Came across this critter 3 or 4 miles off Cape Brett. Sent the photo to Kelly Tarltons, who sent it onto Dan Godoy, a marine reseracher with a special interest in turtles he came back with this: "it's an olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea). This sighting is quite special in that it's a great photo (aesthetically and for identification purposes) and given that we rarely get reports of this species in the wild and in what appears to be in a healthy condition. Nearly all our records come from stranded animals (dead and alive) so this record is valuable." An olive ridley, pretty cool. I've only seen one other turtle in the Bay and that was back in the 80's, much bigger than this one.

Having fun playing with the 10 stop filter.  The first shot below is taken late afternoon using it, turning a 1/60th into a 30 second exposure. Got the boat doing a full circle in that 30 seconds, the lightwave just above the horizon is the path of the sun through the frame with a bit of gentle swell giving the up and down movement.  The shortest day of the year produced a gorgeous mirror flat evening.

We anchored in the shallow side of Entico Bay Friday night, rowed over to the big Pohutukawa at dusk and got some shots of the 40 odd resident shags there. Beautiful birds, think they were a mix of Black and Pied.

Went for an early morning walk around Moturua Island, took a couple of hours wandering around taking pics. Middle of January and not another soul in sight. Gorgeous sandy beaches, Mangahawea on the western side was being patrolled by dotterill and oyster catchers. 

Love Christmas/New Year away on the boat. Truckloads of boaties and island campers in the Bay, perfect for people and boat watching. Couple of shots from the tall ships race included. The 28' gaffer with the painted mainsail is 100 years old, the owners sailed her out from the UK with two small kids - fantastic.

Just back from a week onboard Cinquante, a comfy 58' Pelin Envoy, five of us, four mad keen fishos and one marine reserve fanatic. Apart from a snotty SW on the way down to the Barrier we had a brilliant week of weather.

Been having a play with the Lee Big Stopper, a long exposure filter that reduces the amount of light entering your lens by ten stops. Great for getting water movement in the daytime. Something normally shot at 1/250th becomes a 4 second exposure. Wish it fitted my 14-24 wide angle!