37
COROMANDEL LIFE
SPRING 2013
THIS IS A PERSONAL STORY
from a
passionate diver about a breathtaking
underwater land, one which I have
come to call home. I had only seen
pictures and read a bit about the
Aldermen Islands off the east coast of
the Coromandel, but what I ultimately
beheld, I would never let go of.
After arriving
from London in 2009, I spent
the entire summer guiding dives around the
Aldermans – fantastical rock formations
created by the remnants of an ancient
volcano. After searching for work as a Dive
Master through PADI, I was brought on by
the dive shop at the base of Tairua’s Paku
Mountain, now called Tairua Dive & Marine.
From my first dive, as I mapped out routes
to guide fellow divers, I immediately felt at
peace and drawn to go back – the friendly
nature of the sandaggers wrasse, the
shy but cheeky personality of the
leatherjacket (I knew as trigger
fish from my diving in Egypt), the
‘threatening-but-laughable’ display
of the moray eels and the stealth
beauty of the eagle ray sidling
along beside me.
Throughout the summer I started to fall
in love – every dive site had a secret, and
every diver surfaced with a story. “That
crayfish was a MONSTER!” and “I had to
take about 12 pictures of that nudibranch…
soooo cute!” to “Did you see Nemo?! He
chased me away from his anemone!!”
I got to dive Honeycomb Cave regularly
and became familiar with where Mr.
Granddaddy stingray hung out. If you catch
the surge at just the right time you can
‘Superman’ out of the arches and back out
into the ocean toward your boat without
even a fin kick!
At Orca Bay, known also as ‘Fish Soup’, we
would jump in before the divers and crack
open a few kina (sea urchin) on the bottom.
Within 30 seconds we were surrounded
by every fish imaginable from tiny little sea
horses bobbing about obsessing at their
reflections in our masks to the protective
dance of the red moki that mate for life.
We had an underwater slate displaying
NZ marine life, and at the end of the day
(having a nice cold beer and a BBQ at the
dive shop), we would fill out our log books
and cross off the fish we saw. We called it
‘Fish Bingo’!
I remember the first time I dived Len’s Reef
– I was in weightless awe of this 70m+ deep
drop off! I felt like I was in a giant aquarium
but was in complete control of where I went
and what I saw. It was apparent why it is
considered an advanced divers dive.
Crying into my mask from all the spiritual
energy swimming around me, I turned to
see a school of inquisitive blue and pink
mao mao above. To my left (out to the deep
blue yonder), I saw a bait ball of koheru and
then in an instant, a 17k Kingfish majestically
gliding through.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as I
turned around and looked down at a great
wall of diverse sea life – an octopus flashing
as it had all tentacles in a crack trying to
fish out something yummy, a surreptitious
looking crayfish eyeing me from a ledge and
a shifty looking crab thinking “look, take the
crayfish, not me!”
Continuing along the contour from 24m up to
18m, I saw a large blue shadow to my right.
Something big could see me, yet I couldn’t
see it. A whale? Shark? Marlin? Excited, I
never saw what it was and it didn’t come
back, but it left me with an open imagination.
There is a dive here for everyone, from
6m ‘Fish Soup’ to the 70m drop into the
‘Aquarium’ at Lens Reef. This truly is the most
diverse underwater playground imaginable,
and I cannot wait to share it with you.
THE COURT
OF THE ALDERMEN
By Lauren Moore
PADI Dive Instructor
7 The Esplanade
Paku Boat Ramp, Tairua
P: 07 864 8800 M: 021 1457 365
E:
• DIVE TRIPS
• DIVE COURSES
• DIVE EQUIPMENT
• AIR FILLS
• EQUIPMENT SERVICING
• HIRE GEAR
• BAIT AND BERLEY
• CHANDLERY
• FISHING GEAR
• KAYAK HIRE
DIVE-VERSITY AT ITS BEST!
Lauren Moore moved to NZ from
London 4 years ago. She now lives
in Tairua following her passions in
life – diving, cooking and horses.
She is a PADI Dive Instructor, EFR
Instructor, Zumba Instructor, Horse
Handler, and Chef at The Pepe.
