The Riwaka Resurgence is located in the Nelson Ranges and is part of a vast underground river system, other well know cave dives in the area include the Pearce Resurgence which is still being explored.

The Riwaka river source is in the Riwaka valley, only 20 minutes from Motueka and 1 hour from Nelson. It is quite a popular visitor attraction with a well formed track leading to the source, it takes around 10 to 15 minutes to walk, (best done in two trips if you are carrying heavy kit) a good chance to warm up prior to the dive.

LOOKING UP TO THE VIEWING PLATFORM FROM THE SOURCE OF THE CAVE ENTRANCE

Today we had a group of  7 going through the caves, Maxime and Margaret are cave divers from Switzerland and Mat, Shanon and Brian from Perth Australia. Guy and myself are acting as guides and packhorse’s to carry the extra kit including spare air. After dividing into two groups I lead the way and reel into the first chamber a short 60 metre swim, we then climb out of the water and make our way along the internal cave stream to the entrance of the second sump.

The second sump is a bit longer and we surface a good 130 metres into a very large chamber, along the way we see a small eel the only wildlife seen since leaving the entrance pool, god knows what he lives on in this seemingly barren biological environment. Here we take off our kit here and walk up the rock fall to view some very impressive limestone formations.

 POOLS OF WATER ON THE SIDE OF A HUGE TERRACED LIMESTONE FORMATION

From here the more prepared caver’s can walk over rock falls and wade through deep pools 100’s of metres further back into the cave, speleologist have explored the system and found a third chamber, but thats beyond my sense of adventure and experience in caving.

BRIAN CHECKS OUT LIMESTONE FORMATIONS

After 30 odd minutes of checking the chamber out we don our kit again and make our way back out of the cave. After 2 hours we emerge back at the entrance of the cave and make our way back to the car-park and a hot drink.

Although I have done this cave many times it is a great experience and for the warm-water divers from Perth, who were on their first cave dive they are rapped with the experience. Maxime and Margaret use this dive as an orientation dive and plan on going back later in the week for further exploration and to check out the Pearce Resurgence.

For those who are into over-head environments is makes a pleasant change to wrecks like the Mikhail Lermontov, although there isn’t as much to see as on wrecks like the Lermontov, the limestone formations are out of this world.

Thanks guys for diving with Go Dive, I hope you enjoy the rest of your travels in New Zealand.

cheers

Brent

Last week when down in Wanaka running a Dry and Drift Instructor course for Simone and Lance, owners of Dive Queenstown I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to do a different type of wreck dive.

In the 80’s Rob Muldoon the then New Zealand Prime Minister undertook what were to be called numerous "Think Big" projects. One of them was to build a huge dam across the Clutha Gorge damming the river. Unlike today where this sort of project would meet huge opposition from environmentalists and the like, the project went ahead and in 1992 the dam was completed and Lake Dunstan was formed.

One of the main casualties of the flooding off the valley was Old Cromwell Town, the town dated back to the gold mining days and had many historical buildings and an old bridge which lead out of the Town and across the Gorge. Once the gorge and valley flooded the bridge was a good 12 metres under water at the up-most part and over 30 meters to the old river bed below.

Lance and Simone who operate Dive Queenstown have now found the old bridge and run regular dive trips from their base in Queestown. The bridge itself is iron with stonework piles and is an interesting fresh water dive. Although the vis was a bit low when I dived it  there was still a lot to see. The current is very gentle so no concerns there.

If you are ever down in Queestown area, give Lance or Simone a call on 027 337 2363, if your concerned about the water temp, then Dive Queenstown can supply Otter Dry-suits to keep you warm and toasty, the walk  up out of the Gorge after dive goes along way to getting the body core temp up also if it gets a bit low.

cheers Brent

The weather really turned it on this weekend for our first of the season scallop dives, both Saturday and Sunday were clear, sunny, windless and for this time of year warmish. The boat was full on both days with club members from Wellington, Christchurch and local.

Each day we were rewarded with our limit of scallops, which are in pretty good condition for so early in the Season. The vis at the moment is around 8 to 10 meters, or down to 1 if you are following some one dragging a heavy bag full of scallops. Although scallop diving is a bit boring, a few of the team saw a nice Eagle Ray and got some nice video of it as it swum along seemenly unconcerned by the divers. We also supplemented the scallop dives with a dive on Kumototo Point on Saturdays trip.

GEORGIE COUNTS THE DAYS CATCH

Thanks to all for coming out and making the weekend a success and to Ben for excelling in bringing along a home cooked Bacon and Egg Pie, as well as some Whitaker’s chocolate.

Remember there is still a few spaces on the club Live-a-shore Mikhail Lermontov Wreck trip next month.

Keep an eye on my next blog about my different but interesting type of wreck dive I done last week.

Safe Diving

Brent

Well its another week closer to the opening of the scallop season and hopefully warmer weather. Going by the 33 degree temperatures the UK has been experiencing this week, it should be a beauty summer in NZ.

Mouli and Tika at Babelscribe have been busy over the last two weeks giving the Go Dive website a new look, you may have noticed it as you navigated through to the Blog page. I have added some new products and services onto the site and taken off some old stuff that was a bit out-dated. Check out the Google map on dive sites. Google Earth and Maps are a fantastic tool if your looking at traveling and want to see what the layout of the land looks like or find out where the local dive shops are.

This weekends weather looks a bit shabby again with 30knt South Easterlies predicted late Saturday. SE’s makes it a bit miserable around the Sounds and generally means drizzly conditions. I think I will be saving myself for the start of the Scolly season in a few weeks.

THIS WEEKS SPECIAL

CRESSI MC5 BLACK DIN REGULATOR

Ideal as a primary regulator or for twin of sling systems

Special price $410.00 (thats half price)

Well I’m off next week for a bit of R & R in Wanaka with the Tania and the kids, so no dive report or special next week. Have a good weekend and see some of you on the 18/19th when we round up some scallops. Still two spots available on the Saturday.

 Safe Diving

Brent