Wow what a fantastic week!
Saturday 15th drive to Wellington
Sunday Ferry to Picton then get gear sorted on the boat
Monday. Weather was really crap. Lots of wind and raining so no chance to get around Cape Jackson. But we did manage to get a dive or two done in the inner sounds. I managed to see my first seahorse which was a really buzz, grab a few scallops and play with an Octopus for a little while. Some decided to do a night dive also, but I decided to give it a miss.
Tuesday Up early and off around the cape. Weather had sorted its self out and today was the first in a series of great days.
Christian, Phil and I descended down to the engine room vent for a quick look then headed aft to the pool, along thru the winter garden, games arcade Nevsky bar and into the Bolschoi bar. The vis was pretty poor on the outside and a little better on the inside.
Dive # 2 Christian and I dropped down to Loading door # 2 for a quick look inside, then towards the bow to check out the forward cargo hatch and the Bolschoi bar again. The Bolschoi is a great easy penetration dive with many openings along the top (port side) and forward side. Being 2 levels where the dance floor is gives it heaps of space. Tables are still there bolted to the floor.
Wednesday Vis was even worse today. Christian Phil and I tried to find the engine hatch again for a look inside but missed it all together. In fact the vis was less than a meter around that area and I soon lost both buddies and the wreck for a while.
Anyway soon found them again and we headed up to the Bow area into the bridge and back into the Bolschoi bar yet again before returning to the line.
Dive #2 Christian and I decided to try the Leningrad restaurant. This was probably the scariest dive of the week with some relatively deep penetration. Next to no ambient light thru the small port holes. It silted up rather easily so instead of hanging around to long we exited and headed into the foyer, accommodation and then officers mess before returning to the line.
Dive #3 was for some Port Gore scallops. Man these were huge!! and oh so tasty.
Thursday Last dive on the Lermi. Christian Phil and I decided to try the engine room again. Vis in there was quite good although Christian reckons he had seen it heaps better. This was a very cool dive indeed with its large open spaces, pipes, valves and gauges everywhere. Then back out for another dive in the pool, Wintergarden, arcade, cinema Nevsky bar and one last dive thru the Bolschoi bar.
Dive #2 was the
Lastingham wreck. Well it was for a few while some of us headed out to deeper water to try and find some plates and bottles that have been washed off the wreck. It was a long hard swim out to the 35 meter mark where we saw a few small sharks and not much else. We decided to turn the dive as Phil and I had started clocking up some deco. On the way back in we started finding stuff. I got 3 bottles one of which is still full with cork intact and a porcelain saucer ( which turned out to have a NZ railways logo on it
). A long hard swim back to the shallows with a 26 minute deco obligation meant I had plenty of time to check out the varied fish life in the 3- 6 meter range.
Dive #3 was a very relaxing night dive with several carpet sharks, wandering anemones and heaps of blue cod.
Friday Last dive day and we headed back to the Lastingham for another dive. This time I decided to have a good look at the wreck. I was surprised as to how big it is. She covers quite a bit of area and has heaps of life on her.
Dive #2 was in the sounds again exploring some great kelp covered boulders with the occasional sight of crays.
Saturday A relaxing morning then ferry crossing to Wellington before the big drive back to Auckland. Home around 3.30am.
All in all it was a fantastic trip with no real disappointments at all.
Sure we lost a days diving on the Lermi due to weather and the vis wasnt the best but it really didnt matter all that much. The wreck lived up to my expectations.
Brent from Dive Marlborough was a great skipper and put on a most excellent trip. His cooking isnt half bad either.
Topaz II is a nice spacious boat and it never ever felt too cramped with 9 POB.
I cant wait to get back there and spend some more time on the Rusty Rusky!
