Dive Report, Goat Island, Dawn

18 May
Waves 0.5
High Tide 6am
Minor current
No wind (yet)
Vis 5-6m
85 minutes
Max depth 6m
Two wetsuits, hood, no gloves, a little cold at end, moving slow
Sunrise 7:14 am

I finally got around to doing a night dive. I decided before dawn was nice and safe incase anything went wrong. Underwater videographer Matt Silcock who has done some night diving came along and took the lead.

All my lights we mounted on my camera which made getting in the water and checking gauges a little tricky. I need an additional small torch. I noticed a little red on the horizon as we entered around 6:30am.

Larger snapper hung back well away from us as we headed out over the sand flats. Juvenile snapper were very approachable. Goatfish (who are not visual predators) were busy feeding and more approachable than during the day. I saw one bigeye in the open and some very fast moving trevally. Hiwihiwi also seemed more approachable. Unfortunately the two crayfish we saw were not in the open, they also had bigeye co-residents. A marble fish made a brief appearance but it was flighty. Large silver drummer also stayed well back like the usually do during the day.

It was easier to see each other than during the day and very cool watching the light slowly come up from underwater. I saw an interesting looking whelk dash for cover. When the sun had risen red moki appeared and the big snapper came closer. Two snapper got in a fight and their mouths locked together for a few seconds.

I watched a pied shag bring its partner sticks for the nest as I ate breakfast. Three sticks were bought in less than 15 minutes, one had foliage.

Posted on May 18, 2023 04:06 AM by