February 2012

Our new book, Know Your New Zealand Fishes is now out. Get a copy at your local bookshop or email us.
Blue, blue skies and clear water at the start of February. The visibility in the water is just amazing and I can't wait to get back in tomorrow. Come and stay this month in our Bed and breakfast and you too can enjoy the sea.
Yesterday we dived at the Outpost with our bed and breakfast guests, Gail and John. Visibility the best we have seen. The usual hundreds of colourful goatfish, yellow and black sponges, schools of sweep, parore, blue maomao, Jack mackerel and more. One octopus, a couple of large blue moki and one John dory. Such nice conditions at one of our favourites dive sites.

January 2012

Having fun at Goat Island

Welcome to 2012. Weather has been changeable but the last few days of the month were great. We've taken heaps of visitors on guided snorkelling experiences and have also been out for a few scuba dives. Good visibility and calm conditions.  Checkout our website on www.discovergoatisland.co.nz and you can see vacancies on the Book It link for our bed and breakfast. Our b and b guests have enjoyed snorkelling, kayaking, walking, exploring and dining out at Leigh.
Just received our first copy of our new book "Know Your New Zealand Fishes" published by New Holland and out early next month. 

December 2011

Flowering Pohutukawa Tree

We escaped for a 2-week break. Firstly 3 nights in Sydney, then off to Lord Howe Island. What a magic place! If you're a nature lover then that's the place to be for the birds, the bush, the marine life both diving and snorkelling and much more. Hire a bicycle to get around, enjoy the walks, and you won't want to leave.
On our return home we took quite a few snorkellers out until the rain came. Changeable weather this season!

November 2011

Kowhai Festival - Warkworth

Water conditions have been nice and clear at Goat Island and warming up rapidly with these lovely sunny days. We've been taking lots of snorkellers out this month. Now we're going on a short holiday before the busy Christmas holidays. First Sydney, then Lord Howe Island.

October 2011

Our birthday month included snorkelling with bottlenose dolphins several times, while taking out guided snorkelling tours at Goat Island. Nationalities taken snorkelling include Irish, English, American, Kiwi, Indonesian, Chinese and Indian.
Orca passed the Leigh coast at least twice, but we just had fleeting glimpses this time or arrived too late!

September 2011

A couple of nights at Wai Hou Oma Lodge at Kai Iwi Lakes. Very relaxing, wonderful gardens and lake, peaceful and plenty of good food and wine. Cycled around Lake Taharoa and Lake Waikare.
Wonderful spring weather, cool nights but sunny days. This month the Rugby World Cup games begin. Plenty of visitors to NZ and we have put up our buntings to welcome anyone coming to stay in our bed and breakfast room. Also had a few overseas groups to take snorkelling at the Goat Island Marine Reserve. If you've never tried snorkelling contact Goat Island Dive now to book the experience!

August 2011

We visited Vanuatu for a couple of weeks and dived in 26degC water. Dive sites included the famous President Coolidge, Million Dollar Point and various places at Port Vila. Our highlight was walking up Mt Yasur on Tanna Island and standing on the edge of the volcano as it spewed upwards. Wow! Back in Leigh we've had heaps of Bryde's whales off the coast and bottlenose dolphins. Went kayaking at Goat Island and saw 3 NZ fur seals.

July 2011

Winter has set in now and we're looking forward to our Vanuatu trip, just for the warmth. Had a lovely couple stay in our b&b who were visiting from New Jersey. Sunny days with showery cool weather and windy. We're hoping for a day or two away in a lovely lodge by the Kai Iwi Lakes. It's one of those amazing Grab One Deals. Also have some photo books to complete from Photo Deals. Another deal was a half-price fare to Rangitoto Island. We hadn't been there for a very long time and thoroughly enjoyed our walk to the summit and back. The wax eyes at the summit were very friendly and shared Tony's lunch.

June 2011

Delivered our finished book to publisher then caught up with family and friends. Now at last we can catch up on other things that have been mounting up. Not too cold for diving yet but seas mostly not good. Tony attended a senior fire fighters course in Mt Wellington. Photograph of 3 x Tony on beach at Goat Island. Went to the opening of the Edith Blackwell Interpretative Centre at the Leigh Marine Laboratory. Looks really good and is sure to attract heaps of visitors once officially open soon.

May 2011

Finally got to the Poor Knights for two days diving with Dive Tutukaka. Always enjoyable, colourful and fun! So much to see and photograph. Captured a few fish images for our new book plus colourful invertebrates and even some whale bones! Nice sunrise from our accommodation at the Pacific Rendezvous looking over the Tutukaka Harbour entrance and out to the Knights. Also dived at Great Barrier Island with Goat Island Dive. Photographed some cute crested blennies for our fish book.

April 2011

Weather improved and we took students from Mission Heights Junior College, snorkelling at Goat Island. Water lovely and warm - around 20degC - almost unheard of for April. Next was a school group from Rosehill Intermediate School - 66 students who enjoyed the snorkelling adventure after several postponements due to the weather. Will get back to writing our new book and going scuba diving. Planned trip to Vanuatu during winter.

March 2011

March started with good weather to take Stanley Bay Primary School students snorkelling. Next was helping the LEARNZ visit to Goat Island. March 7th spotted a giant boarfish near the beach. Visits by Thames High School and Manurewa Central School.
A couple of amazing days diving at the Knights, 25m vis, one shark, 5 long-finned boarfish, a spotted black groper, hundreds of jellyfish and thousands of fish.
Busy week with dinners at Tutukaka, Canton Cafe in Kingsland, Julie & Brian's BBQ and finally TOSSI dinner at Ransom Wines in Warkworth. Month finished with not so good weather and we had to postpone several school visits