Dive reports: Te Whanganui A Hei Marine Reserve

26 April 2022
From kayak launched at Hahei Beach
Small workups observed on the way with many little penguins, white-fronted terns and fluttering shearwater
Wind 3knots, surface clam, fish visible
Dive 70mins at 6m over a rocky reef
Visibility 6-8m

I was surrounded by snapper almost immediately, they were very excited and I was impressed with the size and number of them. They followed me the entire dive making it hard for me to photograph anything else. Several bit the end of my camera lens and one had a go at my flash cable until I tied it up. I was pleased to see several crayfish including a juvenile. The crevices were not bristling but there were many many more than at the Leigh Marine Reserve. I saw many species that I was not able to photograph including Banded wrase, Blue cod, Blue-eyed triple fin, Common triplefin, Piper, Sandager's wrasse, Spotty, Parore, Silver drummer, Leatherjacket and Blue maomao.

My favourite moment in the dive was when I swum under a ledge where a large crayfish was sitting on old kina shells like they were the skulls of its enemies. I was a little intimidated when it advanced towards me but it was just curious and rubbed its antenna over my camera.

27 April 2022
From kayak launched at Hahei Beach
No workups but did see small fish (6cm) leaping out of water chased by a little penguin
Wind 7 knots, surface choppy
I told off a fisherman on the way in (one bay over) who was feeding the fish to show his kids. (Feeding fish in a marine reserve constitutes a disturbance of the marine life and is therefore an offence under the Marine Reserves Act).
Dive 70mins at 6m over boulders
Visibility 6-8m

Here the Snapper were much more clam and chilled out. Maybe the really hungry ones had left the area to see what the fisherman was throwing in the water. This gave me space to photograph all the other fish which were diverse and abundant.

UPDATE: This little wrasse which I could not ID turned out to be a new record for New Zealand.

I was really impressed with this marine reserve, there was so much more life than the smaller marine reserve at Leigh. I will be back to explore it further.

Posted on April 28, 2022 07:01 AM by shaun-lee