the science and solutions to restore 

North American sturgeon populations 

and documenting harp seals 

as their birth ice disintegrates 

beneath them. She is the recipient 

of the Presidents Medal for natural 

history, a trustee of the Shark 

Research Institute and Explorer 

Club National Fellow. 

Photo: William Tan 


Doubilet on assignment 

Moulting crab larva 

William Tan is the Master of 'blackro'. He captures 

images of such things as the phototaxic movement of 

plankton, and bizarre marine critters in their nightly 

vertical migration from the deep. He is also a violinist 

with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. 

Underwater Tour 2019 event dates: 

• Brisbane 9 May 

• Sydney 11 May 

• Melbourne 12 May 

• Adelaide 13 May NEW 

• Perth 14 May 

Tickets are from $75. 

Go to www.underwatertour.com.au 

Immortal jellyfish 




Munda: Jewel in the 

Solomons crown 

Part 3 of Dave Abbott’s journey 

Story and images by Dave Abbott 

Munda in the Western 

Province of the 

Solomon Islands is 

a wild and largely 

untouched destination 

for divers, with pristine 

reefs, deep walls, and 

high biodiversity... 


Clear water and healthy hard corals 

The small village of Munda 

lies on the edge of beautiful 

Roviana lagoon, a huge body of 

water dotted with small islands 

that offer a wealth of spectacular 

diving. 

I arrived into Munda for the last 

leg of my Solomons trip by boat, 

and after settling into the very 

comfortable Agnes Gateway hotel, 

caught up with Belinda Botha 

at Dive Munda to talk about the 

coming week’s diving. 

Currently Dive Munda employ 

12 local dive guides, all of whom 

they have trained from scratch… 

including the first two local female 

dive instructors in the history of 

the Solomon Islands. Managing 

the dive operation when Belinda 

is away are South African couple 

…Beautifully patterned clams, cheeky anemone fish and 

Blue spotted rays shelter in the sandy guts under the coral 

heads. Turtles frequently glide overhead… 

Dive Munda's 

friendly crew 

Dive Munda has won numerous 

awards for dive tourism and 

is highly regarded around the 

world. No surprise when you 

meet Belinda, who has a passion 

and enthusiasm for diving that is 

inspiring! Not only is she regularly 

exploring and adding new dive 

sites and products, she is also 

committed to helping the local 

community develop and grow in 

a sustainable way by training and 

employing local people, encouraging 

local eco-tourism ventures, 

sponsoring annual fish counts 

and promoting sustainable fishing 

practices. 


Solomon Airlines begin direct weekly flights from Brisbane to Munda starting April 2018 

Magical Munda 

-Dive the unexplored 

www.divemunda.com 

Dive Munda is a multi award winning SSI Instructor Training 

Centre in the Western province of Solomon Islands committed 

to sustainable dive eco-tourism. Scuba dive unexplored reefs, 

WWII history, Kastom culture, hard and soft coral, cuts and 

caverns along with pelagic life and shark action, all in one of the 

last wild frontiers left on planet ocean. 

Experience Magical Munda 

at Agnes Gateway Hotel 

Award winning service and 

pristine diving 

SSI Instructor Training Centre 

WWII wrecks, caves and reefs 

– untouched and unspoilt 

Winner 

40 Dive New Zealand | Dive Pacific 

divemunda@dive-solomon.com 

Find us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

A burly cocoanut crab roams the forest floor 

Chevone and Jos, who have a 

friendly yet professional style that 

will appeal to Kiwi divers. 

NB Dive Munda is also part of 

Solomon Islands Dive Expeditions 

(SIDE) and offers fantastic liveaboard 

expeditions on board 

MV Taka in one of the last wild 

frontiers of the South Pacific. 

…A minute later a large croc surfaced, his head pointed 

toward our hiding place on shore! Saltwater crocodiles are 

far more of a risk than sharks in the Solomons though you 

are unlikely to see one while diving… 

truly stunning with its layers of 

huge fans, and dappled sunlight 

casting surreal shadows on the 

reef wall. 

Munda’s diving 

My overriding impression of the 

diving around Munda was of 

breathtaking colour, crystal clear 

water, and incredible diversity. 

Sea fans are synonymous with the 

Solomons, and on almost every 

wall dive you will see layer upon 

layer of huge colourful fans interspersed 

with red whip corals and 

massive barrel sponges. A vast 

array of intricately patterned reef 

fish populate this 3-dimensional 

world, while schools of Barracuda, 

Batfish and Bumphead wrasse 

cruise the clear waters above the 

reef. 

30+ dive sites 

Dive Munda has identified 30+ dive 

sites spanning a diverse range of 

habitats and terrain. Some truly 

spectacular dives to enjoy out 

of Munda include Bilikiki, Shark 

Point, Langarana, and ‘Cave of the 

Kastom Shark’ to name a few, but 

my favourite was Bella Bella – 

As well as beautiful soft corals, the 

reefs around Munda have exceptionally 

healthy hard corals, great 

to see when so many reefs through 

the Pacific are suffering from coralbleaching. 

Beautifully patterned 

clams, cheeky anemone fish and 

Blue spotted rays shelter in the 

sandy guts under the coral heads. 

Turtles frequently glide overhead. 

There are some awesome wrecks 

dives around Munda too, and I 

enjoyed diving two of the WWII 

planes nearby; the Airacobra, an 

American P-39 fighter lying on 

The beautiful patterned mantle of a giant clam 


A small blue-spotted ray not 

quite blending in! 

the sand at around 27m, and the 

Douglas SBD-4 Dauntless dive 

bomber in Rendova Harbour, both 

covered in colourful encrusting life 

and home to interesting fish and 

invertebrate life. 

Tetepare 

After a few days diving some of 

Munda’s best sites, we headed 

out for a special overnight trip to 

remote and uninhabited Tetapare 

Island three hours by boat. 

Thanks to local legends of evil 

spirits, Tetepare has not been 

inhabited for over 200 years. It 

is one of the last undisturbed 

lowland rainforests in the 

Western Province and home to 

several endemic species of bird, 

bats and fish, as well as being a 

Marine Protected Area with some 

awesome diving! 

After a couple of spectacular wall 

dives off the end of the island we 

went ashore to set ourselves up in 

the small eco lodge and meet the 

local rangers. This is an authentic 

eco lodge with no power and only 

basic amenities, compensated for 

by the friendly caretakers and 

fantastic local food. 

After our dives one of the rangers 

took us further up the island by 

boat to Crocodile lake, small and 

picturesque, with a mirror-like 

green surface that looked empty 

until the ranger gave a bark like 

a dog (a croc’s favourite food)! A 

minute later a large croc surfaced, 

his head pointed toward our hiding 

place on shore! Saltwater crocodiles 

are far more of a risk than 

sharks in the Solomons though 

you are unlikely to see one while 

diving. 

Turtle tagging 

Later that night we went out 

looking for the massive Coconut 

crabs found here, and the following 

Releasing a turtle back into the water after measuring and tagging 


Splashes of colour adorn this Airocobra sitting at 28M 

The Airacobra sits on the sand at 28M 


Saltwater crocodile - more dangerous than any shark! 

morning accompanied 

the rangers on a 

turtle-tagging mission 

in the lagoon. It was 

fascinating to see 

their ‘rodeo-style’ 

capture technique... 

diving off the bow to 

grab the turtle and 

wrestle it up onto the 

boat! The captured 

turtles (Green’s) were 

then taken back to 

the beach, measured, 

weighed, tagged and released. 

Since the program began rangers 

have tagged over1500 turtles 

around Tetepare. 

Nusa Kunda 

My final experience with Dive 

Munda was a trip across to 

Nusa Kunda or ‘Skull Island’ on 

Vonavona Lagoon. This tiny island 

definitely emanates an eerie 

atmosphere being the resting place 

for the skulls of Rendovan chiefs 

and their vanquished enemies. 

Dating from the 1920’s when the 

practice of head-hunting was 

coming to an end, the skulls rest in 

wooden alcoves on top of a waisthigh 

burial mound, a reminder of 

the Solomons fascinating history. 

I was sorry to leave Munda. I had 

experienced some spectacular 

diving, made lasting friendships, 

had a taste of the Solomons rich 

and vibrant culture, and been 

entranced by its beautiful scenery. 

I am going to miss Munda’s 

spectacular golden sunsets, 

friendly locals, delicious local food 

and amazing marine life, but it 

definitely wont be my last visit. 

If you haven’t been already, make 

sure not to miss the beautiful, wild 

and exciting dive destination that is 

the Solomon Islands. 

Spectacular sea fans 


Solomon Is. Diving 

TAKE THE PLUNGE 

visitsolomons.com.sb 


SOUNDINGS 


Grave concerns held over Rennell 

Island environmental disaster 

Tourism Solomons CEO, 

Josefa ‘Jo’ Tuamoto 

expressed grave concern 

for the impact from the oil 

spillage that flowed from a 

grounded bulk carrier, the Hong 

Kong flagged Solomon Trader, on 

pristine Rennell Island. 

Rennell Island is nearly 250km 

from the nearest main dive 

location – the Florida and 

Russell Islands. Other main 

dive sites on Guadalcanal 

and in Munda and Gizo in the 

Western Province are similarly 

unaffected. 

At least 75 tonnes of oil spillage 

took place in February. Rennell 

Island was inscribed on the 

World Heritage List in 1998 

and is the largest raised coral 

atoll in the world. Home to 

1200 people, the oil leak 

poses a major threat to the 

island which is located in 

the southernmost tip of 

the 992- island archipelago 

and home to many unique 

marine species. 

“We are beyond grateful 

at the quick action of our 

Australian and New Zealand 

friends to try and minimise 

what has the potential to 

become a major ecological 

disaster,” Mr Tuamoto said. 

“With tourism, and particularly 

dive tourism growing in 

importance as a key economical 

driver for the Solomon 

Islands, this situation 

obviously holds great concern 

for us. International divers 

make up a large percentage 

of the 28,000 international 

visitors we host every year. 

“The best thing our international 

visitors can do to help the people 

of Rennell Island, and by extension 

the people of the Solomon 

Islands who are so dependent on 

tourism, is to keep their travel 

plans on track. 

Meanwhile the operation to 

salvage the Solomon Trader was 

boosted by UK and US oil spill 

containment specialists who 

joined a team of Australian 

and New Zealand experts. 

Containment booms were put 

in place and actions taken to 

extract the remaining oil on 

board the ship. 


The Criminal Appeals Court 

of the Second Judicial 

Circuit of San José has ruled in 

favour of Captain Paul Watson, 

founder of the Sea Shepherd 

Conservation Society, and 

dropped all charges against 

him, bringing an end to a 

17 year legal dispute and 13 

year-old international arrest 

warrant. 

The legal dispute began on April 

20, 2002, when the vessel Ocean 

Warrior, under the command of 

Captain Watson, was heading to 

Costa Rica at the invitation of 

their government. Sea Shepherd 

had been invited to sign a 

collaboration agreement for 

the protection of the world-renowned 

marine sanctuary, 

Cocos Island. 

The year prior, Sea Shepherd 

provided the Cocos Island 

National Park Rangers with 

equipment and a ship to arrest 

and confiscate an Ecuadorianflagged 

vessel, the San Jose, for 

illegally fishing in the protected 

area of the island. 

In 2002, the Ocean Warrior ran 

into the Costa Rican vessel 

Varadero 1, whose crew, they 

discovered, were illegally 

finning sharks in Guatemalan 

territorial waters. After the 

Varadero 1 ignored several 

requests to cease the practice, 

Captain Watson received authorization 

from the Guatemalan 

naval authorities to escort the 

vessel to the nearest port for 

arrest. 

The crew of the Varadero 1 then 

filed several baseless accusations 

against Captain Watson 

which created the legal battle 

earning great notoriety and 

world attention, and generating 

a series of criticisms 

against Costa Rica for the legal 

action taken against one of the 

most world’s most respected 

environmental activists. The 

entire incident was featured 

in the film Sharkwater by late 

Canadian director Rob Stewart. 

Captain Watson released the 

following statement praising 

the work of his team, his 

attorney and the government 

and people of Costa Rica: 

“Thanks to the determination and 

insistence of our legal defense 

team, this difficulty is now in the 

past. I want to thank the people 

of Costa Rica for their solidarity, 

the equanimity of their current 

government, and especially the 

understanding and support of the 

Minister of the Environment, Carlos 

Manuel Rodríguez Echandi. Now it 

is time to look ahead and resume 

the conservation efforts that our 

organization and thousands of 

people make every day around the 

world to defend the 

environment. 

During all of these 

years, my sincere 

desire has always 

been to protect, 

together with 

Costa Rican people, 

the beautiful 

natural sanctuary 

that is the Isla 

del Coco, and 

other endangered 

areas linked to the 

Marine Corridor 

of the Eastern 

Tropical Pacific like 

the Golfo Dulce 

SOUNDINGS 


Costa Rica drops all charges against Sea 

Shepherd Captain Paul Watson 

Closure after 17 years of legal dispute 

Varadero I 

and the Osa Peninsula. I hope that, 

now, with this dismissal of these 

charges against me, we can make it 

a reality.” 

This case had earlier resulted 

in the arrest of Captain Paul 

Watson in Germany in May 

of 2012 due to a Costa Rican 

extradition request to Germany. 

Upon Watson’s arrest, Japan 

also put in an extradition 

request. Germany made the 

decision to extradite Captain 

Watson to Japan. Captain 

Watson escaped from Germany 

and went to Antarctica to 

oppose the Japanese whalers for 

a final year. 

A month after the escape, 

Germany requested Interpol 

to put a Red List notice on 

Watson for both Costa Rica 

and Japan. The whole ordeal 

caused worldwide outrage and 

further strengthened support 

for Sea Shepherd’s anti-whaling 

campaigns in Antarctica. 

Sea Shepherd’s interventions 

against the Japanese whaling 

fleet were featured in the 

Emmy award-winning TV series 

“Whale Wars”. 

Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd 

Conservation Society (SSCS) is an 

international non-profit, marine 

wildlife conservation organization 

whose mission is to end 

the destruction of habitat and 

slaughter of wildlife in the world’s 

oceans to protect ecosystems and 

species. 

Visit www.seashepherd.org 

Images Credit: Sea Shepherd 


SOUNDINGS 


Wakatobi adds to boat fleet 

Guests of Wakatobi Resort 

can now experience the 

ultimate in personalized diving 

and snorkeling aboard a new 

70-foot boat custom-built boat 

for private charters and excursions. 

Wakatobi VII is the latest 

addition to the resort's fleet of 

custom-built dive launches. 

The Wakatobi VII follows the 

style of traditional Indonesian 

boat designs and built locally 

to Wakatobi's specifications. 

Rather than the full-length 

bench seating found on the 

resort's other boats, the 

spacious covered deck of the 

new boat is configured for 

the comfort of a small group, 

with a dining area, forward 

sun lounges, kitchen station 

and a changing room with full 

bathroom and shower. 

A special feature is an upper 

deck, which can be used 

for sightseeing, sunning or 

enjoying dinner under the stars. 

The centre portion of the boat 

is devoted to dive support, with 

gear stations, a rinse tank and 

side doors that allow for easy 

water entries and exits. 

Guests of the resort can 

charter Wakatobi VII for full 

day excursions that include 

meals and crew, an option that 

allows divers and snorkelers 

to visit their sites of choice 

and stay out as long as they 

wish, whether lingering at sites 

furthest from the resort–such 

as Blade–or staying on nearby 

favorites such as Lorenzo’s 

Delight, Dunia Baru, Magnifica or 

Roma. Charters can also include 

a dusk or night dive. 

The private boat option is 

ideal for couples, families 

and photographers wanting 

to follow a specific imaging 

agenda. 

The Wakatobi VII currently 

charters for USD $495, and daily 

use of a private boat is included 

in the Ultimate 2-plus pool villa 

package. 

Wakatobi Resort 

goes solar 

In another development 

Wakatobi Resort is to tie into a 

solar power network to supply 

a substantial portion of the 

property's electrical power 

needs. 

Wakatobi's efforts to bring solar 

power to the region date back 

more than a dozen years. At 

that time, resort founder Lorenz 

Mäder convinced the Indonesian 

government to establish the 

region's first solar power plant 

on the adjacent island of Tomia 

(where the resort’s private 

airstrip is situated). 

This 75-kilowatt photovoltaic 

installation though small, 

was a start. Some years later 

a second solar installation 

was added at Lamanggau 

on Onemobaa, the island on 

which Wakatobi Resort resides. 

Lorenz sponsored the flights 

that brought engineers from 

the American foundation 

that evaluated, financed and 

installed the facility. 

Thanks in part to Lorenz's 

ongoing work on bringing solar 

power to the Wakatobi region, 

Tomia is currently the only 

island in Eastern Indonesia 

entirely powered by solar 

power on a sunny day, with 

photovoltaic plants that collectively 

produce a megawatt of 

electricity, about a third of the 

island's total 24-hours power 

requirements. 

Wakatobi VII 

This month Wakatobi 

Resort expects 

to connect to 

these solar power 

stations allowing 

it to take advantage 

of clean solar 

energy during the 

day while drawing 

power from a central 

generation facility 

during the night, 

and maintaining the 

ability to operate 

autonomously at full 

power should the 

grid experience a 

temporary blackout. 

For more visit 

www.wakatobi.com 

or Wakatobi Flow 

Follow Wakatobi 

on Facebook and 

Instagram. 


An experience 

without equal 

“The diving and snorkelling at Wakatobi is outstanding, that’s well known. But 

also important is the excellent customer service of every staff member. Wakatobi 

can teach customer service to any industry or organization. You feel at home the 

first day, and it just gets better every day after that.” 

~Steve and Cindy Moore 

www.wakatobi.com 


Z-330 

D-2000 

S-2000 

seatech.co.nz 

Distributed by 

Sea Tech Ltd 

09 521 0684 



Available from your professional 

dive store. Trade enquiries welcome 

i-Torch Black Star BS30 LED Video Light 

The Black Star BS30 MonoLED I-Torch video diving light is a powerful 3000 lumen 

multi-purpose light with its white light and exceptional 110° beam underwater. 

It is also equipped with a red light function, a UV light and blue for diving 

fluorescence. 

Very compact, it accompanies the diver traveling without weighing down the 

luggage with its 350grams! 

RRP $399.50 

• CRI (Colour rendering index): 90 

• 50 minutes at maximum power (8 hours in flash mode) 

• Depth: 100 metres 

• 2 x rechargeable 18650 Li-ion batteries 

• Modes: 3 modes in white light photo video 

(100%, 50% / 25%), 2 modes in red light 

(100% and 40%), 1 mode UV-blue, 1 mode S.O.S 

• Remote control possible by remote control and fibre optic link 

• YS fitting 

Fantasea Radiant 2500 Light – 6045 

Featuring an ergonomic design and durable construction, the Radiant 2500 

Video Light can be comfortably integrated into any underwater photo system, 

such as with action cams, amphibious cameras, compact digital housings and 

more. It uses 6 powerful LEDs, which provide an ultra bright, even and wide 

output. Featuring a wide beam angle of 120° as well as 3-level adjustable power 

output – control the intensity of the light for various compositions and diving 

conditions, as well as extending the burn time of the light. 

• Colour temperature: 5,300~5,600K 

RRP $385.00 

• Burn time: 50* minutes at 100% power 


• 2 x rechargeable 18650 Li-ion batteries 

• Modes: 100% / 50% / 25% power / flashing 

• Included in package: Instruction manual, hand 

lanyard, Y-S connector, 4x 18650 batteries, dual 

battery charger, 2x replacement O-rings, silicone 

grease and rubber sleeve 

Bigblue VTL3500P Dual Beam LED Video & Tech Light 

The VTL3500P offers BOTH a flood beam at 120° AND a narrow beam at 10°! 

The light is controlled by a reliable push-button on/off switching system with 4 

levels of brightness for the wide beam, 1 level for the narrow beam, and 1 for the 

red beam. The light comes with a sturdy Goodman-style glove for hands-free 

operation! 

• Colour Temperature: 6500K 

• Burn Time: 1.5 hrs (Level IV), 3 hrs (Level III), 6 hrs (Level II), 15 hrs (Level I) 

• Modes: 350 Lm (Level I), 875 Lm (Level II), 1750 Lm (Level III), 3500 Lm (Level IV) 

• Video Filters: Removable Yellow Filter 

• 1x rechargeable 32650 Li-ion battery 


RRP $689.50 

To find these products visit www.seatech.co.nz/collections/as-seen-in-dive-pacific-magazine 

Prices current untill 31st June 2019 

Trade enquiries welcome. Ph:09 521 0684 

Email: info@seatech.co.nz 


All products 

come with full 

manufacturer’s 

warranties & New 

Zealand back-up 

service 


Hand held shark deterrent a first 

GEARBAG 

The Ocean Guardian eSPEAR is 

claiming to be the world’s first 

handheld electrical shark deterrent 

designed for diving, snorkelling, 

spearfishing and similar activities. 

The lightweight, easy to carry device 

is said to be backed by 20 years of 

research. It features a trigger activated 

extendable baton with which the user 

is able to create an electrical field up 

to a metre wide and 2.5 metres long. 

The eSPEAR was launched recently 

via an Indiegogo crowdfunding 

campaign to help raise funds to 

expedite the eSpear’s 

development while 

helping remove 

inhumane shark nets 

and drumlines. 

Amanda Elizabeth, a 

shark scientist said “the 

reason this excites me 

is the fact that their 

devices do not harm 

the sharks or other 

marine life.” 

The eSPEAR comes in five colours at 

a recommended retail price $AU299. 

Pulse 8X metal detector top tool for 

32 years 

From missing handguns tossed into a lake or stream to searching 

a 19th century wreck the tool widely used by law enforcement, 

public safety dive teams, treasure hunters, commercial divers, and 

hobbyists is JW Fishers Pulse 8X underwater metal detector. 

The Pulse 8X has been used by professional divers for the past 32 

years. The unit comes equipped with a land handle and telescopic 

extension, an underwater handle, two chargers (AC/DC), a land 

headset, an underwater “bone” phone, and a diver’s belt to hipmount 

the unit if desired. 

Low cost underwater video mini cam Protectors selected 

for top sailing world events 

The second generation of the popular 

MC-1 mini camera system is now 

available from JW Fisher with filament 

bulbs replaced with 1500 lumen LED’s. 

The mini cam can easily be mounted 

to a diver's helmet or lowered into 

a pipe for internal inspections or 

lowered on a pole to perform shallow 

water inspections from the surface. 

The camera produces sharp video 

sent topside for viewing on a video 

monitor or digital recording. 


BACK IN THE DAY 

Some of the following comments by Wade Doak could describe some of New Zealand’s stores today, 56 years later! 

DIVE Underwater Magazine June 1973 Vol 12. No 3 

Box net not satisfactory fishing method 

by Wade Doak, Editor 

NZ Herald Staff Reporter, 

A Hamilton, wrote: 

"Alarmed at the growing concern 

over the placing of the joint 

venture box net by Japan- New 

Zealand Development Ltd (JND 

Ltd), the Mercury Club asked 

permission of the Department 

of Agriculture and Fisheries to 

employ a professional diver…and 

the services of Mr Wade Doak 

were obtained." 

(Wade Doak’s abbreviated report 

follows) 

For me the Whitianga box net 

survey was a very unpleasant job, 

the most horrible dive of my life. 

After years of photography and 

studying fish behaviour I had to 

swim over large expanses of dead 

fishes like an undersea Belsen 

horror camp. I saw trevally with 

their scalps laid back in a big 

fleshy flap, penguins lying on the 

bottom amidst a shambles of fish 

bodies, a great 30 pound snapper, 

rotting bodies of once magnificent 

kahawai and mackerel, kingfish 

being devoured by armies of 

hermit crabs. 

The throat of the (teiche or box) 

net consists of four inch mesh and 

continues along the box for some 

distance before reducing to a final 

three inch mesh section where 

the actual catches are made. This 

final section is the part which is 

raised. The four inch mesh section 

forms twin walls 80 feet in height 

and is not raised. Here the mesh 

is not knotted and can expand to 

mesh fish larger than intended, 

a serious fault in the net design. 

(At one stage I myself became 

enmeshed in billows of net. I felt 

empathy for the fish.) 

After five consecutive days of 

observations at Sandy Bay, the 

situation was as follows: prior 

to my arrival, the newly placed 

teiche net had had very large 

catches of kingfish, snapper, 

trevally and English mackerel 

(but) dead fish are not acceptable 

to the fishing company, it appears 

(and) more than four tons of 

unwanted fish were dumped from 

the net and settled on the sea bed 

surrounding it. 

My wife, Jan, describes her first 

look at the Whitianga box net: 

18th December: "I snorkelled to the 

section of the net where the nine inch 

mesh meets the small. Then I saw 

my first hammerhead. I swam the 

whole distance (1100 yards) of the 

fence part and saw six hammerheads 

and two bronze whalers. All this was 

in the top 20 feet as I was snorkelling 

and visibility was only about 20 feet. 

One of the hammerheads was still 

alive and kicking. 

I made my second dive with Peter 

Spurdle. We descended to 80 feet. 

After doing two transects I swam 

about 30 yards from the corner both 

ways and counted 59 kingies, 23 

trevally and 29 other species meshed 

in the net. Nearby Wade counted 142 

dead fish in a 20 foot radius circle." 

***************** 

A third aspect of the box net fish 

mortality is the large 9" mesh, 

standing sections. This part of 

the box net catches many species 

of sharks and large kingfish and 

large snapper. A 100 foot length 

contained 12 hammerheads, five 

bronze whalers, one mako, 1 

school shark and a 30 lb snapper. 

This part of the net is never raised 

and is hard to monitor. On an 

earlier dive Dr Roger Grace found 

a dead common dolphin in the 

net. 

The best indicator of the fish 

mortality of the teiche net is the 

stench in the vicinity. Entering the 

water there is most unpleasant as 

there is a layer of rotten fish oil 

on the surface and the water itself 

reeks of decaying fish. 

ln defending the wastage of fish 

at the box net, analogy with 

commercial trawling is often 

made. This is a red herring 

argument. Trawl nets may have 

a high percentage of wastage, 

around 50%, a serious criticism 

of this fishing method. However, 

no trawl net works in the same 

place 365 days of the year. Nor 

does it deposit its fish wastes in 

the same area of sea bed causing a 

vile stench and fouling the marine 

environment. 

For me the only happy moment 

spent around the teiche net was 

watching, early one morning, 

three flying fish soar over the 

water within the box net confines, 

skim the surface, then rise and 

just manage to clear the mesh and 

gain their freedom. 

Today consciousness is shifting. 

Man has entered the sea, 

and looked at the Earth from 

the moon. I foresee the time 

approaching when certain fishes 

will be protected, because of their 

beauty and low reproduction 

capabilities. When we take fish 

from the sea for food this will 

have to be species whose biology 

we fully understand, just as we do 

that of cows and sheep. Otherwise 

we will upset the equilibrium 

and destroy the life of the oceans 

without which life for us on dry 

land will no longer be possible. 

JND Company were eventually 

fined $50 for wastage of food 

fishes. 


SPECIESFOCUS 

John Dory 

~Zeus faber 

By Paul Caiger 

There is no mistaking the cosmopolitan 

John Dory. This striking 

looking fish goes by many other 

names, among them St. Peter’s 

fish. The alternative name comes 

from the legend that St. Peter 

picked this fish up in the Sea of 

Galilee but instead of keeping it, 

returned it to the sea with the 

black mark on the side of the fish 

said to be his thumbprint. The 

name John Dory itself is possibly 

derived from the French ‘jaune 

doré’, or golden yellow. 

In New Zealand this fish has a 

storied history too. It has been 

treasured in Maori for centuries 

as a food source whereby it is 

known as kuparu. When Captain 

Cook first reached these shores, 

Maori gave some to him. Accounts 

have it that several casks of them 

were pickled for the long journeys 

ahead. 

Despite the unusual appearance 

of the John Dory it’s morphology 

is highly functional. The aforementioned 

“thumbprint” serves 

as a false eye-spot, ro confuse 

would be predators. Furthermore, 

the extremely compressed body 

combined with its long fin spines 

and membranes, golden colour 

and behaviour, help the fish blend 

in with its surroundings. When 

oriented head-on, the fish is 

paper-thin and hard to spot, and it 

can even mimic the kelp it drifts 

amongst. 

These factors aid in predator avoidance 

while also helping it sneak up 

on prey. Slowly approaching prey 

head-on, the John Dory possesses a 

highly protractible jaw, and utilizes 

a prime example of what is known 

as suction feeding. The swift 

expansion of its mouth creates a 

rapid pressure difference, resulting 

in water and any prey within range 

being literally sucked into the 

mouth. 

The species is targeted by commercial 

fisheries around the world, 

and in New Zealand mostly in the 

North Island. They are targeted 

chiefly by undesirable bottom 

trawling methods but also caught 

as bycatch in seine nets. There 

is also a recreational interest in 

John Dory for both line and spear 

fishing. Notable to fishermen is 

the loud barking vocalisations 

John Dory produce when caught. 

Underwater, this is thought to be 

used as a territorial display against 

other fishes. 

~Zeus faber 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Often called St. Peter’s fish with a reference to 

the “thumbprint”. 

Found in New Zealand but also temperate to 

subtropical coastal waters around the world. 

Known as kuparu in Maori. 

Camouflages itself by facing head-on to appear 

very slim, and even mimic kelp. 

5 

6 

7 

8 

False eye-spot used as a defense mechanism to 

confuse predators. 

Predated upon by seals, sharks and other large 

fishes.. 

A prime example of suction feeding in a fish. 

Barks loudly when disturbed or caught. 


INCIDENTINSIGHTS WITH THE DIVERS ALERT NETWORK (DANAP] 

By DAN World 

Decompression sickness? 

Stroke? 

A diving holiday to the 

Philippines turns into a 

life-threatening health scare 

as a diver experiences severe 

dizziness and vomiting an 

hour after his dive. 

apparent issues. However, one 

hour later, while resting in his bed 

at the hotel, he started to feel as 

though the room was spinning. 

This was followed by an episode 

of vomiting. A few minutes later 

He underwent a US Navy Table 

6 Treatment. After this treatment 

the diver could stand but 

staggered when trying to walk, 

falling to one side, and he was 

still dizzy. 

…On surfacing the diver had no apparent issues. However, 

one hour later he started to feel as though the room was 

spinning… followed by an episode of vomiting… 

The diver: A 60-year-old male in 

good general health. 

The Diver’s experience: 

Advanced Open Water Certified. 

The trip: Liveaboard diving 

holiday to Coron, Philippines. 

The trip: Dive holiday in Anilao, 

Philippines. 

The dives: On the day of the 

incident the diver had completed 

three dives on air. He went 

into deco on his final dive so 

performed a 6 minutes deco 

stop at 3 metres. Along with his 

divemaster, he descended to 5 

metres to complete a 15 minutes 

safety stop. 

The dive profiles: 

Day 1: 

• Max depth - 15m; Total Dive 

Time (TDT) - 40 minutes 

Day 2: 

• Dive 1: 25.3m for 59 minutes. 

Surface Interval of 1 hour. 

• Dive 2: 19.7m for 1 hour and 11 

minutes. Surface interval of 

1hour 15 minutes. 

• Dive 3: 17.4m for 1 hour and 11 

minutes. 

ONSET OF SYMPTOMS 

On surfacing the diver had no 

he also developed a tingling 

sensation in both of his hands. 

He informed the dive resort of his 

symptoms and was put on oxygen 

for 20 minutes via nasal canula 

with no relief so was taken to a 

nearby hospital by road. Requiring 

further treatment, the diver was 

transferred to another hospital 

(also by road and approximately 

90 minutes in duration) for higher 

level care including further 

evaluation and management. 

(Note: A nasal canula provides 

insufficient oxygen for managing a 

diving accident. At a flowrate of only 

1-6 litres per minute the percentage 

of oxygen inspired is quite low at 

24-44%). 

TREATMENT 

On admission to the hospital the 

diver was given oxygen. While he 

was in the emergency department 

a Cerebrovascular Accident was 

considered by the doctor, and as a 

result he was referred to a neurologist 

and a Cranial CT-scan was 

undertaken. A Cerebrovascular 

Accident was ruled out and the 

diver was managed for DCS Type 

II. It was found that while he 

could sit up on his own he could 

not stand due to severe dizziness. 

It was also found that his tongue 

was deviated to the left. 

The decision was made for the 

diver to undergo a second Table 6 

Treatment. When reassessed after 

this treatment it was found that, 

while there was improvement, he 

still had trouble with his balance. 

The diver underwent a third and 

final recompression treatment 

(Table 9). 

DIAGNOSIS 

Decompression Sickness Type II 

RECOVERY 

The diver was discharged the 

day after his final recompression 

treatment. While his balance 

had not fully recovered, he was 

in much better condition, and 

the dizziness had nearly fully 

resolved. 

The treating doctor provided 

…this diver also had the symptom of tongue deviation, 

another possible indicator that he had experienced a 

stroke… 

these recommendations: 

• No diving for 30 days or 4 weeks 

after the last chamber treatment. 

• No airline travel or driving 

through mountains or high 

altitude for a minimum of 96 

hours after the last chamber 

treatment. 

• Avoid doing strenuous activities 

• Follow-up with a Diving Medical 

Officer in two weeks. 


COSTS 

• Hospital: USD 3,441.28 

• Chamber: USD 6,100.00 

Total USD$9541.28 

Fully Covered by DAN AP 

KEEPING DIVERS SAFE 

AROUND THE WORLD 

ANALYSIS 

Brain injury can result from external trauma (blunt 

injury, falls) or from interruptions in blood flow within 

the brain. The latter of these is known as a cerebral 

vascular accident (CVA) or stroke, which is what the 

doctors first suspected when the diver presented at the 

hospital. The fact this diver also had the symptom of 

tongue deviation was another possible indicator that 

the diver had experienced a stroke, as the mechanism 

is similar with bubbles obstructing the blood flow to 

parts of the brain. However, it is likely this doctor was 

not familiar with diving medicine. 

After testing, stroke was ruled out and the diver was 

diagnosed with Type II DCS. 

Symptoms of Type II DCS are considered more serious. 

They typically fall into three categories: neurological, 

inner ear and cardiopulmonary. Neurological 

symptoms may include numbness; pins and needles 

or tingling (paraesthesia), an altered sensation, muscle 

weakness; an impaired gait, or difficulty walking; 

problems with physical coordination or bladder control; 

paralysis; or a change in mental status, such as confusion 

or lack of alertness. 

It is common for divers to be assessed by a neurologist 

before being treated for DCI to rule out CVA. 

Type II symptoms can develop at different speeds. A 

slow build up can obscure the seriousness of the situation 

by allowing denial to persist. 

Less common symptoms, such as difficulty walking, 

urinating, hearing or seeing - especially if their onset is 

quick - can prompt faster recognition and action. 

Fortunately, the diver in this case acted fast and 

requested help at the first onset of symptoms, so he 

was able to receive prompt treatment and ultimately, 

he recovered well. 

For more diving health and safety articles follow our Blog 

where we discuss topical diving health and safety issues. 

Visit: daninsider.org and follow us on Facebook by searching 

DAN Asia Pacific. 

SAFETY MATTERS 

JOIN DAN 

+ 24/7 Emergency Medical Services 

+ Emergency Medical Evacuation 

Assistance 

+ Membership & Assistance Coverage 

+ First Aid Training 

+ Online Dive Safety Resources 

Need more information? Send DAN AP an email (info@ 

danap.org) or call +61-3-9886 9166 

DANAP.ORG 


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SHADES OF COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 

Being in the right spot at the right time 

brings results 

By Dave Moran, Editor at Large 

One of the joys of underwater photography is that 

you never know what will present itself to your 

camera’s lens during the dive. 

All four winners this issue were observant enough and 

quick enough to seize the mo-ment/opportunity to 

recognize a subject that had that little extra X factor 

that elevates an average image to a winning image. 

This “opportunity to grab the moment” takes time to 

develop. 

The more time you spend underwater taking images 

the sooner this skill of recognizing a photo-graphic 

opportunity becomes second nature! 

The old saying is never more true – the more you do 

something, the better you will become at doing it. 

I encourage you to have your camera as your personal 

buddy, both on land and while diving – you will 

improve, I guarantee! 

The judges again encourage the use of post photographic 

programs such as Adobe Light-room to improve 

the final presentation of an image. 

Give it a go --- it can be fun seeing what you can do! 

The judges and the team at Dive New Zealand/Dive 

Pacific magazines look forward to receiving your 

personal masterpieces. See: www.divenewzealand. 

com click on Photo Competition. It’s free to enter. You 

can view galleries of all the entries over www.seatech. 

co.nz/blogs/shades-of-colour-photo-competition 

Thanks for taking the time to enter! 

‘Friendly loggerhead turtle’; Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia: Sony a7R III, Nauticam NA-A7RIII housing, 

Canon 8-15 mm lens with Metabones V adapter, Zen 100mm port, 2 x Sea & Sea YS-D2 strobes. 

Advanced Category Winner: 

Congratulations Simon Pierce, New 

Zealand 

Simon was diving at Julian 

Rocks in Byron Bay, Australia, in 

December 2018 when this friendly 

loggerhead turtle called by to 

say “Hi!” Simon did some basic 

cropping, colour and contrast 

edits with Lightroom. Backscatter 

removal in Photoshop. 

Simon receives a Gift Voucher for 

NZ$100. 

Judges’ comments: 

This is a stunning close-focus 

wide angle image of an inquisitive 

turtle. It seems just slightly overexposed. 

A reduction in the turtle’s 

highlights in Adobe Lightroom 

would have made it perfect. 

The background is well lit and in 

good focus, congratulations! 

58 58 Dive Dive New New Zealand Zealand | | Dive Dive Pacific Pacific

‘Protective Clownfish’; Talumben, Bali: Canon 5D MkIII, Canon macro 100mm, Ikelite housing, 

2 x Ikelite DS161 strobes – f/16, 1/200, ISO 100 

Novice Category Winner: 

Congratulations, Stephen Hopkins, 

New Zealand. 

Stephen was diving the waters of 

Talumben, Bali when he decided 

to take some time capturing the 

beautiful image of this cheeky 

clownfish whose home was within 

an unusual anemone. Finally, the 

anemone parted, and the little guy 

spun around to face the intruder 

into his domain – love it! 

Stephen receives a Gift Voucher for 

NZ$75. 


We can’t really find anything 

wrong with this image! The really 

interesting subject here is not 

only the clownfish – it's also the 

anemone! The anemone has interesting 

coloured tentacles. Excellent 

lighting. 

Advanced Highly Commended: 

Congratulations Mark Blomfield, 

New Zealand. 

Well spotted Mark! A cheeky crested 

blenny on the Canterbury Wreck in 

Northland New Zealand. 

Mark receives a Gift Voucher for 

NZ$75. 


This is a beautiful pin-sharp image. 

We would have liked to see slighter 

greater exposure on the fish and less 

on the surrounding edges… easy to 

fix in Lightroom!Having said that, 

the surrounding cavity frames the 

crested blenny nicely! 

‘Crested Blenny on Canterbury Wreck’; Northland, New Zealand: Nikon D7200 in Sea & Sea 

housing, 105mm micro lens, 2 x Sea & Sea YS-30 Duo strobes – f/32, 1/200, ISO100 

www.divenewzealand.com 59

SHADES OF COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 

Novice Highly Commended: 

Congratulations, Sarah Milicich, 

New Zealand. 

Marine reserves are just wonderful 

for photography and Taputeranga 

Marine Reserve in Princess Bay, 

Wellington did not disappoint 

Sarah for presenting subjects to 

photograph such as this impressive 

octopus. 

Sarah receives a Gift Voucher for 

NZ$50. 


This image is technically not perfect 

but catching this exciting interaction 

between an inquisitive blue cod 

and octopus makes it a high scorer. 

A little bit of post production work 

could have made it the winner! 

Note: Octopus and cod are neatly 

arranged on a diagonal, well done, 

Sarah. A great natural history image! 

The judges, Iain Anderson and Andy 

Belcher and the team at Dive Pacific 

magazines look forward to receiving 

your photographic masterpieces in 

May for the July-September issue. 

‘Confrontation’; Taputeranga Marine Reserve, Wellington: Canon SX280, 

Canon WP-DC49 housing – f/3.5, 1/60, ISO800 

Sea Tech is the official New Zealand distributor of Ikelite, Fantasea, 

Recsea, Inon, Bigblue, Nauticam and other leading brands of underwater 

photographic equipment. 

Visit: www.seatech.co.nz or for personal service email: info@seatech.co.nz 

Image by Shades of Colour contestant Dan Westerkamp 

FOR A GREAT PRICE ON HOUSING 

AND CAMERA PACKAGES VISIT 


AVAILABLE FROM YOUR PROFESSIONAL MARINE & DIVE STORES. ALL TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME. 


A selection of notable photos entered for this edition's competition 

(N) Nick Bell - NZ 

(N) Stephen Hopkins - Wellington, NZ 

(A) David Haintz - Victoria, Australia 

(A) Mark Blomfield - NZ 

(A) Dave Weeks - Calgary, Canada 

(N)Susan Harris - Roatan Honduras 

(N) Sarah Milicich- Wellington, NZ 

www.divenewzealand.com 61

DIGITALIMAGING 

Hans Weichselbaum www.digital-image.co.nz 

You’d be surprised how many professionals, photographers, desktop publishers and printers are confused 

by these concepts of image size and resolution so this article is to help you get your head around file size, 

resolution, pixels per inch and dots per inch (ppi and dpi). 

Our photographic images are 

made up of pixels. In contrast, 

vector graphics consist of lines and 

curves to form polygons and other 

shapes. When you add text to a 

photo that would be an example 

of adding vector graphics to it. 

But cameras and scanners only 

produce pixels. 

The pixels that make up an image 

are stored as an image file with the 

most common file formats being 

JPEG and TIFF. But there are many 

others. The file size will depend on 

the number of pixels, but also on 

the file compression. 

Of course, we want to see the 

image either displayed on a screen 

or printed onto paper and that’s 

where image resolution enters the 

frame. 

Image file size 

The size of a digital image is 

determined by the number of 

pixels it’s made up of. A 12 MPixel 

(MP) camera will give you 4000 x 

3000-pixel pictures. 

My example in Image 1 is a photo 

of a [fish] with 4288 x 2848 pixels, 

which gives us 12.2 MP. (It originated 

from a 22 MP camera and 

was cropped to its current size.) 

Every image pixel of a colour photo 

is represented by three bytes 

of data (the red, green and blue 

channels). So, our 12.2 MP photo 

will be 12.2 x 3 = 36.6 Mbytes, 

which is indeed the size of the 

(uncompressed) TIFF file. 

If you turn a colour image into 

black & white, you don’t have three 

colour channels anymore but only 

a single lightness channel. That’s 

why greyscale images are one third 

the size of colour images. 

Most images are stored as JPEGs, 

and you will notice your 20 MP 

camera doesn’t produce 60 MB 

files but a lot smaller on your hard 

drive, perhaps 1 to 2 MB. 

JPEG files use file compression to 

save on storage space and, most 

importantly, to make it easier to 

get them across the internet. 

JPEG (Joint Photographic 

Experts Group) 

The JPEG file format originated 

in 1986 and was standardised in 

1992. Today it is the universal file 

format for storing images. It’s not 

suitable for line drawings or other 

textual or iconic graphics with 

sharp contrast between adjacent 

pixels, but is ideal for photographic 

images. 

However, you need to remember 

that JPEG files use file compression 

– lossy compression. This 

means that image information is 

discarded to reduce file size. It is 

amazing that you can achieve a 

compression of 1:10 and even 1:30 

or more without visible quality 

degradation. 

When saving a JPEG file you have a 

choice of different quality settings. 

Photoshop works on a scale from 

1 to 12, and the following Table 

shows some results you can get 

with our original 36.6 MB image 

file: 

Image 1 – [Fish], originally 4288 x 2848 pixels 

For saving a master file you should 

use a high-quality setting of 10-12. 

For emailing images a medium 

setting is fine, and for websites 

use the image preview to find 

the lowest quality setting which 

doesn’t show any image degradation. 


Standard monitor dimensions 

80lpi B&W Newsprint and 150lpi Colour CMYK print 

If you save an image repeatedly 

after editing you should use an 

uncompressed file format, for 

example TIFF or PSD, because 

the damage to the file gets 

compounded. Image 2 shows the 

damage to the file if it is saved 

three consecutive times using a 

medium quality setting. 

done by the display driver with no 

need to worry about image resolution, 

although you might notice 

the poor quality of an up-sampled 

image. 

If the image is going on a website, 

all you need is the pixel dimension 

since websites display one image 

laser and offset printer work lines 

per inch (lpi) is the unit we should 

use instead of ppi. 

Monitor display vs Print 

resolution 

In offset printing print resolution is 

determined by the halftone screen 

frequency. The file resolution 

should be between 1.2 and 2 times 

the screen frequency. Newspapers 

are printed with a coarse 80 line 

screen. A 2x factor will give us a 

file resolution of 160 lpi. Glossy 

magazines typically use a 133-150 

line screen and high-quality art is 

printed with a 200 line screen. At 

this high level of screen frequencies 

a factor of 1.5 is considered 

sufficient. This gives us a 

maximum file resolution of 225 for 

glossy magazines and 300 lpi for 

the best fine art print. 

Image 2 – Damaged File 

Images 2 and 3 are very high 

magnifications of the same area 

from our original image. The 

blocks of 8 x 8 pixels introduced by 

the compression are clearly visible. 

Monitor display vs 

printing resolution 

If the image is going to be 

displayed electronically (on a 

monitor, website, projected on a 

screen) you only need to consider 

the pixel dimensions with no need 

to worry about the image resolution. 

For example, my current screen is 

52.0 x 32.5 cm and displays 1920 x 

1200 pixels. This works out to 36.9 

pixels/cm or 93.8 pixels/inch (ppi). 

If an image is displayed full screen 

on my monitor and it has fewer 

pixels than my monitor’s native 

1920 x 1200 pixels, then it’s going 

to be up-sampled by the display 

driver. If the file has more pixels, 

it will be down-sampled. That’s all 

Image 3 – Original Image 

pixel per screen pixel. For example, 

a common image size would be 600 

x 400 pixels, so the image needs to 

be resized to these dimensions. 

…If the image is going on a website, all you need is the pixel 

dimension since websites display one image pixel per screen 

pixel… (but) if the image is required for a printer, then you 

need to look at the pixels/inch (ppi) settings…commercial 

printers routinely ask for 300 dpi files… 

On the other hand, if the image 

is required for a printer, then 

the image resolution becomes 

important and you need to look at 

the pixels/inch (ppi) settings. 

Commercial printers routinely 

ask for 300 dpi files (this should 

actually read ppi because we are 

dealing with image pixels, not ink 

dots). This figure goes back to the 

resolution of the first Laser Writers 

in the mid-1980s and 300 dpi has 

become something of a magic 

number for printing (as 72 dpi is for 

monitor display). Strictly speaking, 

Today’s high-resolution inkjet 

printers work by putting 1440 to 

5760 drops of ink per inch onto 

paper. For this we are talking of 

dots or drops per inch and dpi 

is the correct unit. Every pixel 

of your file needs to be dithered 

with many ink drops to simulate 

thousands of colours. You certainly 

don’t need to (and you shouldn’t) 

feed your printer with 1440 to 5760 

ppi files! As with offset printing, a 

file resolution of 300 ppi (or dpi) is 

plenty for very high-quality inkjet 

printing. 

In the next issue we’ll look at how big 

you can print with a given MP size 

file, and how to resize, and especially 

upsize files, to print at different sizes. 


Chapter 3: 

Back to the Basics Pt.II (abbreviated) 

A Practical Guide for Beginners by Alexey Zaytsev 

Second edition translated from the Russian exclusively for Dive magazine. 

(All photo's by Alexey Zaytsev) 

Alexey Zaytsev is well 

known amongst Russia’s 

dive and underwater photography 

community, and has 

undertaken professional 

photographic assignments 

in many places around 

the world, including many 

visits to Egypt, Sudan, Bali 

and elsewhere. To illustrate 

the book, and also his own 

credentials, Alexey is making 

available a selection of his 

fine photographic work. 

Alexey lives in Auckland, 

New Zealand. 

Focal length and aperture 

A numeric aperture value is determined by dividing the focal length of a 

lens by the diameter of its aperture at its current setting. It doesn't matter 

what lens you use and what focal length it has - if you set the f-stop at f 

8 using one lens and then change this lens to a lens with a different focal 

length but keep the aperture settings at f 8, the amount of light hitting the 

sensor will be the same (given the shutter speed and ISO are the same). 

You can calculate the aperture value using the formula: F/d = f where F 

is the focal length, d is the actual diameter of the aperture and f is the 

aperture value. If you look at the image, you will see that the more we 

close (reduce) the aperture, the more of these diameters can fit along the 

focal length. 

Figure (8) shows an example where the aperture is closed to the value of 

f4. Once again, the higher the f number, the smaller the aperture hence 

less light hitting the camera sensor. 

"Napoleon wrasse" St. John's Reef, Red Sea, Egypt. 

Nikon D300 10-17mm F3,5 on 17mm (f13; 1/125; 

ISO200) Ikelite housing, two strobe Ikelite DD160 

"Clownfish" St. John's Reef, Red Sea, Egypt. 

Nikon D300 105 mm F2,8 (f16; 1/125; ISO200) 

Ikelite housing, two strobe Ikelite DS160 


Figure (8) 

Relative and effective 

aperture values 

If you add extension rings between 

the camera body and the lens, 

the distance between the lens 

and the sensor will increase. This 

generates an interesting effect: 

the actual aperture value will be 

higher than that indicated on the 

lens because the diameter of the 

diaphragm opening is divided by 

a larger distance between the lens 

and the sensor. The f-stop value 

indicated on the aperture scale is 

called a relative f-stop value; the 

actual value is called an effective 

f-stop value. 

You can easily verify this effect 

using a macro lens by focusing 

the lens on infinity. Rotate the 

aperture dial to close down the 

aperture (ie the f-stop number 

should change from smaller to 

bigger). The smallest aperture will 

be f 22. Now focus the lens on the 

shortest distance. Again move the 

aperture dial. You will see that 

its value is f 64! You don't have to 

make any calculations; the camera 

will show you the effective f-stop 

value itself and if you want to 

check this number, you can calculate 

the effective aperture value 

using the following formula: fe = fr 

(m + 1) where fr is a relative f-stop 

value and m is the scale (the range 

of magnification). For example, if 

you use a macro lens that allows 

you to shoot with magnification of 

1:1 with a relative f-stop value of 

22, then fe = 22 (1/1+1) = 44. 

So when you are shooting with the 

1:1 magnification and the aperture 

is set to f 22 (a relative value), in 

reality you are shooting at f 44 (an 

effective value). 

Why do we need effective 

f-stop values? 

When underwater photographers 

shoot nudibranchs, shrimp or 

other underwater critters you will 

notice they position strobes very 

close to the subject because of the 

very large effective f-stop values 

required. Remember the fish and 

the gate? Because very little light 

hits the sensor, the strobes must 

be positioned only a few centimeters 

away from the subject. 

DOF? Doh! 

Depth of field is probably the most 

important photographer’s tool able 

to affect the nature of any image. 

It’s the focus range of the area in 

front and behind a subject that the 

lens is focused on that remains 

acceptably sharp. 

Just like a paint brush in the 

hands of an artist, depth of field 

can help photographers separate 

out the subject by blurring the 

background. All it takes is opening 

up an aperture. The more you open 

it, the blurrier the background 

looks which is ideal for shooting 

portraits or small subjects that 

you want a viewer to focus on. 

And visa versa. By stopping down 

the aperture you can obtain 

a maximum possible DoF all 

the way to infinity, such as for 

shooting landscapes… 

If the lens is focused on a remote 

subject eg something located 

three metres away, then a third of 

the DoF is located in front of the 

subject with two thirds behind it. 

This ratio changes if the lens is 

focused on a very short distance. 

Depth of field depends on four 

variables. 

1) the larger the f-number (smaller 

lens apertures), the greater the 

depth of field. The smaller the 

f-number (wider lens aperture), 

the smaller the DoF. 

2) the longer the shooting (focus) 

distance, the greater the DoF. 

The shorter the distance, the 

shallower the DoF. 

3) The shorter the focal length, the 

greater the DoF. The longer the 

focal length, the shallower the 

DoF. 

4) Sensor size. The smaller the 

sensor, the greater the DoF of a 

lens compared to the same lens 

used on a full frame camera. 

Eg the size of a sensor used on 

a mirrorless camera such as 

Olympus is twice as small as 

that of a full frame camera. A 25 

mm lens (equivalent to a 50 mm 

lens on a full frame camera) with 

an aperture of 8 gives almost 

the same DoF as a 50 mm lens 

on a full frame camera with the 

aperture value set to 16. This 

great feature of a cropped sensor 

makes it possible to shoot at lower 

ISOs in natural light or to use less 

powerful strobes for shooting 

macro. 

Figure (9) 

Glass dome port Nauticam with a diameter of 140 mm for the fisheye 


The terror of diffraction - 

the devil is not as black as 

painted … 

Diffraction is the deviation of light 

when it passes close to an obstacle. 

If a circular obstacle (eg a round 

opening in an opaque screen) is 

placed in the way of parallel beams 

of light, a diffraction pattern - a 

system of alternate black and 

white rings- will appear on a 

screen located behind the obstacle. 

If light passes through a crack, 

parallel pattern lines will be seen 

on the screen. 

Quite often, when shooting a 

landscape, a photographer wants 

to obtain the maximum possible 

depth of field. Logically, by 

stopping down the aperture he 

should be able to obtain higher 

depth of field. 

However if he stops down the 

aperture too much, the sharpness 

of the image will be lost as diffraction 

blurs the image. So by chasing 

depth of field you may lose the 

overall sharpness of your image. 

The same happens with the widest 

possible aperture – the overall 

sharpness of the image decreases 

significantly. 

type of camera, or its sensor, after 

which the sharpness of an image 

will deteriorate. This value is called 

an aperture limit. The more pixels 

on the sensor, the smaller their 

physical size. Therefore sensors 

with fewer pixels could produce a 

sharper image at higher aperture 

settings. 

For example, a 12-megapixel sensor 

of Nikon D700 makes it possible 

to stop a lens down to f14 without 

a noticeable deterioration of the 

image sharpness, while its younger 

brother D800 with a 46-megapixel 

sensor will noticeably blur an 

image at apertures smaller than f8. 

But you can easily make friends 

with diffraction and live happily 

together. Try this. On a clear sunny 

Airy disk 

The interference pattern generated 

by a round lens when it is illuminated 

by parallel beams of light is 

called the Airy disk (after scientist 

George Biddell Airy). 

If the diameter of the central spot 

of the Airy disk becomes larger 

than the physical pixel pitch of the 

sensor, the image becomes blurry. 

(There’s more about the sensor 

and pixels later in this chapter). 

What this means is that there is 

a specific aperture value for each 

Claudia Reef, Red Sea, Egypt. 

NIKON D700 15 mm F2.8 (f8; 

1/160; ISO200) Ikelite housing, 

two strobe Ikelite DS160 


AF35 

DS51 

Award of the photo competition "Golden Turtle" 

2010 (Russia) "Giant squirrelfish" St. John's Reef, 

Red Sea, Egypt. 

Nikon D300 105 mm F2,8 (f16; 1/125; ISO200) 

Ikelite housing, strobe Ikelite DS160 

day put a camera on a tripod, set it to the aperture 

priority mode A and take a series of photos at 

ISO100. 

DS160 & 161 

Focus the camera to infinity and take a series of 

photos at all aperture settings. Carefully study the 

photographs on a big screen. You will be able to see 

clearly what f-values result in the sharpest images. 

Most likely, they will range within f5.6-8. 

So if your main priority is to obtain maximum 

sharpness in your photos, shoot with your aperture 

set to mid-range values. However, if a large depth of 

field and a black background is important, as would 

be the case if you were shooting macro, don’t be 

afraid to close the aperture down to f16-22. The loss 

of sharpness caused by diffraction could easily be 

fixed in Photoshop during post processing. 

Next time we will discuss lenses and what 

types there are. 

Distributed by 

Sea Tech Ltd 

09 521 0684 



Available from your professional dive store. 

Trade enquiries welcome. 


DIVE STORES / TRAVEL 

By region. To list your dive/sports stores contact Dive New Zealand for information. 

More information on Dive Stores, Clubs & Travel at www.DiveNewZealand.com 

DNZ161 

NORTHLAND 

NEW ZEALAND 

A to Z Diving & Cylinder Services IANZ accredited 

SCUBA, LPG & Industrial cylinder testing. Certified 

in servicing all brands of dive gear. Supplier of 

compressor consumables: carbon, molecular sieve, 

felt pads, oil, O-rings etc. Certifiers of Air & LPG 

Fillers. All major gases available onsite. 

235 Wiroa Rd, Kerikeri. P: 021 508 707 

www.atozdiving.co.nz 

E: andre@atozdiving.co.nz 

Dive Zone Bay of Islands Far North’s only 

PADI 5 Star IDC facility. Open Water to Instructor 

courses. Freedive and spearfishing training & trips. 

Dive trips,On-site equipment servicing & cylinder 

testing. Aqualung, Mares, Scubapro, Beuchat. 

Open 7 days! 5 Klinac Lane, State Highway 10 

Waipapa. 09 407 9986. 

www.divezoneboi.co.nz, 

info@divezoneboi.co.nz 

Paihia Dive Dive training, charter and retail in Paihia. 

Dive the Rainbow Warrior, frigate Canterbury and 

the Bay of Islands. PADI courses: Open water to 

Instructor. Quality scuba brands: Aqualung, Tusa, 

Faber, Luxfer and Wettie spearfishing. Open 7 days. 

Williams Rd, Paihia, P: Craig or Lisa 09-402 7551 

E: info@divenz.com www.divenz.com 

Northland Dive World Class Diving package – Great 

diving mixed with even better accommodation, meals 

and hospitality. Dive with the team that instigated the 

sinking of the Canterbury Frigate. Full Gear available 

incl NITROX – PADI /TDI/ SDI training “Unbelievable 

value for money”. 3851 Russell Road, Whangaruru, 

Bay of Islands, P: 09 433 6633, 

E: info@northlanddive.com 

www.info@northlanddive.com 

Dive HQ Whangarei One of Northland’s 

premier dive training facilities. Highest 

standard instruction and equipment. With 

their own on-site heated training pool and 

classroom. Staff and instructors have extensive 

knowledge of diving, marine environment and 

diver safety. At the gateway of the beautiful 

Poor Knights Islands. 41 Clyde Street 

Whangarei Freephone: 0800 102 102 or 

P: 09 438 1075 E: info@divenow.co.nz 

www.divenow.co.nz 

Auckland Scuba on Auckland’s north shore. 

PADI 5 STAR IDC diver training specialists. PADI 

dive courses beginner to instructor and tec 

rec. Part time/full time tertiary (student loan 

approved), NZQA credits. Dive trips, air/nitrox fills, 

cylinder testing, equipment servicing. Top quality 

equipment! 

Unit I, 121 Rosedale Rd, Albany. 

P: 09 478 2814 E: info@aucklandscuba.co.nz 

www.aucklandscuba.co.nz 

KIWI DIVERS SSI, TDI/SDI, RAID dive centre. 

Recreational and Technical dive courses 

(rebreather friendly). Regular trips from our 

own boat. Equipment sales, servicing and hire. 

Cylinder testing, air/nitrox trimix/oxygen fills. 

Open 7 days. 8 Keith Hay Court, Silverdale 

(just 20 mins north of Akld) P: 09 426 9834 

E: info@kiwiscubadivers.co.nz 

www.kiwiscubadivers.co.nz 

Performance Diver NZ’s diving superstore! Massive 

stocks of all lines at unbelievable prices. PADI 5 star 

Instructor Development Centre offering training from 

beginner to Instructor. Local & national dive charters, 

overseas trips, servicing, air fills and rental. Open 7 

days! 

74 Barrys Point Road, Takapuna 

(behind Avanti bikes). 09 489 7782 

www.performancediver.co.nz 

Dive HQ Westhaven in Auckland's CBD. PADI 

5 Star Instructor Development Centre. Become 

a PADI Dive Instructor with us. NZQA approved 

Part Time and Full Course available. Still Your 

Local Dive Shop for all your SCUBA dive, 

freediving, spear-fishing and gear-servicing 

needs. Mares, Atomic, Oceanic, Pinnacle, 

Beuchat, and Zeagle. Fully equipped dive 

equipmentservice centre and dive cylinder 

testing facility onsite. 

Corner (101) Beaumont & Gaunt Sts, 

Westhaven, Auckland. P: (09) 307 3590, 

E: info@divehqwesthaven.co.nz 

www.divehqwesthaven.co.nz 

Global Dive NZ’s favourite technical and recreational 

dive store. All top brands stocked and serviced. Our 

active dive club meets monthly with guest speakers 

and BBQ. Experts in photography and tech diving. 

Quality rental gear, including technical and drysuits. 

Nitrox fills. 

132 Beaumont St, Westhaven, P: 09 9205200 

www.globaldive.net E: info@globaldive.net 

BAY OF ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND 

“World-class diving package” 

“Great diving mixed with 

even better accommodation, 

meals and hospitality” 

“Unbelievable value for money” 

[RECENT TRIP ADVISOR CUSTOMER REVIEWS] 

www.northlanddive.com 

Tel +64 9 433 66 33 

NITROX 

DNZ163 

Dive! Tutukaka The Poor Knights Islands experts – 

professional, fun and safe – “It’s what we do” – With 

5 boats, catering for all abilities; Adventure Audited, 

Qualmark endorsed, PADI 5 star IDC; air fills, nitrox, 

gear hire. Shed 7 with salt-water pool and training 

facilities – Behind Schnappa Rock. Marina Rd. 

Tutukaka, Whangarei. Open 7 days, 7am-7pm. 

Always someone at the end of the phone 0800 288 

882. Phone: 09 4343 867 

E: info@diving.co.nz www.diving.co.nz 

AUCKLAND / DISTRICTS 

New Zealand Diving Charters to the Hauraki Gulf 

incl marine reserves, Little & Great Barrier Islands. 

Also overseas trips. NZ’s leading SDI & TDI 5 star IDC 

& PADI with a wide selection of courses. Qualmark 

endorsed. Nitrox, 300bar fills, servicing & rental hire. 

Full selection of gear for sports & tec divers. 

22 Whitaker Rd, Warkworth. 

P: 0800 NZDIVING. E: Neil@NZDiving.co.nz 

www.NZDiving.co.nz (DNZ164) 

Go Dive Center For All Your Diving Needs. SSI 

Training Facility. Authorized Mares Dealer. Servicing, 

Tank Fills and Trips. Come in and let us take you on a 

journey of discovery in the underwater world. 

Unit 3/30 Tironui Road, Papakura, Phone 09 298 

6431 or 0210 385 940 www.godivecenter.co.nz 

Dive Doctor Mt Wellington New Zealand’s specialist 

dive servicing company, regulator servicing, drysuit 

& wetsuit repairs, compressor servicing, cylinder 

testing, NITROX, O2, Helium, 300 BAR air fills. A full 

selection of quality products as well as hard to find 

items for the technical, recreational and commercial 

diver. 

20R Sylvia Park Rd, Mt Wellington 

www.divedoctor.co.nz P: 09 5308117 

E: info@divedoctor.co.nz 

DNZ164 

Manufacturing Quality 

Wetsuits in New 

Zealand 

for New Zealand 

conditions. 

www.seaquel.co.nz 

15G Porana Rd, Glenfield, Auckland 

wetsuits@seaquel.co.nz Tel: 09 443 2771 


dnz164 


COROMANDEL / BAY OF PLENTY 

Dive Zone Whitianga Only PADI 5 Star IDC facility on 

the Coromandel Peninsula. PADI courses from Open 

Water to Instructor. Dive trips from boat, shore and 

kayak, to many amazing dive sites. Full gear service 

and extensive retail store. Open 7 days. 

10 Campbell Street, Whitianga, P: 07-867 1580, 

E: info@divethecoromandel.co.nz 

www.divezonewhitianga.co.nz 

Cathedral Cove Dive & Snorkel Half day 

trips – everyday through the summer at 9.30am 

& 1.30pm. Marine reserve or outer reef diving 

for new and experienced divers. Full gear hire. 

Individuals & groups welcome. Check out our 

website for a full list of dive sites and prices, or 

link onto our facebook page for an up-to-date 

weather/sea/dive report in the Hahei & Mercury 

Bay areas. 48 Hahei Beach Rd, Hahei 

Phone 0800 CCDIVE (0800 223 483) 

www.hahei.co.nz/diving 

CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND 

Dive & Gas Gisborne's authorised Aqualung dealer 

with full product range. A great range of other Scuba 

and Snorkel gear in-store as well. Plus we test and 

fill all Scuba Tanks. Kevin & Tracey Halverson, cnr 

Carnarvon St, and Childers Rd, Gisborne. 

P: 06 867 9662 E: diveandgas@gmail.com 

Dive Zone Tauranga is Tauranga’s only 

PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Centre 

offering everything from Open Water courses 

to Specialty Instructor training. Gear sales for 

all scuba, spearfishing & snorkelling needs. 

Hire equipment, gear servicing, air fills, dive 

charters, cylinder testing and more! See us at 

213 Cameron Road, Tauranga, 

P: (07) 578 4050 

E: info@divezonetauranga.co.nz 

www.divezonetauranga.co.nz 

Dive HQ Rotorua Start your diving adventure 

with this PADI 5 Star training centre, your 

leading BOP dive & kayak shop. Showcasing 

a great range of quality diving, spearfishing, 

kayaking & water sports equipment. Filling and 

testing of dive cylinders, servicing of regulators 

and BCD’s. An IANZ certified cylinder test 

centre. 290 Te Ngae Rd, next to Repco. 

P: 07-345 3047 E: info@divehqrotorua.co.nz 

www.divehqrotorua.co.nz 

Island Bay Divers NZ’s Pro Gold Centre, Wellington’s 

oldest dive shop. Top brand retail, equipment hire, 

servicing all brands. Tanks tested within 24 hours. 

CMAS, NAUI & PADI training. Club dives every 

Saturday. Corner Reef St & The Parade, Island Bay. 

Summer open 7 days 9am–6pm, winter closed Tues 

& Wed. P: 04-383 6778, 

E: tim@ibdivers.co.nz, www.ibdivers.co.nz 

Dive & Ski HQ Wellington PADI dive courses 

– beginner to professional qualifications. Dive 

club with regular local, national & overseas trips. 

Wide range of diving/ spearfishing equipment 

and accessories. Equipment servicing/tank 

testing. Open 7 days. 

14 Waione St, Petone. New Zealand 

P: (04)568 5028 mob 0210369996 

www.diveski.co.nz E: diveskihq@xtra.co.nz 

snow ski and board rental available 

www.facebook.com/DiveSkiHQ 

SOUTH ISLAND 

Go Dive Marlborough Specialist TDI technical diver 

training facility. Mixed gas, decompression and 

advanced wreck courses. Operate Lermontov Lodge 

(Port Gore) our base to diving one of the world’s 

biggest wrecks the Mikhail Lermontov. Weekly tours 

ex Picton from 1–6 days. Direct flights from Wellington 

to Port Gore. We offer Inner Sounds Tours from Picton. 

South Island’s only SSI Dive Centre. 

www.godive.co.nz Freephone 0800 GODIVE 

Email info@godive.co.nz 

Dive Kaikoura is the only dive shop on the North 

Canterbury East Coast. Located 180kms North of 

Christchurch off State Highway 1 in the beautiful South 

Island. Specialists in having Fun, Tours, Shore Dives, 

Spearfishing, Air Fills, Nitrox, PADI 5 Star Courses. 

Servicing of all gear AND we’re a Cressi Premium 

Dealer! Dive Kaikoura 13 Yarmouth St, Kaikoura. 

03 319 6622. www.divekaikoura.co.nz. 

Open October to June. 

Book an ad space today! 

Colin Gestro - Affinity Ads 

M: 027 256 8014 


WELLINGTON / DISTRICTS 

• New BAUER compressors 

• Late model, low hours, 

preowned BAUER 

compressors 

• Service, spare parts, oil 

and consumables 

AVAILABLE NOW FROM 

General Marine Services 

65 & 90 Gaunt St, Westhaven, 

Auckland. Phone 09 309 6317 

www.generalmarine.co.nz 

sales@generalmarine.co.nz 

service@generalmarine.co.nz 

APPROVED 

BAUER 

AGENTS 

Dive Wellington Become a Padi Dive 

Instructor with our fulltime Diploma course. 

NZQA approved and eligible for student loans 

and allowances. Contact us for a course 

prospectus. Dive Wellington is an audited 

and approved sub contractor of Academy of 

Diving Trust 

E: dive@divewellington.co.nz P: 04 939 

3483 www.divewellington.co.nz 

On the seafront downtown Port Vila. 

• NZ Certified Sea Adventures dives • Snorkel PADI 5 Star Tours Instructor • Training to 

Instructor Development Level Centre • Full – also gear TDI hire Technical available diver • training 

including 

Very friendly, 

CCR. Open 

professional 

7 days. Dive 

& experienced 

courses – beginner 

to Instructor. local Instructors Club dives and & Dive trips Masters. in NZ and overseas. 

Dive retail, fills, gear hire & servicing. 

20 dive sites (10 to 20 minutes) including 5 wrecks 

(including 9 Marina 4 View, engine Mana, QANTAS Porirua. Sandringham flying 

boat P: 04 and 233-8238 150 year E: old nzsa@scubadiving.co.nz 

sailing ship Star of Russia) 

www.scubadiving.co.nz 

Temp 24-28°c. Viz 10m to 

Dive Kapiti Your scuba, 40m. freediving Free pickup & spearfishing from 

specialists in the heart Resorts of the in Kapiti town. coast. Quality 

servicing, airfills, dive P: +678 training, 27518 Kapiti Island or email: dive & 

spearfishing trips and dive@bigbluevanuatu.com 

retail sales. Full range of Cressi 

products, our friendly staff are always happy to help! 

www.bigbluevanuatu.com 

27 Milne Drive Paraparaumu 5032. 

P: 04 297 0075 E: craig@divekapiti.co.nz 

For your safety Vanuatu has 

www.divekapiti.co.nz 

recompression facilities. 


• Certified dives • Snorkel Tours • Training to 

Instructor Level • Full gear hire available • 

Very friendly, professional & experienced 

local Instructors & Dive Masters. 


(including 4 engine QANTAS Sandringham flying 

boat and 150 year old sailing ship Star of Russia) 


40m. Free pickup from 

Resorts in town. 

P: +678 27518 or email: 

dive@bigbluevanuatu.com 





DIVE STORES / TRAVEL / PRODUCTS / SERVICES 

Dive HQ Christchurch 30 years industry 

experience, Christchurch’s only PADI 5 Star 

Instructor Development Centre and Adventure 

Activities Certified for SCUBA diving and 

snorkelling. Busy retail store selling the world’s 

leading brands and offering PADI recreational 

and tertiary SCUBA qualifications. Full range 

of spearfishing equipment including breath 

hold courses. Quality gear hire, service centre, 

Enriched Air training and filling station, local and 

international dive and spearfishing trips.103 

Durham St Sth. Sydenham, Christchurch. 

Freephone 0800-DIVEHQ. 

P: (03)379- 5804 www.diveskiworld.co.nz 

E: sales@diveskiworld.co.nz 

Fiordland Discovery Fiordland boasts some of New 

Zealand’s most spectacular diving, fishing and hunting. 

We offer six-day, five-night private charters in the Fiords 

and the Tasman Sea. Be one of the first to discover 

Fiordland aboard our luxurious new cruise boat, the 

Fiordland Jewel. Multi-day cruises, private charters and 

individual bookings are available for diving, fishing & 

hunting. #Fiordlandjewel 

P: 0800 100 105 or +64 3 441 3322 

E: hello@fiordlanddiscovery.co.nz 

www.fiordlanddiscovery.co.nz 

www.facebook.com/FiordlandDiscovery 

Waikawa Dive Centre located at Waikawa Marina, 

Picton. Offering dive training and trips through the 

Marlborough Sounds. Fully-certified dive cylinder 

filling/testing, dive gear servicing/repairs, hire gear. 

Carrying a multi-brand range of diving equipment. 

Open 7 days during summer. Ready to take care of all 

your diving needs. 

P: 03-573-5939, F: 03-573-8241 

waikawadive@xtra.co.nz 

www.waikawadivecentre.co.nz 

www.facebook.com/WaikawaDiveCentre 

Deep Blue Diving Making diving affordable for all 

divers. The Deep Blue brand is well known for its 

value for money and has a strong company reputation 

for delivering quality and excellent service. Visit our 

website or come in and see us for a huge range of dive 

gear, equipment servicing, tank filling, gear hire and 

Padi training. 

15B Byron St, Sydenham, Christchurch 8025. 

P: 03 332 0898 E: sales@deepbluediving.co.nz 

www.deepbluediving.co.nz 

INTERNATIONAL DIVE 

OPERATORS AND RESORTS 

AUSTRALIA 

Pro Dive Cairns Offers the highest quality, best value 

PADI dive courses and 3-day liveaboard Outer Great 

Barrier Reef dive trips in Cairns. We have 16 exclusive 

dive sites across 4 different reefs to choose from and 

departures 6 days/week. 

Check out www.prodivecairns.com 

or call us on +617 4031 5255 

or E: info@prodivecairns.com 

Spirit of Freedom visits the remote dive destinations 

of Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs, and Coral Sea. The 37m 

vessel offers spacious en-suite cabins, every comfort 

on board, and exceptional service. Marine encounters 

include the potato cod feed, Minke whales in season, 

and the shark dive at Osprey Reef. 

E: info@spiritoffreedom.com.au 

www.spiritoffreedom.com.au 

Tusa Dive Cairns local day dive operators with over 

30 years experience diving the Great Barrier Reef. 

Tusa’s fast modern catamaran the Tusa 6 will visit two 

unique sites where you can enjoy up to three dives 

in the day. Tusa Dive also offer a great day out for 

snorkellers. P: 00617 4047 9100 

E: info@tusadive.com www.tusadive.com 

HDS Australia-Pacific 

PO Box: 347 Dingley Village Victoria 3172, 

Australia. www.classicdiver.org 

COOK ISLANDS 

Dive Aitutaki with Bubbles Below Explore Aitutaki’s 

underwater world with Bubbles Below. Only 40 

minutes from mainland Rarotonga to the picturesque 

island of Aitutaki.PADI dive courses Beginner to 

Dive Master. Manned boats during dives! Safety and 

enjoyment paramount! ‘Take only Memories & Leave 

only Bubbles Dive Safe, Dive Rite, Dive Bubbles 

Below!’ www.diveaitutaki.com 

E: bubblesbelow@aitutaki.net.ck 

The Dive Centre – The Big Fish PADI 5-star dive 

operator. Services: intro/lagoon dives, dive trips 

twice a day, courses, retail and rental gear. 2 

boats, boats are manned with an instructor, 7 days, 

night dives. Aroa Beach by the Rarotongan Resort. 

P: 682 20238 or 682 55238 

E: info@thedivecentre-rarotonga.com 

www.thedivecentre-rarotonga.com 

DIVE COMPRESSOR 

sales and servicing 

High Pressure 

Equipment NZ Ltd 

ph 09-444 0804 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Master Agents 

for Bauer 

Kompressoren in 

New Zealand and 

have been for the 

past 20 years. 

Servicing & repairs of all compressor brands: 

Bauer, Poseidon, Coltri, Bristol, Brownie. 

and most other brands. 

High pressure regulators. 

High pressure pumps. 

Compressor consumables and spare parts. 

Customised filling panels. 

Breathing air equipment. 

New Zealand Master 

Agents for: 

BAUER KOMPRESSOREN 

compressors/spare parts 

BAUER-POSEIDON 

compressors and spare parts 

DNZ163 

Contact us at: ph 09 444 0804, fax 09 443 1121 

32 Parkway Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland. 

Email info@highpressure.co.nz 

www.highpressure.co.nz 

dnz164 


ecompression facilities. 



FIJI 

Subsurface Fiji Visit Fiji for fun, relaxing 

tropical diving. Subsurface Fiji PADI 5-Star Dive 

shops are located in the beautiful Mamanuca 

Islands, offering daily trips and courses to some 

of the best dive spots in Fiji. Subsurface provides 

full diving services from Musket Cove, Plantation, 

Malolo, Likuliku, Tropica, Lomani, Funky Fish, 

Namotu, Tavarua, Wadigi & Navini Island Resorts. 

E: info@subsurfacefiji.com 

www.subsurfacefiji.com (DNZ159) 

Captain Cook Cruises Reef Endeavour and Tivua 

Island are 5 star PADI operations – Discover Scuba – 

Scuba Dive – Open water dive – Advance Wreck Dive, 

MV Raiyawa at Tivua Island. Fiji P: +679 6701 823 E: 

fiji@captaincookcruisesfiji.com 

www.captaincookcruisesfiji.com 

Mantaray Island Resort Yasawa Islands – Fiji – Over 

40 dive sites ; vibrant reefs, stunning coral gardens, 

caves, swim throughs, wall dives, drop offs, shark 

dives, turtles, and a stunning house reef. Fiji’s only 

accredited free-diving school, Mantaray swimming 

May–Oct. Small group diving in a safe and enjoyable 

environment visit us at 

www.mantarayisland.com 

Volivoli Beach Resort offers you relaxed, unspoilt 

white sandy beaches in a spectacular part of Fiji. Ra 

Divers operates from the resort giving you a water 

wonderland on the worlds best soft coral dive sites. 

The Fiji Siren is a livaboard boat offering you 7 and 10 

night dive packages. www.volivoli.com 

E: info@volivoli.com P: +679 9920942 

SOLOMONS 

Raiders Hotel and Dive Wreck and Reef diving, 

Accommodation, Bar and dining, Snorkelling 

Hiking and more. Located 1 hour from Honiara on 

the waterfront of the historic Tulagi harbour. Dive - 

Discover – Relax. www.raidershotel.com 

email raidershotel@solomon.com.sb 

ph +677 7594185 / 7938017 

SIDE Dive Munda – Dive the unexplored 

Experience Magical Munda at Agnes Gateway Hotel. 

Award winning service and pristine diving. SSI 

Instructor Training Centre. WWII wrecks, caves and 

reefs – untouched and unspoilt. 

www.divemunda.com 

divemunda@dive-solomon.com 

Find us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram 

SIDE TAKA Dive See more of the Solomon Islands by 

liveaboard! Save $700 on a 7 night booking on board 

MV Taka: 7 Nights Accommodation; 3 gourmet meals 

daily; 24 Dives – sharks, WWII wrecks, manta rays, 

night dives; Round trip airport transfers. Conditions 

apply. For more information or to make a reservations: 

book@dive-solomon.com 

Tulagi Dive Solomon Islands An underwater paradise 

for marine life and explore the many ships and aircraft 

wrecks at the famous Iron Bottom Sound. We offer 

the PADI and TDI courses. Phone (+677) 25700 

www.tulagidive.com dive@tulagidive.com 

THIS SPACE 

COULD BE YOURS 

PLACE AN AD WITH US 

Enquiries to: Colin Gestro 

Affinity Ads M: 027 256 8014 


Travelandco 

At travel&co (previously Dive Fish Snow 

Holidays) we’ve been crafting tailor-made active 

travel trips and experiences for over 30 years. 

Our team of active travel experts share your 

passion 

On the 

for 

seafront 

adventure 

downtown 

and can help 

Port Vila. 

book an 

• exceptional Certified dives active • Snorkel travel experience Tours • Training that goes to 

Instructor beyond the Level ordinary. • Full gear From hire wreck available or reef diving, • 

learning to dive, to liveaboard adventures - for 


insider tips on the best dive locations and 


tailormade diving experiences let your active 

20 travel dive sites journey (10 to start 20 minutes) with us. including 5 wrecks 


t: 09 479 2210 Toll free NZ: 0800 555 035 

boat e: enquire@travelandco.nz 

and 150 year old sailing ship Star of Russia) 

www.travelandco.nz/dive Temp 24-28°c. Viz 10m to 



TRIPS/CHARTERS 

P: +678 27518 or email: 

CRUISE 


FIORDLAND 

fish • hunt www.bigbluevanuatu.com 

• dive • cruise 

Fish, Hunt, Dive For Cruise your safety aboard Vanuatu the fully has 

refurbished MV recompression Cindy Hardy. Fiordland facilities. or 

Stewart Island, our scenic cruises will provide 

you with a once in a lifetime experience. 

Everything is provided regardless of how 

short or long your time on board with us is. 

Cruise options available on our website. 

www.cruisefiordland.com 

info@cruisefiordland.com 

+6421 088 14530 

(DNZ156) 

VANUATU 

Nautilus Watersports Vanuatu’s longest running 

dive operation in Port Vila with 30+ years’ experience. 

Nautilus offers 4 dives a day (double dive both 

morning and afternoon). We also offer PADI course 

from Discover Scuba right through to Dive Master. For 

dive groups we can also offer diving/accommodation 

packages. P: Peter or Leanne +678 22 398 

www.nautilus.com.vu 

E: nautilus@vanuatu.com.vu 

DIVE HOLIDAY 

Outer Gulf Charters 

One hour north of Auckland CBD 

Providing divers with the ultimate diving day 

out with diver lift, fast/comfortable travel, hot 

water shower, and all the tea and coffee you 

want. 

Recommended Dive Sites: Goat Island Marine 

Reserve, Mokohinau Islands, Great/Little 

Barrier, Sail Rock/Hen & Chickens in style. Trip 

schedule and info 

www.outergulfcharters.co.nz 

or phone Julie 021 827 855 


• Certified dives • Snorkel Tours • Training to 

Instructor Level • Full gear hire available • 





boat and 150 year old sailing ship Star of Russia) 




P: +678 27518 or email: 





SPEAKERS/LECTURERS 

Available for talks to dive clubs etc. You can find full 

details on these speakers/lectures at 

www.DiveNewZealand.co.nz/dive-in-nz/dive-shops/ 

Terry Brailsford Wreck diving for gold & treasure. Incl 

the Rothschild jewellery, search for General Grant. 

0274 958816, theadmiral@xtra.co.nz 

Tony Howell History and entertainment with lots of 

rare historical photos and illustrations – 12 powerpoints 

in total. 45 mins –1 hr each. 

Contact me for topics. 04 233-8238, 

www.scubadiving.co.nz 

tony@scubadiving.co.nz 

Dr Roger Grace ‘Why do we need no-take zones?’; 

‘20 years as a Greenpeace photographer’. 

021 126 5292, gracer@xtra.co.nz 

Darren Shields Spearfishing titles,uw cameraman, 

author. Motivating/compelling/innovative/inspiring/ 

entertaining P: 09-4794231, 021839118, 

darren@wettie.co.nz 

Jamie Obern Technical instructor/cave diver, 20+ 

years exp. globally. Photos/video: uw caves in 

Mexico, USA, UK, NZ, Australia. Techdive NZ/GUE NZ 

instructor. P: 021 614 023, 

www.techdivenz.com jamie@techdivenz.com 

Dave Moran Ching Dynasty porcelain from the Tek 

Sing. P: Dive New Zealand 09-521 0684, 

E: divenz@DiveNewZealand.co.nz 

Samara Nicholas M.O.N.Z -Programme Director: 

Experiencing Marine Reserves – Te Kura Moana: 

samara@emr.org.nz 

www.emr.org.nz www.facebook.com/emr.mtsct 

P: 09 4338205 or 0210362019 (field only) 

ADVERTISERS’ 

INDEX 

Airtec 11 

DAN 52&53 

FantaSea Line - SeaTech 60 

Hutchwilco Boatshow IBC 

Ikelite - SeaTech 67 

INON - SeaTech 48 

Nauticam - SeaTech 22 

Niue 1&57 

SIDE Dive Munda 40 

Solomon Islands 45 

SPUMS 46 

Subscription 56 

Tahiti 17 

Toi Ohomai 22 

Travelandco/Dive 72 

Underwater Tour IFC 

Wakatobi 49 

Yamaha 

OBC 

ALPHABETICAL ORDER 



Bring the Family to Fiji with 


magazine 

P A C I F I C 


Dive into the heart of Fiji and the warm and vibrant pacific waters P A C I F around I C Rakiraki. 


Base yourself at this Beach Resortm located on the northern most tip of Viti Levu, 

for an amazing diving experience. Teaming with life and colour, the nutrient rich 

P A C I F I C 

waters provide some of the healthiest reefs with stunning colourful corals, walls, 

bommies and an abundance of marine life. Be prepared for encounters with turtles, 

anemone fish, eagle rays, white tipped and grey reef sharks. 

P A C I F I C 



Dive Rakiraki region and 

stay at Volivoli resort 

Special DIVE magazine package offer 

www.Dive-Pacific.com ISSUE 166 - $9.90 inc GST 


Marine Reserves: winning 

hearts & minds for the sea 

P A C I F I C 


P A C I F I C 

Why isn't the NZ Government interested in Cook’s Endeavour? 

Meeting the unexpected in the Philippines 

NZ Underwater Hockey teams win gold 

Wildlife Photographer of Year finalists 

• How to choose an underwater camera housing 

• World Spearfishing champs: Report from Portugal: Spearos Notebook 


DIVE NZ D166.indd 1 24/09/18 12:53 PM 

Includes: 

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Includes tanks, weight belts, air fills, dive guide 

*Contact our active travel experts about 

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FOR THOSE WHO PREFER 

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Dive Pacific Iss169 AprMayJun 2019

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