Its been a busy week with trips to the Lermontov and Inner Sounds everyday. Our resident Seahorse is still on the Koi and Stingray have been seen on a number of occasions.

I had one of my best dives on the Lermontov yesterday with pretty good vis for this time of year and amazing fish life. In fact the vis was better than what it was further out on the Cape.

Today we had a group of 9 Danish English students dive with us on the Koi and Fish Reserve, vis was around 6 metres and the Blue Cod were very hungry, they certainly like beef and Chicken cat food.

Weather looks like it is going to pack gain this weekend with strong Southeasts predicted, so it looks like diving is going to be inside the Sounds for a couple of days.

Safe Diving

 Brent

After weeks of hot dry days the heavens have finally opened up as a sub tropical cyclone moves across the country. Even though the light was low, today’s dive conditions were good with the water feeling even warmer than usual.

LOOKING ACROSS FROM THE KOI WRECK SITE TO PICTON HARBOUR. FREIGHTER WITH WIND TURBINE PARTS FOR THE WELLINGTON COAST ANCHORED ONLY 200 METRES AWAY AND LOST IN THE RAIN.

Visibility is at a not bad 6 metres on the Koi, 10 metres on the wreck of the Lastingham and around 6 on the Lermontov. Forecast for the next few days is average with a 30 knot northerly predicted tonight. I reckon we may not see as much wind as predicted and we will get a reasonable weekend.

Congratulations to Dion and Michael who today finished their PADI Rescue and PPB course. Job well done guys and heaps of fun.

MICHAEL TRYS HIS LUCK SWIMMING THE HOOP DURING HIS PPB TRAINING

Have a good weekends diving and be safe.

cheers Brent

Last weekend saw us back on the Lermontov with a group from NZ Sea Adventures, Wellington. Paul, Sean, Emma, Jess and Ingrid made up the group and we dived the Lerm both Saturday and Sunday.

Other than Paul it was the first time on the Lermontov and even though the vis was a poor 5 meters on the outside, a bit better on the inside, the Lermontov has cast her spell once again and will be seeing these divers again in the near future.

Interesting for me was having the first KISS on board, by this I mean the rebreather kind. We are pretty used to seeing and dealing with Inspo and other brand Rebreather divers, but it was interesting to see how the KISS fared. I must admit that although not a rebreather fan, I was impressed with the simplicity of the KISS, and the profiles it allowed Paul to dive on this particular wreck.

PAUL AND HIS KISS WITH BUDDY JESS

The highlight as it always is for the more experienced and prepared divers, was the tour through the engine room. You could quite easily spend hours in their looking at the power house of this great cruise liner if time allowed.

Thanks NZ Sea Adventures for diving once again with Go Dive Marlborough, we look forward to your next trip.

cheers Brent

Go Dive

Well the weather has packed up over the last couple of days. But at least we are getting some needed rain and it doesn’t look like it is going to effect the diving for the weekend to much.

Forecast is for Southerly 35 knots tonight dying down to 20 knots tomorrow morning and turning 20 knots Northerly Sunday, increasing to 30 knots Sunday evening.  I reckon we are in for a pretty good weekend and should be able to dive most places other than Tory Channel side due to a dying 3 metre Southerly swell.

Vis is pretty good locally with 6 to 8 meters on the Koi and a temp of 18 degrees. Our resident Seahorse is back on the Koi which is good to see. I am off off to the Lermontov both Saturday and Sunday with a group from Welly and hope to get at least 8 metres on the outside. Watch for a post early next week on this trip.

Next week we are really busy with PADI Rescue, PPR and EFR courses so if you are keen on one of these, Now your chance.

Have a fun weekend.

Brent

Conditions are looking pretty good for this long weekend.

Northerly building up on Friday to 35 knots so stay on the Tory Channel side or in the Inner Sounds. Dying down to 10 knots tomorrow and then back up for Sunday. So Saturday is the day to get around to the Lermontov or on to the Cape.

Visibility has been pretty good this week on the Koi at around 7 metres, not so good on the Lerm at around 5 on the outside and good on the Cape at around 8 to 10 depending on where you splash. Tides are getting smaller so we should expect an improvement in the vis over the next week.

Have a good weekend.

 Brent

Yesterdays trip to the Lermontov yielded a bit of a wind fall for one Aussie, the chance to taste a can of 23 year old Aussie VB Beer. Consensus is that it hadn’t improved with age which isn’t surprising. After all VB does stand for very bad beer so you couldn’t expect much else. I suggest you stick to Coopers if your brave enough to try our neighbours brews.

Michelle from Sydney taste tests the 23 year old VB. ( It ended up back with Davey Jones where it belongs)

By the way, the vis was still a bit average on the outside but pretty good on the inside. Found our resident seahorse after an absence of a few months and had a good look around the Lounge deck companion way.

Safe Diving

Brent

RUST DAY SATURDAY

With 30 degree plus air temperature it was a relieve to get into the water to cool off while on our trip out to the Wrecks yesterday. Cape Jackson has laid claim to probably the highest number of ship wrecks for a single piece of land in New Zealand, the Mikhail lermontov and the Lastingham being two of them.

Ten enthusiastic divers hit the water for the days first dive on the Lermontov, separated into three groups for increased safety and enjoyment, Andrea, Mike and myself guided them around areas like the Pool, Bolshoi lounge and Bridge.

TUBE WORMS ON THE BRIDGE OF THE LERMONTOV

Unlike our earlier trip in the week where the vis reached over 12 metres, we were back to our normal 5 metre summer vis due to the alga bloom and rather big tides we are experiencing at the moment.

For the second dive we headed over to the Lastingham an old sailing ship that come to grief during a northerly gale back in 1884. She is well broken up now but make for a great reef dive and is home to some very nice fish life.

EMMA ON THE LASTINGHAM

Apart from the sun burn the day was prefect, thanks to all the crew for diving with Go Dive Marlborough.

DIVERS BOARD AFTER DIVE ON THE LERM.

 Safe diving

      Brent