aatuti

The Norfolk Island Aatuti

In the waters around Norfolk Island the you are alwats guaranteed to see a number of local fish. Amongst these is the fish we call the Aatuti.

The aatuti is an excitable little bugger that will swim right up to you, despite its small size, and audibly warn you off with a loud noise that sounds like "book book". This is the reason that on Lord Howe Island they call it the Book Book fish.

Norfolk Islanders grow up rock fishing with bamboo poles off the rocky shore around the island. Small reef fish such as the Aatuti are very often a local delicacy, with the whole family going swimming and fishing in the traditional ways, then cooking up a fresh lunch right there on the beach.

These days as the owner and operator of Bounty Divers, I tend not to fish as much as I used to when I was a kid growing up here on Norfolk Island, and instead prefer to watch or photgraph them in there natural environment. Just have a look at this little bugger swimming right up into the lense.

Dolphins on Norfolk Island

Bounty Divers Norfolk Island snorkel tour.

The day was drawing to an end after some really nice snorkelling around Crystal Pool and Nepean Island. As we were heading back to Kingston Jetty ayoung girl on the boat casually said "dolphins". The dolphins swam straight in from about 300 meters off and made a B line straight for the bow. I handed the driving over to Micheal the DM trainee and went straight up to the Bow with Jarrods camera and snapped a few shots.

Dolphins are very common in the waters around Norfolk Island but it is always nice when they show up and even better when they hang around and play in the bow wave of the boat.

I especially like the photo above with my skanky toe in the photo it gives a sense of how close these gorgeous animals really get.

Bounty Divers run dive tours, snorkel tours and scenic boat tours every day of the week all year round on Norfolk Island, we would love to show you some of the sights.