After a pretty ordinary start to summer the weather has finaly settled and we are enjoying a settled period of weather. Over the last few weeks we have been as busy as a "lizard drinking", with another 4 day trip to the Lerm Lodge with a big group from Aussie, plus full local tours and the next three weekends booked solid out at the Lodge.

LATEST GROUP TO EXPERIENCE  THE LERMONTOV ONE OF THE WORLDS BEST WRECK DIVES

The conditions at the Lermontov have been fantastic for this time of year, with vis up to 15 metres and mill pond conditions on the surface, welcome relief from the early summer windy conditions. Our latest group of rebreather, twin and rec divers come away with some of the best memorabilia I have seen come off the wreck, all of it from areas not visited normally by recreational divers. The most interesting being a coin collection consisting of Russian coins;. plus a few more peices to add to our Lodge Morflot dinner set.

Other than the wreck we have been more than busy with local dives and courses, with local conditions matching that off the Lermontov.

Congratulation’s to the following on completion of our courses.

Douglas Blood: PADI Nitrox

Karen Hopkinson: PADI Openwater

TOMO:PADI Advanced

Paula: PADI PPB

Theres still plenty of summer left and heaps of forward bookings for day trips to the Lermontov, with a few spaces on scheduled live-a-ashore charters. 

If your in Picton drop into our shop in High Street Picton for a chat, we are right next door to the Shell Service Station with heap’s of off street parking.

safe diving

Brent

Its been a few weeks since I last posted a blog, which is a reflection on how busy we have been.

Over this time we have run a very successful Live-a-board trip to dive the Mikhail Lermontov and had Jamie Obern, Mel and his group of GUE/Halcyon divers down for a 4 day Live-a-shore last week. Although the visibility on the outside of the Lerm is at its summers worst, inside is spectacular. I laid a permanent line through the Leningrad Restaurant where the vis was as good as my light, this dive would have rated as one of my best dives for a while. With an element of calculated risk, no light conditions, great visibility and heaps to find and see, my 3 dives through the restaurant certainly had me buzzing for a few days afterwards.

Buoy on Lermontov Wreck

Even though the weather was at its worst on the first day of Jamie’s trip we still manged to dive, with the remaining three days being like a Mill Pond. The location of the Lodge really proves its worth when the weather is bad, there’s nothing like being able to get onto Terra Firma after a good dive, for a good meal, shower and to relax before heading out again, sure beats sitting on a cramped live-aboard that is being buffeted by the winds and has a noisy compressor rattling away disturbing your beauty sleep. Jamie’s group managed three dives on most days using their twins, with a good surface interval in between. I had a dive in the new Affinity Halcyon harness system which I think is a winner, ideal for warm and cold water diving and for those wanting a harness system that is robust and adaptable. Up to now the Dive Rite Transpac meet this market, I reckon the Affinity is a far better option than the Transpac and bound to sell well, even better it cost less.

This winter we will be making some improvements to the Lodge facilities, one of these will include the installation of a continuous blending Nitrox system to speed up the "between dives blending" and to maximize the O2 supply. October, early November are now nearly full with bookings, so if your keen on getting a group together or joining a scheduled trip, be in quick.

Quick calender

• Jan 18 & 29 Day trips to the Lerm
• Jan 20 Riwaka Cave trip
• Jan 22 to 25 4 Day Lermontov lodge Trip (Full)
• Jan 30/31st 2 Day Lermontov Lodge Trip (Full)
• Feb 2 day 6/7 2 Day Lermontov Lodge trip (3 spaces)
• Feb 12/14 3 Day Lermontov Lodge trip (Full)
• Feb 15,19,25th Day trips to the Lerm
• March 14 Riwaka Cave trip
• April 23/24/25th TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures (2 spaces)

Safe diving

Brent