My life continues to be really exiting and very busy! In the past week I have taken Guppy out two times to the Poor Knights, flown a plane went on a night dive, started my rescue course and have bio security messing up my plans because there’s something growing on Guppy’s hull… pfew well and then the all day life things like working and trying to organize my life in between of course. This whole week has been beautiful sailing weather and I was keen on taking Guppy out again. So I decided to sail her to the Poor Knights islands on my day off, just to show her the beautiful nature and island where I am working every day on the dive boats. A couple days later I took her out again when “Dive! Tutukaka” was having a first trial run of a new product ; overnight stay aways! I had a lovely sail over there with some of the “Dive! Tutukaka” crew onboard Guppy and the other crew on El Tigre, one of the diveboats. I did my first night dive which was really amazing! Seeing all the torches underwater and trying to keep orientation while looking at the underwater nightlife was so cool! The next morning we did a early morning dive which was maybe even more epic as we saw a Bronze Whaler shark passing us about 3 meters away! When we came back in Tutukaka the next day I set of to Whangarei airport to meet Bernie Massey the owner of a small two person airplane. I had met him the day before in Tutukaka and he spontaneously invited me for a flight in his plane. After a little bit of explaining about the plane and the wind I figured that the wing of a plane is actually very similar to a sail. We flew around Northland from the east coast to the west coast and back to the bay of islands and then down the coast with a little break at the Whangarei gliding club. New Zealand looked even more amazing from the sky with heaps of green, forest, farms and beautiful blue water dotted with islands and boats. I got to fly for a bit as well, which I think went reasonably well as we were still alive after that. Flying is bit like diving, you have to look all around you to see everything and just going trough the air, this is an amazing feeling where you aren’t actually anywhere but just flying. After a few loops and acrobatics we made our way back to Whangarei with a little detour so I could see Guppy from the sky. After the flight and once back in Tutukaka I made my way to the classroom because I just started my Padi Rescue Course. The last course before becoming a dive master. At the end of the week I felt like I hadn’t slept at all, so last night I slept for almost 12 hours straight before another busy day. I hadn’t really planned to do anything for today and just take it easy but then fate decided that that’s not an option for me. So after a nice morning walk to the dive shop and back I found bio security waiting for me, telling me only things that I don’t want to hear. They had been diving in the marina to check for Fanworm, a type of anemone that grows on the bottom of the hull and they try to keep it out of the Northland. Apparently it’s a very fast growing species very common in auckland wich is where I got it. If it spreads it will overtake in majority very quickly. So just because they found a couple of these little things on Guppy’s hull I have to pay a fee and I’m not allowed to take Guppy out, dive under the boat or touch the hull until everything is clear. So instead of having a nice quiet day I learned a lot about biosecurity and Fanworms which at the end of the day I started to dislike more and more especially the ones that decided to settle on Guppy’s hull.

Laura