One of my first proper spearfishing dives was along the boulder bank, for about 3 weeks the weather was super calm and the visibility everywhere was amazing, maybe it was partly the fact that I was a complete newbie but I haven’t really experienced warm clear water like that along the coast since.
This was of course before the days of the Horoirangi marine reserve so the whole coast from the Glenn to Cable Bay was fair game and I ended up swimming a large part of it. Since then I’ve dived a lot of different places around New Zealand, but those 3 weeks always stick in my mind.
For a while nailing kingis just out from the Glenn seemed to be a bit of an open secret between members of the Nelson Underwater Club, with the only other spearos you’d encounter out there your close mates.
As with a lot of the South Island visibility was often terrible most of the year with the occasional window of clear warm water perfect for chasing kingfish. Because of the combination of limited knowledge of the spots potential, a lot of NUC boat trips to much more remote spots and crappy vis,only a few people nailed a kingi every once and a while.
Since the creation of the marine reserve, the rise in popularity of online forums and increase in shore based divers a lot more people have figured out that one of the best spots to spear a kingi is on their doorstep and doesn’t require a boat to access.
Now locals are regularly seeing a lot more divers (experienced and inexperienced) heading off the glenn to have a go at the kingis. With a spot like this, I guess we all sort of knew that it was a matter of time before it became popular, and its just the flipside of promoting the sport we love.
If you thought having to share your spot with the masses was depressing, having a diver swim over to you with a couple of barely legal kingis to tell you about how many he had seen (and speared then lost) really rubs it in, especially when you know (thanks to online forums)that these kind of people are doing this on a pretty regular basis.
At least with the creation of the marine reserve and the massive signs marking the boundary you’re reminded when you step back onto the rocks a couple of hundred meters to your left the boulder bank is still like it was before it became “popular” and with time will hopefully become even more popular as a destination for local divers.
First published in Kiwi Spearo magazine.
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