Paua Diving

One of the unique pass times I can do only in New Zealand is diving for Paua. They are a species of Abalone endemic to NZ, a single-shelled sea snail that cling to rocks in 2-4 meters of water. The meat is black on the outside, white on the inside, and I think tastes like a cross between squid and scallops, though the meat is a little tough. Of course the shells are beautiful and worth saving for souvenirs.
There are strict regulations due to over harvesting. They can only be caught by free-diving, so no scuba equipment, I just use a snorkel. The minimum shell size is 125mm- I measured these before prying off the rocks and they turned out to be just over 125.
They grow bigger in colder water of the south, so this is the ideal place to go looking for them, its just a matter of finding sheltered bays where its actually safe to swim, the open sea is out of the question down south.
We cooked these up into Paua fritters, a classic Kiwi recipe.