We spent the night at the Putangirua Pinnacles campground and hiked up to these spectacular landforms that are featured in LOTR's Return of the King. These are SO much cooler than you can possibly capture in pictures because you can see them up-close as you walk along the dry streambed. In my opinion, a must-do for the North Island!
With seas calm, Mac took a dip off the coast near Ngawe, which is known for its spearfishing. However, it's not known for its water clarity. Mac said it was spooky diving with the seals in murky water. Here you can see one checking Mac out from the ledge above him:
Mac found a couple lobsters but both were too small by two millimeters--shucks! Rock lobsters here (colloquially known as crayfish or crays) look a lot like Florida lobsters, but have larger pincers. You are not allowed to spear them, but must take them with a noose (not spring-loaded) or by hand. In the videos we've seen of lobster diving here, the freedivers just snatch them with their hands. You check their underbellies first to see if they're females, and then measure the tail. Minimum size is measured by tail girth (at second segment) instead of length, and they have to be quite large to be legal.
Mac did manage to collect more paua, and found the other common species (yellow-footed abalone). These have a much smaller minimum legal size. We ate both raw as sashimi with a spritz of lemon juice, wasabi, and soy sauce, and after comparison I think that the black-footed ones are better-tasting. Here are some fritters I made in the style of conch fritters-- yummy!!
Next entry: All about Palmy!