Last weekend was one of the busiest we have had at the Lodge so far this year. We spent three days with a group of 14 students, introducing them to temperate water diving, the Mikhail Lermontov and the PADI Advanced course.

Friday and Saturday were perfect days weather wise, with it cutting up rough on Sunday we headed back to Picton to finish the course and dive the Koi wreck. The students who had learn’t to dive in Vietnam, found that diving in temperate water was a bit more of a challenge, with wetsuits being thicker and therefore more buoyant and the visibility not so good. However after a slow start with the orientation dive on Friday, skills slowly developed and by the time a few dives had been completed, including  a night dive and navigation dive in near zero vis back in Picton, confidence levels and skills had improved dramatically.

Congratulations to those who completed their Advanced Open water course and thanks for diving with Go Dive. Also thanks to Nine for his sterling job in transferring the group backwards and forwards to Picton, Nelson and dive sites, as well as supervising the underwater activities and to Tomo for keeping us all feed and watered.

Safe diving

Brent

Last weekends Lermontov Lodge trip to Port Gore would have had to been one of the best. The weather was magic for the whole weekend, almost to hot. The group made up of Dive Club Marlborough members, Marty and Aaron from up north enjoyed 9 dives over the 3 days. We also managed a dive on the Lastingham as well as the Mikhail Lermontov, the Lastingham was a bit disappointing due to northerly sea conditions silting it up, however Marty and Aaron come back with a couple of good sized crays which went down well with the evening meal back at the Lodge.

Inside the Lermontov was crystal clear, especially the restaurant and engine room. Over the weekend I managed to guide Steve, Warren, Marty and Aaron through engine room and Andrea through the restaurant. For most of the weekend the 3 stooges, stooged around with their sling cylinders and managed to stay out of trouble, other than laying about a kilometer of line over the wreck due to errant wreck spool.

Nine, Warren (stealth diver), Katie, Marty, Andrea, Steve (Steeel) Guy (yet to be named) and Aaron.

Luckily we got back to Picton before the Nor wester gales hit, today being a total contrast to the beautiful weekend weather. Next weekends Lodge trip is full as is Easter weekend, however their is still a couple of spots left on our TDI weekend on the 23.24.25th of April and the calendar has been updated with dates through to September.

safe diving

Brent

Go Dive

I was cleaning out my garage, or more to the point Tania my wife was, when she found my old issues of Dive South Pacific Underwater Magazine. This was the first dive magazine to be printed in NZ starting around 1970. Well known underwater author Wade Doak was the editor in chief and publisher, with regular Kiwi contributers being, Peter Rippon, Keith Gordon, Ngaire Young, Quentin Bennett.

It’s interesting looking at the old articles and adverts, some of which I will post from time to time for you all to enjoy and maybe chuckle at.

Heres this weeks effort.

Now if thats a full wetsuit I would love to see her in a shorty.

safe diving

Brent

Go Dive

With the Southerly weather bomb blasting Wellington and the East coast of the South Island on Friday, all the Christchurch based dive shops headed up to Marlborough to dive with their students. Testament to how protected the Sounds are from such weather events and that even in the most severe weather conditions diving is still good and safe.

Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny and clear with water visibility in the Inner Sounds hovering around 6 to 8 metres. However that is nothing to the 30 metre plus visibility we encountered in the Riwaka Caves yesterday. The Riwaka resurgence would have been the lowest I have seen it for quite some time, leading to very clear water existing cave, if I had a straight view and a super powerful light I reckon I would have been able to see 50 plus metres.

LIMESTONE POOLS INSIDE THE RIWAKA CAVES

Interestingly, in the back chamber there seems to have been a large rock fall brining down part of the roof, along with some rather large boulders. The main limestone formations though remain untouched thankfully.

Next weeks Lermontov Lodge trip still has two places on it if your keen, some of the team are planning some deep penetration so should be a good weekend. I can be contacted on 0800 GODIVE if your keen on coming along.

Have a good week.

cheers

Brent

Autumn is one of the most settled seasons for diving with calm sea conditions, reasonable visibility and water temp. Even though the odd front does blow through, it settles pretty quickly, for example we had a 40 knot Southerly through last night, but it is now flat calm at Cape Jackson and in the Inner Sounds. I have just returned from a very nice dive on the Koi, where a school of Trevally have taken up residence, along with some rather big Tarakihi and Moki.

The week has been pretty steady, with Lermontov and Inner Sounds dives, along with Discover Scuba’s. Vis at the Fish Reserve is around 6 metres and on Cape Jackson up to around 12 metres plus. Fish life is very prolific at the moment so a good time to get some fishy photos. A pod of Orca were seen in the Sounds yesterday feeding on a large Bronze Whaler shark so it is all happening.

Coming events include a Riwaka Cave dive this Sunday, and then another busy round of Port Gore Lermontov trips. Steve (Steel) and Warren (Stealth Diver) are preparing for winter diving and have just ordered themselves a Britannic Otter drysuit each. These are without doubt the best Trilaminate suit in the world, and with the exchange rate being agreeable, they are priced very competitively. Time from ordering to delivery is around 4 to 5 weeks, so now is the time to get it sorted. Winter diving is generally a lot clearer than during the summer and as long as you are protected from the cold by a good drysuit then the cold doesn’t matter.

GUY & JOHN ENJOY THEIR BRITANNIC’S

Go Dive will be running at least one scheduled Lodge trip every month through out the winter months, so keep any eye on our club calendar which will updated with dates soon. Keep an eye open for Team Britannic.

Have a good weekend, weather looks a bit changeable but should be good for a splash or two.

safe diving

Brent

April 23/24/25th has been set aside for Go Dives next TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression procedures course which will be held over 3 days at the Lermontov Lodge.

The Adv Nitrox course will teach you the knowledge and skills to dive up to 100% Nitrox, while the Deco Procedures course will introduce you to stage decompression diving using air and Nitrox.

Over the last year we have run these courses from the Lermontov Lodge and completed the practical application on the wreck of the Lermontov, doing the dives on the wreck allows for more enjoyment and real world experience.

All inclusive cost including, training, manuals, meals, accommodation, O2 for both courses is $950.00 for non club members and $850.00 for club members. There are two spaces left on the April course.

For those without the pre-requisite EAN’x training a PADI Nitrox course will be held prior to the 23rd.

Contact Brent at 0800 GODIVE for more details or to book.

Last weekend charter to the Lermontov was a cracker with the weather playing it’s for part most of the time and vis although average on the outside, being excellent on the inside.

A combination of big tides, after surge from last weeks tsunami and a plankton bloom has brought the vis throughout the sounds down to, at its best a few metres, but inside the wreck where the water is still and not affected by current and the light level is low, the vis is as good as your torch.

Aaron and Hamish finally found the Sadko bar after a few attempts and were able to sign off their Great Russian Pub Crawl T-shirts specially printed for the trip. Kirsty, Coxy and Karl done the shop run with Hamish as guide and through the engine room guided by myself.

Phillip and Antonio also visited the engine room, guided by myself and accompanied by Andrea who guided them around the wreck for other dives. The restaurant was visited a number of times by Aaron and Hamish and some nice pieces recovered, which I am sure will be displayed with pride in the Dive Shack Sterling, Auckland. All up 9 dives over 3 days, good food prepared by Andrea and good company, what more could you ask for in a dive trip.

Last weekends group

Dive Shack have re-booked for September 16/17/18/19 if you live up north and want to join a group coming down, alternatively Go Dive have scheduled dates posted on our web site www.godive.co.nz and if you want to learn Advanced wreck diving techniques our next TDI course is on April 23/24/24 staying out at the Lodge.

A warning though, Wreck diving can be addictive and a hazard to your marriage.

safe diving

Brent