Former HMNZS Wellington is down

[Azza]

F69, the Former HMNZS Wellington was sunk yesterday at 15.30 hours. She is sitting upright in 26 metres of water in Island Bay, Wellington, 800 metres from my back door step.
We did a night dive on her last night at 20.30 hrs, 4 hours after she had been down, and my wife Katie has the great honour of being the first ever woman to do a night dive on her. She was also the second ever woman to dive her, after Wellingtons mayor-who I trained and certified as an AOW diver two weeks ago.

The viz was a fantastic 15 metres, unusual for Wellington, and a great dive was had by all.

 

[AndyNZ]

Go on, rub it it why don't you!? Had hoped to dive the F69 today after a trip to the Lermentov..... but had to can both as was rostered for an O/W course this weekend.

Friends diving it today, so no doubt will get a barrage of messages later about what a great trip I missed out on

Glad the sinking went ok, looking forward to a trip down maybe sometime early in the New Year.

 

[Azza]

Go on, rub it it why don't you!? Had hoped to dive the F69 today after a trip to the Lermentov..... but had to can both as was rostered for an O/W course this weekend.

Friends diving it today, so no doubt will get a barrage of messages later about what a great trip I missed out on

Glad the sinking went ok, looking forward to a trip down maybe sometime early in the New Year.

Well to be honest Andy the Lermontov is a far better dive in respect that it is a real wreck, however the F69 is quite a pleasant dive, and I am sure it will be a challenge for noobs.
I have some great photo's of the sinking and as soon as I figure out how to upload them I will.

 

[Daryl Morse]

That's pretty cool. I arrived in Wellington late last night and I saw the footage of her sinking on TV this morning. Last time I was here, she was tied up right in front of the location where I attended a meeting. I'm here with one of her former COs and he didn't make it down from Auckland in time to attend the event. Sigh... Maybe next time I come to Wellington, I'll be able to find the time to dive her myself.

 

[Azza]

That's pretty cool. I arrived in Wellington late last night and I saw the footage of her sinking on TV this morning. Last time I was here, she was tied up right in front of the location where I attended a meeting. I'm here with one of her former COs and he didn't make it down from Auckland in time to attend the event. Sigh... Maybe next time I come to Wellington, I'll be able to find the time to dive her myself.

As it's only 15 minutes from Downtown you havnt really got an excuse to miss it next time you are in town Daryl
Make sure you come with Splash Gordon Dive Specialists as we have the best crew and the best boat, and the biggest enthusiasm!!

 

[AndyNZ]

Well to be honest Andy the Lermontov is a far better dive in respect that it is a real wreck, however the F69 is quite a pleasant dive, and I am sure it will be a challenge for noobs.

Yeah, but I missed out on the Lermontov as well......

It's going to be interesting to watch how the F69 changes over time, I definitely want to get down fairly soon and get some photos to remember and document the development of the ship as a marine ecosystem.

I've been doing the same with the Waikato over the last two years or so, but to chart the "growth of a reef" from scratch would be amazing.

 

[Azza]

It's going to be interesting to watch how the F69 changes over time, I definitely want to get down fairly soon and get some photos to remember and document the development of the ship as a marine ecosystem.

I've been doing the same with the Waikato over the last two years or so, but to chart the "growth of a reef" from scratch would be amazing.

Quite right. I intend on taking the shop camera down as much as possible over the next few years to do the same. It will be very interesting

 

[Daryl Morse]

She was also the second ever woman to dive her, after Wellingtons mayor-who I trained and certified as an AOW diver two weeks ago.

I got to hear about the mayor's dive first hand. I sat beside her on a flight from Wellington to Sydney on Tuesday morning. Quite a coincidence.

 

[Daryl Morse]

As it's only 15 minutes from Downtown you havnt really got an excuse to miss it next time you are in town Daryl
Make sure you come with Splash Gordon Dive Specialists as we have the best crew and the best boat, and the biggest enthusiasm!!

When I plan my next trip to Wellington, I'll try and work a weekend there in to my schedule. As it was, this time, I hung out in Sydney so I could dive there.

 

[SeanQ]

It's pretty hard to beat living 800 meters away from a wreck like that.

When I plan my next trip to Wellington, I'll try and work a weekend there in to my schedule. As it was, this time, I hung out in Sydney so I could dive there.

Eventually you're going to end up planning trips back to Vancouver.