The start of each new year sees our dive club head out on a great adventure – all the way to the centre of Wellington Harbour! Matiu-Somes Island has an interesting and varied history and is a predator free island with a variety of native flora and fauna making a comeback including Little Blue Penguins, Skinks & Geckos, Weta, Flittering Shearwaters, Kakariki and Tuatras.
After spending the afternoon exploring the MAF Quarantine Centre and WWII Gun Emplacements we headed down to the wharf for the first club dive of 2017.
Our annual underwater clean up offers the opportunity to explore the area around the wharves, an old barge and check out the marine life as we collect debris during our dive.
Blue moki, spotties, banded wrasse, a stargazer, Wellington nudibranchs, masking crabs, a large white nudibranch and even an eagle ray were all seen in the bay.
4 teams of divers spent 50 mins underwater and this is what we found….
The great news is that most of this rubbish is old with only 5 new beer bottles, 2 cans, 2 pieces of plastic packaging and a single glove looking to be recently dumped.
Regardless we will be back next year to conduct another clean up but primarily to meet other members of the dive club, eat great food together and relax as we watch the hustle and bustle of Wellington form our little island in the harbour!
