It is with great sadness that I note here the death of Phil Bendle (nzwide). For decades Phil was the renown, sometimes infamous, skipper of the Norseman. The Norseman was a vessel from an bygone era, one where you had no choice but to slow down and enjoy the ride. I was fortunate to spend many hours, not as many as some, on the Norseman diving the Poor Knights and the coast north of Tutukaka. Phil's knowledge of the Knights and his naughty sense of humor always made diving with him a great pleasure, even if the occasional run in to Tuts ahead of a howling northeasterly sometimes had you wishing you were on a faster boat. Phil was a early adopter and early member of NatureWatch NZ, posting over 100 underwater images of marine life, many of them rare or at least rarely seen species. Those images, many taken by the likes of Wade Doak and Ross Armstrong, form the basis of this project.

Phil died in New Plymouth on Wednesday, 8 August 2018, aged 82 yr.