Northland dive

This past 2 weeks have been a bit crazy, and it is not getting any easier next week either with the "end of semester marking craze" just around the corner! Thus, I have all the "excuses" to miss 2 weeks of Capture your 365 photo challenge :P.

Anyway, Hannah and I were to determined to squeeze in a day of diving in between all this craziness. Especially, we have not been diving together for so long, and we have not done any stage diving since our technical diving course 2 years ago! Thus, off to Northland Dive we went. Our neighbour, Corin took great care of the dogs while we were away for the day.

We had two fantastic dives on the Canterbury. The visibility was not very good, and the water was very green. This is because there is an algae bloom from the slight increase in water temperature as the season changes. We had the chance to take a few photos with the new (used) camera and underwater housing. Honestly, the photos looks horrible because I am still trying to get used to the functions etc. So bear with me with the crappy photos, but I am sure I will improve overtime :)

Mid-semester

Wow!... It's already mid semester! It is Easter this weekend, and from the look of the weather forecast, Hannah and I will probably be staying indoors.

This past week has been busy, busy and busy!... First, we spend one day diving the wreck, Canterbury at the Northland Dive. It is located at the Bay of Islands in the North Island of New Zealand. The place we stayed in is call the Cowshed, and it is about 4 hours drive from Auckland. Unfortunately, my drysuit leaked and I was so cold I had to call off the second dive. However, Hannah managed to get two great dives on the Canterbury.

After the dive, we drove Fawkes (the van!) back to Waiheke Island. After careful consideration, we decided to terminate the monthly car park in Auckland city. It is cheaper to use the car ferry after the monthly car parking fees raise to $250/ month, while the return car ferry trip is $90 for Waiheke residents! So we plan to continue working on the upgrading of Fawkes, starting with finishing the painting, and doing up the interior.

I am getting ready to go to Singapore end of next week. I am going to visit my parents since it is on the way to Taiwan, and the school is paying for it! :P I am really looking forward to visit Taiwan to scout out potential locations for my PhD field work, visiting the lab and learning some metagenomic lab techniques.

Teaching has been hectic! Luckily Hannah is helping me with the sorting of the assignments after they are marked. Cannot imagine how much time is being put in just trying to find some student who forgot to write his/her bench number!

** all photos copyright of Northland Dive