Napier Trip 2013

So this year we headed up to the aquarium, the difference Me the newbie Instructor was running it! Really Claire you trust me to run a trip??? On top of that we had our littlest club mascots Emma and Caitlin joining us and Barbara joining us for an intro dive with the sharks! So needless to say I was stressed leading up to our departure time, had I remembered everything…..what was I forgetting?
But I forgot nothing; we arrived at Gannet Cottage on Friday night everyone accounted for.

My expectations of Gannet Cottage were smack on, it was a great house with plenty of room for the 10 of us. After a light supper and everyone buzzing with excitement about diving in the aquarium in the morning we all headed to bed.

Cottage

The National Aquarium! Everyone had a great time, Jane, Nitzan, and Jodine kicked off the day with the first dive lots and lots of photos were taken, followed by Jacqui, Andrew, and Caitlin. My concerns of our youngest mascots be overcome with fear was very quickly put to rest. Next it was Mike, Barbara, and I. What a woman you have Mike, to do a dive intro with sharks and rays. I don’t think many would be brave enough to have done that. Then it was Emma and Scott’s turn and yes I tag along on that one too. After our lunch break it was time to feed the Aquarium dwellers. Feeding time was just awesome like it always is with everyone getting their turn to have ago, and after the sharks were fed our young mascots got to dive together, and what a show stopper these two were entertaining all the visitors to the aquarium. We had headstands, blue cod faces, grouper faces, the look no reg, hand games, continuously flooding masks due to so much giggling, and any general shenanigans they could think of, much to the crowds delight. We headed back to our home away from home at 5 all very happy about the day in the aquarium.
BBQ and beers were had on Saturday night as everyone showed, talked, and shared their experiences of the day and wondered what Pania reef would treat them to in the morning.

Sunday morning we woke to the smell of breakfast being cooked, mmmm yum. We quickly packed and stripped our beds, cleaned and vacuumed. Then we headed to meet Nathan, our boat skipper. We headed for Pania Reef, cameras and catch bags in hand. The visibility was superb between 10-20m what a cracker of a dive! Caitlin was breaking mussels open to hand feed to fish life it was really incredible to watch, about 2mins into this as I’m taking photos, I suddenly was under attack from leather jackets. I went to put out my hand only to realise they were after my fingers and I had no gloves! As we headed back onboard I had a bit of a snorkel around, it really is a beautiful place. By the time we headed back in there were a few crays on board and many photos of the beauty Pania reef has to offer.

Rachel

Pania Reef

Pania Reef