Comments for Auckland University Underwater Club

Comment on Season’s Greetings by Ming

Ming — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:15:17 +0000

Would have thought you would have photoshopped a nudibranch ali! :p season’s greetings from HK

Comment on Sunken German U-boat discovered off Kaipara Coast by altitudewarrior

altitudewarrior — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:45:20 +0000

I am pretty sure the larger of the two U-boats in this picture is U-861, sister ship to U-862 which sailed around NZ in 1945. U-861 returned to Europe in 1944.

The smaller one beside it was a type VII which were mostly limited to the North Atlantic. 42 U-boat sailed for Asia during WW2 mostly in 1944. Only five returned and five were captured in Asian ports. The rest being sunk.

Comment on Sunken German U-boat discovered off Kaipara Coast by altitudewarrior

altitudewarrior — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:27:44 +0000

The submarine in your photo appears to be a World War 1 K class boat which was unusual because when surfaced it was coal fired and steam powered.

Please could you replace it with a WW2 type IX-D2 U-boat to reflect the Monsun U-boats which operated around New Zealand in 1945 ?

Comment on Sunken German U-boat discovered off Kaipara Coast by altitudewarrior

altitudewarrior — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:23:28 +0000

I’ve been in contact with Noel Hilliam one of three people to have dived this wreck. The only U-boat which it is likely to be is the U-196 which departed Djakarta in November 1944 and along with U-537 and U-862 intended to sail around Australia. U-862 circumnavigated New Zealand in early 1945 and returned to Singapore.

The wreck was discovered in 1981 when it snagged a mullet net whose owners dived to free their net. The wreck was lost under sand and not rediscovered until January 2006. The bow is still air tight.

Comment on White Island by Mike

Mike — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:19:57 +0000

Awesome photos Ali! There are some very unusual nudibranchs - need one of your books to identify them.

Comment on Snapper, hoki, tuna on the don’t-eat list by Greenpeace

Greenpeace — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:09:21 +0000

The full guide is available online at

http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/sos/red-list

Comment on Sharkwater by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:43:39 +0000

Sharkwater is an amazing film! If you’re not going on the club dive trip to the Bay of Islands then you should definitely make an effort to see this film.

Comment on Husband murdered wife on honeymoon dive, coroner told by Ali Perkins

Ali Perkins — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:51:52 +0000

Fair comments. However, I’ve read that air embolisms can occur after death too, when a body is brought back to the surface, as the lungs don’t vent their air. This could have been a post-fatality occurrence.

I also wouldn’t assume that a coroner in Queensland, especially Townsville, doesn’t know anything about scuba diving. As far as I can tell, there are fatalities on the Great Barrier Reef every year, so if there was anywhere in the world where a coroner might know something about scuba diving it would be there. In 1998 alone there were 7 recreational scuba fatalities in Queensland.

Comment on Husband murdered wife on honeymoon dive, coroner told by jmontgomery2

jmontgomery2 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:06:20 +0000

After reading the entire text of the “Findings of Inquest”, one thing really leapt out at me in the autopsy report; “Radiology: The body shows florid evidence of air embolism”. Now how do they get murder out of that one? This is much more consistent with the husbands explanation than the prosecutors. An air embolism would explain a lot. She was a novice diver (was she even certified?) and if she indeed did panic, the tendency would have been for her to hold her breath and head for the surface, which is the worst thing a diver can do. An air gas embolism is where the lungs over-pressurize and force air bubbles into the bloodstream and you get either stroke like or heart attack like symptoms, which by the way includes unconsciousness and death.

My sympathies go to the ladies family, but this looks more like a tragic diving accident than murder. The coroner I suspect, doesn’t know anything about scuba diving or else he might realize that his theory of the incident is completely unsupported by the autopsy report.

Comment on Glamour slugs of the sea by Prez

Prez — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:33:17 +0000

Woah! That was awesome, thanks Ali!
I think your starting to rub off on me, I find myself spending dives hovering 3cm above the surface of a rock; and seeing more than on a whole dives worth of power swimming…