Our second dive of the day at Houghton Bay was much more eventful. It started with us encountering many blue moki feeding amongst the kelp.

Blue Moki

There were many crayfish on the site but I enjoyed this particular shot from "Alan's Crack" with crayfish legs going every direction.

Crayfish

Then I found this Pegea confoederata (Salp). There's always a blue cod around to photo bomb.

Pegea confoederata (Salp)

Salps are fascinating. I found this great article on Radio New Zealand (RNZ) about them, Salps - a surprising jelly-like relative and this infographic on their life cycle.

Salp Life Cycle

I discovered the tiniest molt of a crayfish I've ever seen. It was surprisingly tough and didn't fall apart.

Molt of a Crayfish

A nice polymastia boletiformis (sponge).

Polymastia Boletiformis (Sponge)

As we headed back to shore, we stumbled across this beautiful octopus. I suspect it was older and more mature as it didn't seem to care how close we got. It didn't really back off at all. Maybe it just didn't see us as much of a threat and was used to divers with cameras.

Octopus

And of course there was the requisite photo bomb by a blue cod!

Blue Cod Photo Bomb

I've taken to using iNaturalist NZ for fish identification and the findings for the day are at Observations on 2025-02-01.

Location: Wellington, North Island, Wellington, New Zealand

Dive Number:   267 Bottom Time: 1h 5m Time In: 1:15 p.m. Tank In: 204 PSI Max Depth: 14.10 ft Table Used:

Mix:   Air Safety Stop: 3m Time Out: 2:20 p.m. Tank Out: 50 PSI Average Depth: 7.20 ft Start Pressure Group:

Surface Interval:   1h 19m End Pressure Group:

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