Castaway crayfish diver still undaunted

Walter Pattinson lost his boat, endured a 40-minute swim to safety, and was stranded on a rock for five hours until he was rescued late at night by the Coastguard.
But the 82-year-old scuba diver from Paihia is keen to get back into the water - as soon as his boat, believed to be drifting toward the Cavalli Islands, is found.
The publicity-shy Mr Pattinson agreed reluctantly yesterday to recount his adventure, which started around 11am on Monday when he left Waitangi to dive for crayfish at Tikitiki or Ninepin Island, off the Purerua Peninsula.
A frequent solo diver, he usually dives to the bottom to make sure his boat is anchored securely. But not this time.
"I saw the anchor in a hole and thought that would do because the winds weren't bad, and it looked reasonably calm."
But when he surfaced, he saw the boat drifting about 300m away - and didn't fancy swimming after it against a strong current.
He then started swimming toward the nearest rocks, at Cape Wiwiki, with his air cylinder on his back.
Even a 40-minute swim - during which he tried in vain to attract the attention of passing boats with his face mask and flippers - couldn't persuade him to ditch his gear.
Mr Pattinson scrambled on to the rocks, fully expecting to be stranded there all night.
He wasn't worried about the cold because he had his wetsuit on and, for the first few hours at least, the sun kept him warm.
"My hands were a bit cold though. I bashed them and my feet around. The rocks were very sharp and it wasn't too long before the high tide started coming in."
Mr Pattinson used a fishing line to haul himself further up the rocks to keep out of reach of waves, and settled in to watch the sun set.
"Then I watched the beautiful stars. Some birds settled on the rocks and made funny sounds. I mimicked the sound back to them."
He was picked up around 10pm, still in good spirits, by the Bay of Islands Coastguard.
The Coastguard - searching a large area of sea and rocky, indented coastline by night - put the quick find down to luck.
Mr Pattinson said it was likely that his 4.3-metre boat, Silver Shadow, powered by a 15kW engine, was drifting toward the north-west.
He was optimistic it would be found because many boats frequented the waters around the Cavalli Islands, and besides, three good-sized crayfish were on board when it drifted away.
Mr Pattinson learned scuba diving from a brother-in-law about 30 years ago.
When he's not diving he works in the garden and keeps fit by cycling.
A former Auckland butcher, he opened a hotel in Whangarei before retiring to Paihia 16 years ago.