Paihia: The Joys of Diving

This morning I had to get up ridiculously early for diving, so crept around the room, trying not to make too much noise, before heading into town. It was a five minute walk along the seafront and in the sun, the bay looked very pretty. I grabbed a drink and found the dive shop, where I checked in and got kitted up.

At around 8.30am, once everyone had arrived and all the kit was ready on the large trolleys, we helped wheel them down to the marina, where we loaded the boat up and hopped on. Lots of other, bigger boats were boarding their customers – these were dolphin watching boats. We were introduced to the crew and given a brief by Skipper Roy (from Bracknell!), before he set us off.

The sun was shining and the sea was flat – a perfect day for being on a boat and I felt a lot more stable than I had in Cairns! It looked like I would not need to feed the fish this time! As we made our way out of the bay, we chatted and I found that quite a few people on the boat were from the UK, some of them have moved here, others were just on holiday. We discussed our hometowns and what we thought of NZ. Everyone else raved about it and found it shocking when I said I preferred Australia!

Roy briefed me on my dives and we discussed what I had already covered in Cairns. There were five of us diving together but he was going to be my instructor and buddy, so he described the plan for the first dive at HMNZS Canterbury. This boat had been decommissioned by the navy and was bought by some random locals – including the guy who owned the dive shop I had gone on the trip with. They wanted to purposely sink it in order to create a good dive site. They only paid a couple of dollars for the ship itself, but had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrange for the ship to be purposely sunk. It was eventually laid to rest on the seabed on 3rd November 2007. They did it with much precision so that the ship would go down in one piece and sit bolt upright on the bottom, rather than at an angle. They also cut away some parts and made others more accessible and interesting.

The dive itself was out of this world. I got into the water and instantly noticed the dip in temperature, compared to the other dives I have done in Australia. We bobbed about on the surface for a couple of minutes - the chill meant that it was harder than usual to keep my breathing slow and deep, but once I was ok, Roy and I descended along the buoy line to the central section of the ship. After about 10m, the ship came into view and my eyes widened! The closer we got, the more amazing it looked. The visibility in the water was really good, so that really helped make the view more impressive. Seeing as it has only relatively recently sunk, the ship still looks like a ship – more so than the wrecks I saw in Hervey Bay (they had been there so long, it was much harder to see where the sealife stopped and the metal began). We swam around, Roy took my hand to lead me whilst I got used to the depth and had calmed down a bit (I warned him I am a nervous diver when I first descend).
We went along the side of the ship, following the railing, then he took me to a big hole and pointed down it – I looked; it was the ship’s bridge. They’d cut away a big hole in the ceiling of the bridge and smashed out all the windows so that divers could go inside and be able to get out easily. We dropped into the hole and looked around at all the control panels, then had a giggle doing silly gestures, like saluting “Aye, aye Cap’n” style and looking out to sea “Land ho” style through the non-windows!

Next, we went all the way along to the stern of the ship and looked into the aircraft hangar, which now lacked any form of aircraft, merely water and some fish. Actually, thinking about it, the marine life wasn’t as abundant as I thought it would be. There were some plants growing off the deck, some algae and urchins (particularly funky bright purple ones!) on the metal work/chains and some fish, but it was by no means teeming with life. This was insignificant though as the wreck itself was a joy to behold. When we got to the very front, we went over the railing and appreciated how the ship sat perfectly upright in the sand. It also made me appreciate how deep we were – at 27m, this was the deepest I have ever been!

We then followed the deck and railing along the other side and looked through some of the doorways and passages – we didn’t enter them, just looked at where there would once have been sailors running around, following orders. Then Roy put his hand to his ear and looked quizzical, like he could hear something. He did this again, then led us over one of the walls on the top deck, where he reached up and opened a box attached to the wall. I actually laughed out loud when it revealed a telephone and he picked up the receiver, ‘spoke’ into it and handed it to me, pointing in a “It’s for you” way! I took the receiver, ‘spoke’, then hung up!

As we continued around the ship, I had to point out potential hazards to Roy (this is part of the test) and a bit further along the ship we came to where the gun seats were – the guns have been removed but the towers still turn, so we pretended we were firing guns off into the distance. Even though the ship didn’t sink in a disaster, I actually found it quite an eerie feeling, knowing that this boat used to sail the high seas and people used to be walking about where I was swimming. Because the ship was so recognisable as a ship, as nature has not yet taken over completely, the ship really did look alien being at the bottom of the sea. It was this that made the experience so amazing.

When Roy and I ascended, he made me laugh at the safety stop (you have to wait for 3 minutes when you get up to 5 metres below the surface) – to make the time pass, we played rock/paper/scissors and thumb wars! I will definitely remember that for the future – it was a really good idea!

Back up top, we got out and out of our kit, then Roy made everyone a hot drink – just what we needed! Although it wasn’t cold, the sun had gone behind some clouds, so being wet made for a bit of a chill. We hung out there for some time, until the others got back (there was a group of guys doing their Open Water Diver training, so had to learn and practice all the skills). I chatted to a lovely couple from Melbourne and a really nice girl called Fay.

Roy took us to our next dive site – a new one that he hadn’t been to before, but one that Mike (one of the other instructors) had recently come across. It was only a short distance from the Canterbury and was called Pig’s Gully. We anchored up and some of the guys were getting kitted up while the rest of us were chatting, when Debbie (the lady from Melbourne) suddenly pointed and said she’d seen some dolphins, two of them, splashing about, around 10m from the boat. We all looked. We saw nothing, so went back to what we were doing. She saw them again, but again, when we looked, we saw nothing.

We buddied up and got into the water. Roy and I did a free descent and no sooner had we done so when I was suddenly aware of just how clear this water was and how many fish I could see! The sun was shining down on the water, which made for even better visibility and really brightened the colours of everything under the water. The fish were so friendly and inquisitive, some were absolutely stunning. Huge shoals swam about, hundreds of following one another precisely, then all suddenly changing direction at the same split second. My favourite fish were: leatherjackets which are kind of grey and spotty with big pouty lips – they swam right up to my mask to peer in at me, sandagers wrasse which had amazing purple stripes, some nameless dark grey fish with two spots near the tail which twinkled like diamonds and some greenish googly eyed fish that kept sneaking up on me and peering through my mask in my peripheral vision. We swam about and appreciated how beautiful it really was.

Roy then picked up a sea urchin and then suddenly stabbed it, thus smashing it open – within an instant we were surrounded by trigger fish, all clambering at the urchin. Roy put the urchin down and the trigger fish went crazy as they all hustled and bustled to get some of the food! It was quite shocking! We carried on swimming about, around and over a forest of bright orange weed, watching it wafting in the swell and every now and again seeing a little fish peep out from underneath one of the massive leaves. I was having trouble with my bouyancy – they hadn’t put enough weight on my belt and so I kept floating upwards and having to swim back down, in the end Roy was having to hold me down! It was becoming more difficult and we had seen a lot of fish, so I said we should ascend.

Once we had surfaced, Roy raved about the dive and how great it had been – as it was his first time there, it meant he was as awed about it as I was! He then mentioned the sea urchin and I said how much the trigger fish seemed to enjoy it – he asked if I had ever tried one, I said I didn’t think they sold them in Tescos, so no I hadn’t! At that, he dived back down, then appeared a minute or two later with another urchin. We swam back to the boat and hopped out, everyone on board was raving about the dive. Roy didn’t even take his kit off, he set straight to cutting open the purple, spiky urchin. He then handed me what I can only describe as a putrid-orange lump of phlegm and told me to try it, apparently it was delicious. I looked at the revolting blob on my hand, then I looked up at everyone else on the boat, looking at me expectantly; many with a slightly sickened expression. What the heck; I threw it into my mouth and tasted the odd sea-salt taste, mixed with a strange nuttiness, but with an altogether slimy texture which was particularly unpleasant. I swallowed it and everyone cheered. I then wondered if I had been duped, but apparently not; Roy had a bit and said it wasn’t a particularly good urchin, then offered to everyone else. Funnily enough, no one else attempted it!

Then Roy made a revelation. It turned out that the dolphins that had been swimming next to the boat, which no one had seen apart from Debbi, did exist but were not in fact dolphins. They were sharks. Mako sharks. Apparently could have given us a bit of a nip! Still, everyone made it back in one piece and with all limbs attached, so all good!

Once everyone was out of their kit, we started our way back to Paihia. As we were going along, we chatted away to one another. There was a guy called Chris, originally from the UK and now living here for six years, he was telling us all about his job – so interesting – he is a dog handler for the prison service so goes to all the prisons in NZ to search the building, prisoners, staff, visitors, contractors and vehicles for drugs. We then talked about stuff in NZ and I mentioned the tv programmes and it turned out that the Christmas episode of Coronation Street I had watched was in fact from Christmas 2008!

Roy pointed out some dolphins ahead of the boat, jumping out of the water. This time they really were dolphins! They were massive and leaping out of the water so high! Then they disappeared, but moments later, reappeared at the back of our boat, one either side, leaping out of the water so close, I thought they might accidentally land in the boat rather than back in the water! They followed us like this for about 5 minutes, it was so cool!

Once back at the shore, we all helped unload the boat and take everything back to the shop. Fay and I stayed and helped to wash all the kit and put it away, then helped to pack up the gear for the following day; going through the list and making up a bag for each person with the correct sized fins, boots, wetsuit, BCD and a regulator. Then we learned how to fill up the tanks and so set about refilling all the tanks from today. Then it was time for a drink and by that time Roy had come back from cleaning the boat and we set about sorting out my paperwork, thus making me a fully qualified Advanced PADI Diver! Hurrah! I admitted that I had been really worried that the diving would be bad – I explained about my first dives in Hervey Bay being a bit scary owing to the threat of a tsunami caused by the earthquake in Chile and my second set of dives in Cairns being marred by the cyclone from Fiji – I had half expected that the stupid ash cloud from the volcano in Iceland might somehow mess up my dives in Paihia, but thankfully it did not!

When I left the dive shop, I was feeling rather pleased with myself! I went for a mooch around the shops (all 20 of them!) then went back to the hostel where I had a shower and got cosy on my bed in my PJs! A couple of new girls had moved in, so I chatted to them and watched tv – Friends, Neighbours, news and Trinny & Susannah. They were going out and invited me to join them, but I didn’t really feel like it as I was so tired from diving. I eventually convinced myself to get out of bed (it was only 7pm!), threw some clothes on over my PJs and went back to town to grab a couple of things from the supermarket (it really is by no means ‘super’!) and fetch some fish & chips for dinner.

When I got back, one girl had gone out but Vicky was still there, so we chatted whilst she got ready, watching Come Dine With Me. She went out and then another girl came in, it was Vicky’s friend – she had just arrived from Auckland, so I told her which pub to go to. Only a little later, they both came back and we all sat in our PJs watching Restaurant in My Living Room (OMG – this means at some stage I will be aired on NZ tv – how odd is that?!) and then Benidorm, chatting some more and then going to bed.