The final touches are going on our new premises in High Street Picton, ready for the PADI Instructor Development course which starts next week and shop opening and club dive the week after, along with running a night diving course and completing numerous mooring checks, its been a reeeeeeal busy week.

Dive conditions are a bit of a mixed bag at the moment, visibility is well over 15 metres in East Bay, but down to around 4 metres on the Koi. However I have heard from a reliable source that it is over 20 metres at Kapiti Island, so the good vis is not far away.

George and Mike check dive kit prior to their final night dive last night

Congratulations to George Bridgeman who completed his PADI Night Diver course this week with Mike Barton.  We completed two night dives on the Koi and one along the sea wall at the Waikawa Marina, both nights were clear and calm, but the visibility was not the best. Night diving is quite a neat experience and a good way of seeing how the aquatic animals behavior changes. Crustaceans and other predators are generally a lot more active and, out and about, looking for food. 

Have a great weekend, the weather looks pretty settled with plenty of sunshine so enjoy it.

Safe Diving

Brent

Six million tonnes of rubbish enter our Oceans every year, lets do our part and help clean-up our back yard.

September the 19th is PADI’s International Clean-up day, Go Dive Marlborough has scheduled our clean-up for Sunday the 13th due to a trans tasman clash in Wellington between the All Blacks and Wallabies that Jack and I are going to.

FREE GO DIVE BENNIE TO ANYONE WHO CAN SPOT THIS FELLOW DURING OUR CLEAN-UP DIVE

The area we will be targeting is the Fish Reserve a popular Inner Sounds dive site. Over the many years that this site has been a fish reserve many articles of rubbish have either falling or been thrown from boats and it is in dire need of a vacuum clean.

On completion of the clean-up dive we will head out to another site for a second fun dive. If your keen give me a call on 0800 GODIVE, club prices apply to all participants whether club members or not.

Safe Diving

Brent

Conditions don’t look to bad for the weekend, with Northerly conditions of up to 20 knots Saturday, going South West 20 knots mid Sunday. Looks like it might be a bit overcast and wet Saturday though.

Visibility is average at the moment, but we are coming into the best season for visibility on the Mikhail Lermontov, which normally starts around early to mid September. Temp has come up a few degrees from its mid winter low and is sitting around 11 degrees, so still drysuit weather.

INVERSION LAYER OF FOG ON WAY TO LERMONTOV: PHOTO WARREN GROSSETTA.

Going by the blossoms on the trees and the big anticyclone’s beating off the lows, I reckon we are in for an early Spring and a very good summer. Work is progressing on the new shop, thanks to Mike who has undertaken the bulk of the building work, just a lick of paint and new carpet and we will be ready and open for action early September.

If your keen on a night dive or two or three, we are running a PADI Night diving Specialty next Wednesday and Thursday nights. Our PADI IDC starts August 27th, the first in Picton, this will be the first of an annual event so if your keen on working towards becoming a PADI Instructor let me know and I can sit down with you and work out a training plan.

Have a great weekend and dive safe.

cheers Brent

Last weekend was the first of our Port Gore Wreck Live-a-Shore expeditions and what a great weekend it was. August is always a bit of a lucky dip when it comes to weather and sea conditions, but with an anticyclone of 1040 hanging over us we experienced perfect spring conditions.

The weekend was a  trial trip to our busy schedule of group expeditions that start in September. We took the opportunity to replace mooring ropes, sort out inverters and the new battery bank at the Lodge and also trial our newly surveyed vessel Tom. We also took the opportunity to dive some areas we normally don’t get to dive other than the Lermontov. In doing so we discovered an outstanding little spot with narrow cannons that were smothered in invertebrate life and teaming with reef fish species including Red and Blue Moki, Blue Cod, Butterfly Perch and masses of juvenile Paua. I even come across a weird, never seen before species of tube worm, very similar to a basket star, but sessile in existence. Couple this with visibility of 10 plus metres, I thought it one of the nicest reef dives in Port Gore and ideal for new divers and photography.

FROM THE LEFT, KEVIN, MITCHELL, STEVE, WARREN, BRUCE AND GUY AT THE FRONT ON TOM AFTER A VERY SUCCESSFUL AND ENJOYABLE WEEKEND IN PORT GORE

The visibility on the Mikhail Lermontov wasn’t as great as I thought it would have been, but never the less in some areas was around 10 metres. I took the opportunity on one of the dives to replace Go Dives permanent mooring and afterward dropped down into the Bolshoi lounge for a bit of a poke around on the bottom. Diving the Bolshoi lounge is a fantastic experience as there is plenty of natural light coming in from the Port topside row of windows and at 37.5 metres, I could see Warren and Guy finning around at the top of the lounge which is at approximately 16 metres, along with all the tables which stick out of the wall (floor) like mushrooms, it really is a surreal dive. There is also an entrance at the bottom to the Astonia Bar, well worth a look around in if you are set up with the right kit.

GUY AND WARREN WHO OPTED FOR THE BUDGET TRIP HEAD OUT FOR THE DAY ON THEIR OWN PRIVATE BOAT. THAT WILL TEACH THEM FOR BEING TIGHT.

All and all it was a great weekend, with, as always great company and many stories told, some believable and some not so believable. Thanks team for diving with Go Dive Marlborough. Next time we will have some wheels to get our kit up to the Lodge and a bigger tender to trans-ship everyone to shore.

Safe diving

Brent

With summer fast approaching, Go Dive is now seeking applications for our summer Divemaster Internship programme. We will be accepting 4 Interns this year, two from October to January and two from January to April.

Pre-requisites are that you are currently a qualified diver and have a current medical stating you are fit to dive and own your own mask, snorkel, fins and exposure suit.

Go Dive will supply materials, training, scuba kit rental and pre-requisite dives as part of the package. There is a cost to enroll on the programme and you will need to take care of your own accommodation. The cost will depend on your current level of training.

The package will include up to 60 dives over the course of the internship, including dives on the Mikhail Lermontov and other wrecks in the area. You will learn how to fill dive cylinders, blend nitrox, perform decompression dives, lead qualified divers and assist on training activities.

You will have the opportunity to continue on to PADI Open water instructor if you wish. Inquires can be directed to Brent McFadden at info@godive.co.nz

Safe diving

Brent