Poor Knights

Just had to share - I had the most amazing weekend ever! We went up on the Friday with a group of people who were doing the advanced course and stayed in this massive house just down the road, in Pacific Bay.

On the Saturday we were up early and out to the boat and the weather was crap (please excuse my language). It was windy and drizzly and the boat was rocking as we got on, before we had even left! It took an hour and a half to get out there and after a few minutes out of the marina Bruce (the guy with the boat) asked us if we wanted to turn around, but everyone decided it would be fine. Hmmm, there was one girl I think may have been regretting that decision as she chucked over the back of the boat later. The tanks banged around the whole way out there. It was my first time getting everything organised on a boat and I found it quite difficult with everything moving around, I could hardly stand :) Butterflies were on a rampage in my stomach, my heart was pounding and my knees trembling (more with anticipation than fear lol) I had to hold on to the silver bar to steady myself against the violent swaying - it was soooooo hard standing at the back of the boat. I took my last few breaths of natural air before closing my mouth over the regulator and sucking in. It was uncomfortable and salty. 3, 2, 1. I wasn't too worried about stepping off the boat and totally trust Marcus (I don't know any better and I kind of have to trust him lol) even though we'd seen a shark on the way out. One giant clumsy stride and I was in the sea! So blue! So clear! So many bubbles! I swam over to those waiting in the water and we got SORTED. S - signal (down), O - orientation (boat), R - regulator in (already in, I didn't plan on getting rid of that anytime soon!) T - time (11.20am), E - equalise, D - descend. I let a little bit of air out of my BCD and felt myself gently float down a little. I could see the bottom! White sand and rocks below us, golden seaweed rippling gently in the current. My eyes must have been so wide as I took in my surroundings! Marcus came over to check that everything was alright and I gave him the ok sign. Everything was so quiet! There was not even an inkling of what the weather was doing above us. We were in our own world, at one with our thoughts. I couldn't believe the abundance of fish - silver, blue, black, orange, pink - all were unphased by our presence. There was a little moray eel curled around a rock, so close I could have touched him if I'd wanted to. He didn't seem to notice us just above him. I think I sucked through my air quite quickly on that first dive but oh my God, it was just the coolest experience ever! I couldn't believe how colourful everything was and how much we could see! That first dive was at McKenzie cove and we saw a stingray below us. Our next dive was at Rikoriko cave and we saw what I thought was a massive long tailed stingray but apparently it wasn't huge. It was soooooo beautiful to watch - just amazing! It was really cool swimming out of the cave into the light. The most difficult part was getting back onto the boat in the cave. It was very rough and I was getting bashed around the ladder but was just buzzing from the experience. I was feelng a lttle queasy by the time we got home, and was not looking forward to Sunday's boat trip. Luckily the weather was better, but it still took almost an hour to get out there. Apparently on a good day, it's a 20 minute trip. This time the girl who was sick stayed at home and we had a new guy come with us. He was sick. My stomach felt a bit strange but luckily was ok. I think it was just the fact that my insides had been churned around for two days in a row. I noticed that the tanks didn't bang around as much. Our first dive on Sunday was at Jan's tunnel and it was even more amazing than Saturday. There were thousands of fish, all different colours and sizes and we were right in the middle of them. They were all around us and above, and below and they weren't even scared of us! It was just incredible and sooooooo beautiful. There was a big snapper who I think was sleeping and Marcus swam right up to him before the fish noticed and darted away. I had to put my hand onto my regulator to stop it falling out from laughing. We went to blue maomao arch for our last dive and wow! Stunning! We swam through the arch and also through a little gap. I was a bit hesitant not quite sure how I was going to fit, but realised that Marcus is bigger than me and he fit through just fine so in theory I could too :)

I had so much fun. It is just a whole other world and so peaceful. I can't wait to go again, although I think it will be summer before that happens. I was happy that I didn't have any trouble with my ears as I had been quite worried about that. I could equalise quite easily. My nose bleeds a tiny bit though - I don't know why. It did on my first dive in the lake too. I don't know whether it did this time because of something I was doing or because I'd been sick, but it's not much and it doesn't hurt. At first, I had trouble going down. On Saturday Marcus had to give me a pull to get me past the first couple of metres but by Sunday, I'm not sure what I did differently but I had it sorted. I had the same weight both days (8kg). Maybe I was more relaxed or something. I found it really cool that I could actually just focus on my buoyancy control (I still have a lot to learn there lol) and could concentrate on breathing in and out and feeling the difference just using my lungs. Even though we practiced this I had so many other things to think about that I don't think I quite got it. I am getting better and I'm still on a high :)