Bounty Divers - Norfolk Island

Rob Morley

As much as I hate posting Robs pictures, they show my photos up for the shockers that they are, I thought it would be the best thing to show off how great the diving really is here on Norfolk Island.

Rob came to visit Norfolk when Chantelle and I had only just taken over Bounty Divers. Rob is one of the first serious divers and serious photographers to visit us here on Norfolk.

Diving with Rob was a pleasure and I'm sure you will enjoy his pictures as much as we do.

DOLPHINS

DOLPHINS Earlier this month we were diving from the shore at Cascade pier. What was just our normal shore dive, maximum depth of 16m and 20 - 30 meters vis

The coolest thing ever happened we were swimming along and two wild dolphins swam along in front of us.

Dolphins are commonly seen around Norfolk, but this is the first time that Bounty Divers has seen them underwater while diving. What an amazing experience and the guys that were diving with us could not believe what they were seeing, especially during a shore dive.

Almost all the dives on Norfolk Island are close to the island and would more than likely be shore dives, however the towering cliff faces make it difficult to get gear down to the water and back... making boat diving absolutely essential.

Getting back to the Dolphins. I have been very lucky personally to have encountered wild dolphins while diving. The first time was in Mozambique and the second time was right here at home on Norfolk. But if I get to see wild dolphins in the water again some time in my diving years I will be a very happy camper.

Sick turtle Norfolk Island

Sick Turtle on Norfolk Island

This little fella was found on Slaughter Bay Norfolk Island one evening. He was not doing very well at all. The local vet gave him a shot of anti biotics and hoped for the best. The very next morning he was gone and it would seem that all was fine. He was so bad as you can see from one of the photos he couldnt even pull his head out of the sand washing around him. So the fact that he had moved at all over the night makes us think that the shot did the trick.

Bounty Divers quite often sees turtles while snorkelling and diving around the island. The majority are green turtle however we do see others from time to time.

Where these turtles come from or are born is very much a topic to argue on the island, but at

Bounty Divers we do not believe that they are born locally. Without serious research this argument will never be settled. Regardless of where they come from we do see alot of them and often, however they arent used to humans due to the relatively low number of visitors here on Norfolk, so do not tend to hang around for very long once they realise we are in the water with them.

If you ever get to Norfolk Island and get the chance to come diving with us here at Bounty Divers we will try our very best to dive with these magnificent creatures. SORRY, no money back guarantees though

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.

This is the newest addition to the Bounty Divers family on Norfolk Island.

4.05am on the 25th Jan 2009 Chantelle gave birth to Ashton Edward

Its a little too soon to speculate when his first dive will be...

Bounty Divers Norfolk Island

This is Bounty Divers on Norfolk Islands latest recruit. Baby James is just like his dad and loves getting in the water. This is his first official swim lesson buut I dont think thbat it will be long before we have a reg in his mouth...

James and Chantelle are the owners of Bounty Divers on Norfolk Island and the photos are of Baby James our son. Baby James loves the water especially when we go down to Norfolk's amazing Emily Bay.