Dive Report, Phoenix Reef, Tāwharanui Regional park

27th April
Waves 0.5
High Tide 12:45pm
No current
No waves at depth
Had been windy but no wind today
Vis 4-5m
60 minutes
Max depth 12m
Two wetsuits, no hood, no gloves, not cold

I wanted to explore the interesting sand habitat I had seen further east in Anchor Bay but without going to the effort of getting my kayak in the water. I entered at high tide and went straight out over the reef as fast as I could but it was very difficult as there was so much going on with large mixed schools of fish following me over the reef. I got past the last rocky reef at just over 10m and must have covered at least 100m of sand. The sand was not that interesting, there was no algae film on the seafloor and it did not get very deep, max 12m. No noticeable mud content in the sand, just broken shell, the feather duster worms were abundant and fun to swim over. I used up nearly all my air on the safety stop and had to do a 15 min surface swim to shore.

Posted on April 27, 2023 08:17 PM by shaun-lee