As I lifted effortlessly towards the mercury-glazed mirror of trapped air above me, I felt like a character in a science fiction movie.  I pushed a neoprene-gloved hand through the bubble, and slid a full head and shoulders into the dimly lit dome of air.  I was in Bernies Cave, Middle Arch, Poor Knights Island, some 14 metres under the sea level, 24 kilometres from Tutukaka in Northland, New Zealand.

Thanks to the organising of Trade Me colleague, Matt Duguid, I’ve just returned from three days of diving the Poor Knights Islands, aboard the good ship Mazurka. The PKs are rated as one of the top ten dive sites on Earth by none other than Jacques Cousteau.  It was formed as New Zealand’s second marine reserve (no fishing or disturbing marine life for 800m acround the islands) in 1981.

The sight of XOS Snapper, crays and Moki proved difficult to resist for some of our team, more commonly used to diving for a feed of kai in the Marlborough Sounds.  Instead, we kept busy taking video and photos.

Here’s some footage filmed by Matt of myself (with torch) and Daniel Feutz cruising through Northern Arch, surrounded by circling kingfish, huge snapper, trevelly, sandagers and demoiselles.  This huge archway (43m from sea level to sea floor) provides food-bearing currents with fish lining up to dine and incredible water clarity as you can see in the video.  This location was one of the most spectacular dives I have experienced.  We’re sitting at around 30 metres deep, Matt is filming from 35 metres.

Here are a few assorted photos from the trip (click on them to enlarge).

Here are three photos just in from amateur cameraman, Tapio Sorsa, in Valencia for the celebrations.

Andy Seybold has left the country. I got a chance to take him out for a few drinks (we were going sailing until the wind got up) and he’s a hellishly interesting fella - an independent guru who should be used to advise our government on spectrum, the realities of WiFi and Wimax. Thanks for coming down for Convergence, Andy. Nice to see you again.

The Xero IPO is covered again by Mark Clare at Valuecruncher. He comments that they are projecting breakeven at 8000 customers but breakeven is not planned for at least 3 years. Xero is particularly well known in the Wellington IT & accounting sectors but will need to invest in brand-building right across the SME space to better these conservative assumptions. I agree with Mark’s assessment that Xero would be an excellent trade buy for a multinational accounting software provider much like the 42 Below sale to Bacardi. 42 Below built a powerful stable of brands to reach first-to-mind status locally and a loyal consumer market in many countries. Geoff Ross is a very good marketer.

I also liked Lance Wiggs’ assessment on Xero in his second post on the matter. From the talk around town I am convinced the IPO will go very well for Rod and his team. But Lance, Mark et al - please keep the insightful analysis coming, through to the offer’s closure at the end of May. I wonder if Rowan Simpson is heading to Xero now?

With a first name like his, Victor Matfield was born to win. Congratulations to the Bulls on a thrilling contest against the Sharks. BTW, it’s time for Percy Montgomery to retire.

And congrats to Dean Barker and the Emirates Team New Zealand crew for being only one win away from the Louis Vuitton Cup final against Luna Rossa Challenge. I can’t see Chris Dickson coming back from here.

I hope you enjoyed my Sunday People column. If you do like, I’ll give it another crack next week.

Tapio Sorsa shot this footage whilst I helmed Farr 1020, Resolve, off White Island in the Bay of Plenty earlier this month. The water was crystal clear. Thanks to Jason Martin for tidying up the Panasonic IXUS still camera video and converting it.

I’m back from a stunning fair weather sail around the East Cape with a clear head and a To-Do list a mile long. This shot shows White Island looking pristine and primitive on Saturday morning. The dolphins turned on their magic to see us across the Bay of Plenty. We shot some video footage. I’ll post a link soon.

I received this spectacular photograph today. Cheers for the mail. It was shot by Rich Roberts from Underthesun.com. It’s an Andrews80 called Magnitude winning the Newport to Ensenada Race last week. What beautiful, oily, still water.

I’ve been invited to crew a Farr1020 travelling from Tauranga to Napier this weekend so I hope to be back posting on Monday. It’s a 30-40 hour haul around the East Cape. I hope we see some other large mammals on the water. And I hope the water is as glassy as this!

If a barge capsizes in Wellington harbour and no one reports it for two days, did it really happen? Or did I just miss this …

Barge capsize poses no risk to Wellington harbour shipping

The 28-metre steel barge Kimihia capsized at about 3.00am on Saturday 14 April, dumping about 300 tonnes of rocks into the Wellington harbour channel just north of Barrett Reef.Greater Wellington Regional Council Harbourmaster, Captain Mike Pryce, said a hydrographical survey conducted by NIWA for him showed that the dumped rocks do not pose a danger to surface navigation.Good on the Wellingtonista for reporting this.

So Team NZ beat Alinghi two zip last Friday in Valencia. Even after losing both starts. Was Alinghi sandbagging? If not, then we’ve given them three months to catch up.

I don’t think we should have raced the defender this close to the America’s Cup start. We raced Nippon seven years ago in Auckland when we were defender, breaking a gentleman’s agreement where the challengers keep their powder dry until the first race of the AC. Or was it a condition of the deposit we gratefully accepted from Ernesto Bertarelli that enabled us to play in the sandpit this time ’round? What do you think?

A few things reported on Sailing Anarchy — the site that broke the secret race results:
The other challengers call us B-linghi thanks to that loan;
If Alinghi was foxing, then everyone loses but them;
If Alinghi wasn’t foxing, then everyone loses but them;
We shouldn’t have put our fastest boat into Act 13 yesterday so the other challengers don’t benefit from the two secret races (this didn’t come to pass because of the fickle winds).

All this is starting to get me buzzing about the Louis Vuitton which kicks off on April 16.