Dive Report Tabletop Rock, Goat Island

13th April
Waves 0.5-1m
High Tide 12:45pm
No current
No waves at depth
Rain before and during the dive
Vis 4m or so
64 minutes
Max depth 19.4 m

Launched kayak on beach, paddled around the point for about 1km (750 paddle strokes). I was hoping to see spiny rock lobster in the open / moulting. The rock was submerged but had waves breaking on it. I anchored NW of Tabletop Rock to explore the N side, however I should have checked the southern (landward side of the rock).

I surface swam to the rock which was thick with kelp. Two butterfish and several spotty dashed in and out of the kelp while a massive school of silver drummer circled me. I descended the rock to 5m then began heading east around the base which was not clearly defined. I spent a bit too much air looking around and being impressed with a the fish life: Snapper (all sizes), large schools of violet sweep, many goatfish, common, spectacled, variable, blue eyed and Oblique-swimming Triplefins, a few parore, leatherjacket, jack mackerel, hiwi hiwi and NZ demoiselles, two sandagers wrasse and probably other fish, it was hard to keep track of them all. I also spooked an eagleray. I counted eight crays in crevices as I worked my way down to 10m. Then I went North over the gravel to explore the open area.

The gravels were a really interesting habitat, I found one occupied octopus hole and some evidence of digging. I would like to spend more time on gravel to get a better feel for it. Sometimes in was contoured by waves and in other places it was very flat. There were still many rocky reefs around. The juvenile blue cod was a nice find but would not stay still for a photo and kept its distance from me. As I neared 20 meters I found some really lovely sponge assemblages. I would have liked to spend more time here but was past 50 bar. I seemed to drift west a fair distance during my safety stop and had to do a seven minute surface swim back to the kayak.

Posted on April 13, 2023 08:53 AM by shaun-lee