Congratulations to Tracey Marvin and Warren Batchelor, who just this afternoon completed their PADI Open water course with Go Dive Marlborough. We wish all the best.

Brent & Guy

Cylinder shown is a standard 12 litre, not a Dumpy. Safe shown is empty unfortunately, but more interestingly is the safe of the Lermontov.

TO CELEBRATE A GREAT WEEK OF SPRING WEATHER, I AM OFFERRING A NUMBER OF SUPER SPECIALS THIS WEEKEND.

FABER 12 litre Dumpy Cylinders, with boot, DIN valve and 5 free fills $495.00

CRESSI 5mm Zipped Dive Boots  $29.95

CRESSI Facile 1 Piece Semi Dry Dive Suits $135.00 (last weekend for this special)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON INNER SOUNDS DIVE TRIP

We are heading over to the Koi Wreck and Fish Reserve for a couple of dives on Saturday arvo, 1pm departure.

Cost to Dive Club Marlborough members is $35.00 inclusive of kit rental and air.

Booking essential so give me a call on 573 9181

View down the Sounds 2pm Friday

This week has been a cracker weather wise with plenty of sun and no rain. However the north to north west weather pattern has resulted in some strong on shore winds with associated seas.

Visibility in the Inner Sounds is reasonable at around 6 to 8 metres, with the water temp slowly but surely heading past 12 degrees Celsius. Any where in the Outer Sounds that is exposed to the northerly wind is going to be fairly sloppy, but visibility will be good as the onshore winds do bring in clear water, vis on the Lermontov is up around the 15 metres.

Looks like the Northerly weather is going to continue until Saturday night with 40knt N/W and then turn to the South with 30knts and a bit of rain. Which will be good for my new lawn. I recommend Tory Channel side Saturday and the Northern Entrance on Sunday.

Have a good weekends diving and dive safe.

GO Dive Marlborough

Becky headed back to the UK this week to finish her last year of studies in Marine Biology. Becky started her Go Pro Internship at God Dive Marlborough this time last year, in her gap year and successfully completed all her objectives, plus some.

As it does for many from the mother land, life in the colonies appealed and she is heading back next year to live. Don’t worry Becky we will look after Ade while your away.

We all wish you well Becky and look forward to getting you back next July and seeing you in your silver wetsuit in December.

Bit late with this post due to Internet problems.

DIVE REPORT

Well it is definitely Spring now and it looks like all the rain is behind us. The sea conditions have been pretty good this week and it looks like they are going to continue over the weekend.

Visibility in the Inner Sounds is down a bit as the water warms up and the plankton starts to grow, vis on the Koi wreck yesterday was around 6 metres. However vis in the outer sound is still very good, so this is the place to be this weekend if you are after some clear water diving.

Scallops are plentiful but not very fat so best left for another month until they get fat and juicy and worth taking. Although 90mm is the legal size, I find these far to small and not worth taking, how about leaving these small guys and gathering only scallops of 100mm an up.

WEEKEND SPECIAL

I still have a few Facile suits left that were special on the 15th of August, true to my word anything advertised on this blog as a special will be reduced until sold, they are now $150.00. This is well under wholesale price so be quick as you will never get a quality suit for this price again.

Their is still a few spots on our Open water course between now and November and remember the free mask and snorkel offer that applies to all course enrollments, not only Open water between now and November.

Safe Diving

Brent

Look closely at this picture and you will see the outline of a 20,000 tonne, 176 metre Russian Cruise Liner lying on the bottom in 37 metres of water.

We have just got back from our first clear water charter of the Lermontov for the season. Spring is the best time visibility wise to dive this massive wreck, and we expect to enjoy visibility of up to 30 metres right through to early December. Dispelling any misconceptions that this is a deep, poor visibility wreck dive.

This weeks dive crew were from the Dive Shack in Auckland, the three day live aboard charter started off with a shake down dive on the historical wreck of the Lastingham, a reef dive on Waihi Point and then Motuara Island. Next day it was on to the Lermy for two days, where we enjoyed visibility of up to 18/20 metres and two very nice calm sunny spring days.

Sponge, Mollusks and Triple Fin settle on a Life Boat davit on the Mikhail Lermontov

After an orientation dive for those who hadn’t dived the wreck before, the group divided up into buddy pairs and were led through one of the best penetration dives on the wreck, the engine room, this is a must do dive for the keen wrecky. Hamish and Aaron took their penetration dives a step further on the last day and visited the shops which lay at 35 metres deep inside the wreck on the starboard side, they were rewarded with a memento which I am sure will soon be displayed at the Dive Shack. If you’re going past the shop in the Onehunga Mall, drop in for a chat and look around.

Two days on the wreck is really only a taster, with it being so vast you could dive it for weeks and still only see half of it. The boys from the Dive Shack are already planning their next dive back down to the wreck next year, so give them a call to check out the details. Live-aboards are definitely the best way to experience this world class dive.

If you are visiting the area and would like to book a  trip with Go Dive Marlborough, check out our schedule of live-aboards, alternatively we do operate regular day tours out to the Lermy from October through to May. 

Thanks to the crew from the Dive Shack for booking with Go Dive Marlborough and another enjoyable live-aboard, I look forward to seeing you again next year.

JACK AND BILL POP SEA WEED BUBBLES , WHILE  BECKY LOOKS FOR A GOOBY ON HER NOSE

Finally the weather is on the improve and we have managed to splash. The old gills were drying out a bit after a week out of the water.

Saturdays club trip turned into a Sunday trip due to Saturday morning still being a bit wet and cold, and what a good decision that was as we had a perfect day that turned into a bit of a family affair (being fathers day) with the kids coming along as crew. We headed out to the Long Island Marine Reserve and were treated to vis of around 10 plus metres and flat calm conditions. Fish life was great with heaps of very large crayfish seen, one being a good 5KG.

After a great picnic lunch at Ships Cove, we headed out to a reef we don’t dive much and were really surprised at the visibility and abundance of fish, even more than in the Reserve. The kids managed a bit of fishing while we all dived and caught tea, while dad caught a good size cray. I have dived this reef a few times years back, but intend to dive it more often as it was one of the best dives I have done in recent times.

All in all we had a great day and it was a good way to start the summer diving season off. I am out on a live aboard trip diving the Lermy, so no Friday Special or Dive Report this week.

But if any of the ladies out their are looking for a good Semi dry give me a call, I have some really hot prices on Cressi Ice Women and Lontra at the moment.

LONTRA: Special Price $395.0O Normally $649.00

ICE: Special price $595.00 Normally $995.00

Hi, just a quick up date to let you we have a few of the Facile suits left, make an offer if want one. The Cressi package posted on our last blog is still with us, so must have been to dear.  Meaning I have to reduce it more, give me a ring me on 0800 GODIVE and make me an offer if you are looking for new kit. Once kit is posted as a special it will be sold no matter what the price so there’s bound to be some real bargain’s come up, keep an eye out.

Next special will be on ladies ICE and LONTRA semi drys, list of sizes and price will be posted tomorrow.

Our PADI Open-water courses are looking good for both September and October, remember the free gift of a Cressi Mask and Snorkel, value $189.00 for bookings prior to November. Remember also all our course dives are done from one of our boats, none of this, off beach stuff in the Waikawa Marina or Karaka point, yuk.

We have an Apnea or free diving course (no its not free) scheduled for mid December, this is about half full or half empty depending on how positive or negative you are. So if you are keen on skin diving, this is a great course run by Fran from NoBubbles that will really extend your breath hold and depth limits. Check club page for dates.

Weather is still a bit miserable at the moment but looking like clearing up for our Long Island dive this weekend. Still a few spots if you are keen, probably do a scolly dive on the way back in.