I wanted to dive the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior in Paihia. It was blown up by the French Secret Service back in the 1980s before it was due to protest their nuclear tests, and was scuttled up in the Bay of Islands as an artificial reef. Unfortunately, the sea was too rough to get out there, so I ended up diving in the Bay of Islands itself. I hadn't been feeling all that well and felt really sea sick on the two hour boat ride. We were going around trying to find a suitable dive site that was protected from the swell, but the boat was going up and down and I felt pretty crook. I'm not normally prone to motion sickness but I really didn't feel crash hot on this occasion. I got into the water for the first dive thinking that maybe the freezing water would perk me up, but I wasn't comfortable so I heaved myself back on board.

I began to feel a bit better by the time we did the second dive, so I went down and had a look around the boulders and the kelp. It wasn't the greatest dive as the visibility was quite poor and the surge was strong, but it was all worth it because I got to see a Porcupine Fish! I was so excited! It was all puffed up with spikes and huge eyes! Apparently if they get too stressed then they actually die (whether from over-inflation or what I don't know) so I was hanging onto the kelp trying not to crowd it. It was great!

Paihia itself was a nice place and I ran into quite a few people I knew, including Mike, Eve, Rachel and Helen (and also "Sylvia"), so I had a good laugh.