Two Fathom Reef

April 3, 2021

On the second day of diving we headed out at noon for Mayor Island.

Off to Mayor Island

I'd heard good things about the diving at Mayor Island and was not disappointed. It's almost as good as the Poor Knights Islands, excellent visability, lots of wildlife, interesting sites, and warm waters. I think the only missing aspect would be if the entire island was a marine reserve instead of just a quarter of it.

Mayor Island

The first site of the day was Two Fathom Reef.

Mayor Island

We descended and were immediately surrounded by schools of various fishes with kingfish making appearances in the background.

Blue Maomao?

Schooling Fish

Koheru

Leatherjacket

Lots of critters on the reef too. I was really happy with finding these three shrimp. They can be difficult to spot. Looks closely and you'll see the yellow eyes and stalks and follow down from there to their bodies. There was a good size nudibranch too.