The pinnacle

Another early morning up before the sun and yet a another beautiful sunrise in the serene quiet. It was once again a wonderful reminder of how busy our lives are in the bustling city. If there is one thing we need in our lives it is to slow things down.

Our dive this morning was at current swept pinnacle in the middle of Cavalli Islands. Past the large swaths of kelp, the purple walls of coralline algae were abound with life. Familiar faces such as the leatherjackets, small jewel anemones, branching sponges and sea urchins clung close to the near vertical walls.

There were a few unfamiliar sightings as well, including a seven armed sea star who was being ridden by a small triplefin fish. Some soft corals, much larger than those I had seen around Leigh were fairly abundant, collecting floating particles in the strong current. An interesting but slightly sad sight was a moray eel with a broken lower jaw. It was interesting though to be able to see it in entirety rather than just the usual gaping maw protruding form a hole in the rock face.

The highlight for this trip was a tiny crested blennie hiding in a tiny hole that I came across as we started to come around the other side of the pinnacle. This colourful fellow kept receding into his chosen burrow and popping in and out to see if I was still perched with my camera hoping to get a good shot. Probably one of the most colourful and exciting fish I have seen in New Zealand.

As we rounded into the current, a huge school of blue maomao materialized out of the blue abyss. We found ourselves surrounded as the school moved easily through the strong current that we in our fins and bulky gear fought to gain any ground.

The sea became alive as the blue fish slowly overtook us and yet no end to the school seemed in sight. Behind us they continued to appear, guiding us on the path back to the boat. Eventually the current slowed a bit and the maomao were joined by schools of damselfish whose black figures and distinctive white dots were a an obvious contrast to the water beyond, unlike the mao mao. It was a truly wondrous sight, and amazing how this one pinnacle could be so bursting with life, which gives one hope that these sights may have a chance of persisting into the future.

At this point, we had another fishy companion, a male Sandager's wrasse who affectionately played and even sat in my hand, occasionally darting over to poor Christine and attempting to bite her. He followed us along the entire back side of the pinnacle until we reached our safety stop.

With the multitude of fish behind us, we ventured up to the boat for some lunch as we slowly meandered back to our port of call and our final dive outside the islands.