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

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 7:23 pm and is filed under Trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.