Yesterday, we were in Auckland running some errands. Our friends, Ali and Cameron had moved to Mexico a couple of weeks ago, and they had entrusted their SCUBA tanks with us until they are back in about 2 years time. After finishing our errands, we decided to jump into Lake Pupuke for a dive!... It is free, near to Auckland (about 20 mins drive from the city), it's freshwater and IT'S FREE!
The lake is a volcano, about 150,000 years old. It is an explosion crater and so forms a basin rather than a hill or mountain. When volcanic activity ceased, the crater filled with fresh water, forming a 107-hectare lake. As well as diving, it is now used for water sports such as sailing and kayaking.
When we arrived at the lake, we couldn't believe our eyes! There was a couple who parked their car by the roadside, blasting their awful music so loud you can hear it from the end of the road, and they were dancing on the grass lawn near to the lake! We sat in the van and ate our sandwich, hoping they would leave soon! Fortunately, they finally got tired of people staring at them as though they are weirdos, and were gone just before we finished our sandwiches.
Took a quick inspection of the lake..It wasn't pretty, the water was greenish-grey..visibility was not good, but hey, IT'S FREE! Hannah was complaining the whole time when we were gearing up - " the weather is cold, the water looks cold, the water looks grey, there are lots of swan and duck poos everywhere etc". She was having problems getting into the twin 10Ls..she was used to the twin 12L and the 10Ls were short which makes gearing up a challenge!
Hannah finally got sick of the challenging gearing up process while fighting with gravity and decided she would put on her gear in the water. This was the most unorganized Hannah I ever seen stepping out into the water! :)
The dive was a bit boring, the visibility was indeed not too good. There wasn't much aquatic life except a few rainbow trout following us around. We could probably see about 3 meters ahead of us. The turning point of the dive was when we found a cave line which was laid by some other divers. Wham! We decided to follow it and see where it goes. It went on for about 30 mins and it was still going. At this point I was feeling a bit cold, and decided we would come back again to investigate where the line ends, and maybe we would extend it further! :)
While we were packing up after the dive, we had a quick and fun chat with an old English fisherman about fly fishing, rainbow trouts and the best baits for catching fishes. Awesome dive...we will be back soon.
Bottom time : 40 mins
Max depth : 13 meters
Avg depth : 9 meters
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