The week started off quiet enough with a couple of Banded Coral Shrimp sitting in a crack just outside of Mineshaft Cave - plenty of Demoiselles and Leather Jackets in Matt's Crack too. Inside Rikoriko there was a Carpet Shark under the boat and then another swimming in the entrance.

Northern Arch seems to be where it's all at! Stuffed full of Maomao, Mado and the odd Kingy. Along the wall all seemed quiet until a Bronzy swept down the wall in front of me and then back up into the shallows. At the point the usual schools of fish were hanging out in the blue. Then round the point came a face over the kelp. A Tope Shark heading straight for me (with a Kingy underneath just for an extra treat). They swam past and then headed down into the deep. Pretty much everyone saw a couple of Bronzies cruising around the point - all pretty shallow, 15m or less. The big school of snapper have moved round the corner onto the northern side.

Still plenty of Boarfish down at Landing Bay Pinnacle and Sandaggers in the Gardens. Even a couple of John Dory were spotted as well as the usual array of Morays and Nudibranchs. Over at Tie-Dye there was another gathering of Maomao inside with a few Kingfish checking it out. On the wall people spotted another Bronzy in the channel. No Jason's on the Hydroids though, shame!

Near the end of the dive I was taking a few shots of a Verco's when I got tapped on the shoulder. 'Going up', signalled my buddy. As I spun round I signalled OK and noticed a very light sensation - I was heading up!? Dump Valve open, BCD empty - still going up! Starting at 7m I didn't have too much time, so decided to fin down to the overhang rock and see what was going on. Ahhh!! When I spun round I must have knocked and lost my weight belt. In over 1000 dives I've never lost one before. 'Well, I was over there and it's only 15m deep - still got 70 bar'. With a drysuit on and a big undersuit I was never going to control an ascent. So I started to climb down the wall - 5m down and 15m along. Phew, there it was in a heap on the floor. How do you put these things on again :D  After catching my breath I though I'd treat myself to an ascent and stop on the anchor chain - all's well and safe again.

On the chain there were 2 schools of Koheru (one of juveniles and another larger one) cruising under the boat and round the entrance to the arch. Knowing my camera wouldn't be able to do it justice I was happy just to watch. A couple of minutes passed and suddenly all the Koheru were heading my way in a big hurry. Seconds later it was clear why - 20+ BIG Kingfish came up the channel looking for trouble. They shot past me and into the retreating schools - BAM! What a way to end an interesting dive.

We also managed to get to The Canyons, Middle Arch, another Bronzy at Ngaio Rock, a few more at Cream Gardens and a  quick look round the Waikato. All that and a bit of sun - who'd believe it was the winter solstice?