Our team from Splash Gordons Dive Specialists left Wellington at 1730 on Friday 22nd of July on board the Interisland Ferry Arahura bound for Picton in the Marlborough Sounds which are located at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. After 3.5 hours sailing we finally disembarked at around 1000 in Picton to a mild winter evening and were greeted by Richard from Moby Dicks Dive shop, based in Christchurch.
Earlier in the evening we had managed to scrounge a Tranz Rail Van to load our exhaustive load of tanks gear and weight belts into and two of the guys went in search of this valuable van. With the van found and contents unloaded onto our 12 metre dive boat we set off up the Queen Charlotte Sound to find our little Bach hidden away in the lush forests of the Marlborough Sounds.
After a beautiful 45 minute cruise, bathed in moonlight, we pulled into a reasonable sized bay and the spotlight from the boat stabbed into the darkness to find our little hidey-hole. Out of the darkness the light picked out the rickety looking jetty and the mooring lines were readied and finally deployed to tie us in for the night.
After trudging up a little muddy track through the bush we found our little abode and settled in for a few beers (Of course the author only drank water, you know, to set the example) and a good chin wag.
0600 Saturday morning we all awoke and set about cooking and scoffing our Staple Kiwi weekend breakfast of Bacon, Eggs, Sausages and sgetti before rushing down to the wharf to set up our kit. (Ok well maybe some of us did, others may have lounged around all morning)
We departed at around 0830 and headed off toward Cape Jackson, the place where it all started 19 years ago when the ship hit rocks between Cape Jackson and the Cape Jackson Lighthouse due to a huge error on part of the local pilot.
For those not in the know, the Mikhail Lermontov was on a sight seeing trip around New Zealand when the local pilot decided to steer the ship between Cape Jackson and the light house. For more info try this site. http://www.freewebs.com/cossackdivetours/finalcruise.htm
As we approached Cape Jackson we could see the aftermath of the strong norwesters that had blown in overnight and it wasnt long before we had white water over the top of the boat. At this point I have to mention that I am pretty glad I had my drysuit in the cabin as some of the others had left theirs in their gear bags on the roof of the boat. Bummer dudes.
Once through the turbulent shallow waters we set off at a great pace for Port Gore and the Lermontov.
Dive 1
We finally tied up to the mooring line set up near the bow and quickly geared up. I briefed my Student (I had an AOW student) on what I expected from him for the dive and the skills we had to complete and then we back rolled off the boat and swam for the mooring line. At about 3 msw down we could see the ship 11 metres below us and a wave of excitement grew over me(It has been a while since I had got a good wreck dive in), and Im sure the student was buzzing as well.
We stopped and hovered just over the port hull near the bridge while I checked my student was ok and then started off slowly over the side. We hit a depth of 29 metres and cruised slowly along, in mid water, past the bridge and toward the Bow. Huge big encrusted cargo davits came into view and a few lines that were crisscrossing each other were easily avoided.
We stopped and hovered mid water next to a bollard that would have once held monstrous mooring lines, and performed the narcosis test, which we both passed with flying colours (Im sure the student was relieved that I wasnt narked).
We then moved off in search of the bow, gradually decreasing our depth to save gas and ndl time and gradually came to the end of the ship and the bow. We swam back a little and then turned back to face the bow. I cant describe what an awesome feeling it was to look back and see this massive vessel resting on her starboard side.
My student gave me the Down to 100 bar signal and we decreased our depth again and moved back toward the mooring line and started slowly up the line to perform our safety stops.
Dive 2
Dive 2 was the students adventure wreck dive and as we descended down the mooring line I could see him scanning the wreck for any hazards, just as I had briefed him on before the dive.
This time instead of heading toward the bow we headed off toward the stern, as the swimming pool was our destination, and I could see The Student noting down all the hazards that were aplenty on this vessel. As all the lifeboats had been deployed during the sinking, the davits hung down, draping lifeboat lines in our path and we carefully avoided all these and swam along in mid-water above the now vertical top deck.
The ships majestic funnel came into view, and although I really wanted to check this baby out, we were on a mission and had no time for detours, especially with the way my student sucked the gas.
After about 7 minutes of swimming along at around 18 metres I noted that according to my expert navigation we were above where we would find the swimming pool, so we dropped down to around 27 metres and low and behold the gazebo that housed the swimming pool was directly in front of us. We swam up to the top of the gazebo, which of course is now on its side, and noting we had plenty of gas, we <imagined> swimming in through the 3 x 1.5 metre hole and approaching the pool. Torches pierced the darkness and located the swimming pool and we swam inside her and had a little swim. Looking around, the gazebo was rather huge, and from my slightly narced mind I estimated it was around 10 by 15 metres, plenty of space to have a look and not feel claustrophobic. After fooling around in there for a few minutes we <imaginatively> swam out the back doors and slowly ascended up the side of the vessel to the top of the wreck. Once there we made our way back to the mooring line and called the dive at 16 minutes of bottom time. We did a little extra time on the mooring line and then made our way back onto the vessel.
The student was absolutely bubbling with delight.
TBC
Earlier in the evening we had managed to scrounge a Tranz Rail Van to load our exhaustive load of tanks gear and weight belts into and two of the guys went in search of this valuable van. With the van found and contents unloaded onto our 12 metre dive boat we set off up the Queen Charlotte Sound to find our little Bach hidden away in the lush forests of the Marlborough Sounds.
After a beautiful 45 minute cruise, bathed in moonlight, we pulled into a reasonable sized bay and the spotlight from the boat stabbed into the darkness to find our little hidey-hole. Out of the darkness the light picked out the rickety looking jetty and the mooring lines were readied and finally deployed to tie us in for the night.
After trudging up a little muddy track through the bush we found our little abode and settled in for a few beers (Of course the author only drank water, you know, to set the example) and a good chin wag.
0600 Saturday morning we all awoke and set about cooking and scoffing our Staple Kiwi weekend breakfast of Bacon, Eggs, Sausages and sgetti before rushing down to the wharf to set up our kit. (Ok well maybe some of us did, others may have lounged around all morning)
We departed at around 0830 and headed off toward Cape Jackson, the place where it all started 19 years ago when the ship hit rocks between Cape Jackson and the Cape Jackson Lighthouse due to a huge error on part of the local pilot.
For those not in the know, the Mikhail Lermontov was on a sight seeing trip around New Zealand when the local pilot decided to steer the ship between Cape Jackson and the light house. For more info try this site. http://www.freewebs.com/cossackdivetours/finalcruise.htm
As we approached Cape Jackson we could see the aftermath of the strong norwesters that had blown in overnight and it wasnt long before we had white water over the top of the boat. At this point I have to mention that I am pretty glad I had my drysuit in the cabin as some of the others had left theirs in their gear bags on the roof of the boat. Bummer dudes.
Once through the turbulent shallow waters we set off at a great pace for Port Gore and the Lermontov.
Dive 1
We finally tied up to the mooring line set up near the bow and quickly geared up. I briefed my Student (I had an AOW student) on what I expected from him for the dive and the skills we had to complete and then we back rolled off the boat and swam for the mooring line. At about 3 msw down we could see the ship 11 metres below us and a wave of excitement grew over me(It has been a while since I had got a good wreck dive in), and Im sure the student was buzzing as well.
We stopped and hovered just over the port hull near the bridge while I checked my student was ok and then started off slowly over the side. We hit a depth of 29 metres and cruised slowly along, in mid water, past the bridge and toward the Bow. Huge big encrusted cargo davits came into view and a few lines that were crisscrossing each other were easily avoided.
We stopped and hovered mid water next to a bollard that would have once held monstrous mooring lines, and performed the narcosis test, which we both passed with flying colours (Im sure the student was relieved that I wasnt narked).
We then moved off in search of the bow, gradually decreasing our depth to save gas and ndl time and gradually came to the end of the ship and the bow. We swam back a little and then turned back to face the bow. I cant describe what an awesome feeling it was to look back and see this massive vessel resting on her starboard side.
My student gave me the Down to 100 bar signal and we decreased our depth again and moved back toward the mooring line and started slowly up the line to perform our safety stops.
Dive 2
Dive 2 was the students adventure wreck dive and as we descended down the mooring line I could see him scanning the wreck for any hazards, just as I had briefed him on before the dive.
This time instead of heading toward the bow we headed off toward the stern, as the swimming pool was our destination, and I could see The Student noting down all the hazards that were aplenty on this vessel. As all the lifeboats had been deployed during the sinking, the davits hung down, draping lifeboat lines in our path and we carefully avoided all these and swam along in mid-water above the now vertical top deck.
The ships majestic funnel came into view, and although I really wanted to check this baby out, we were on a mission and had no time for detours, especially with the way my student sucked the gas.
After about 7 minutes of swimming along at around 18 metres I noted that according to my expert navigation we were above where we would find the swimming pool, so we dropped down to around 27 metres and low and behold the gazebo that housed the swimming pool was directly in front of us. We swam up to the top of the gazebo, which of course is now on its side, and noting we had plenty of gas, we <imagined> swimming in through the 3 x 1.5 metre hole and approaching the pool. Torches pierced the darkness and located the swimming pool and we swam inside her and had a little swim. Looking around, the gazebo was rather huge, and from my slightly narced mind I estimated it was around 10 by 15 metres, plenty of space to have a look and not feel claustrophobic. After fooling around in there for a few minutes we <imaginatively> swam out the back doors and slowly ascended up the side of the vessel to the top of the wreck. Once there we made our way back to the mooring line and called the dive at 16 minutes of bottom time. We did a little extra time on the mooring line and then made our way back onto the vessel.
The student was absolutely bubbling with delight.
TBC