Welcome to Lydia and Tomo, Go Dive Marlborough’s new staff members.

Tomo is permanently based out at the Lermontov Lodge in Port Gore as chief cook and bottle washer, also to help with air fills, blending, barge work and dive guiding. Tomo who is from Nelson, is a qualified engineer and sparky so a good man to have around in such a remote location. Tomo is looking forward to looking after guests and welcomes comments about his hat. Which will make a special appearance on a blog in the near future.

TOMO DIVE LODGE MANAGER

Lydia who is from Germany, has been traveling the world diving in such areas as Aussie and Thailand.  Lydia is managing our Go Dive shop in High Street Picton and handling all the training from Discover Scuba Diver to Rescue. As well as looking after the shop and training, Lydia will be regularly updating the blog, Facebook and looking after Club membership and members.

LYDIA KEPPLER GO DIVE INSTRUCTOR AND SHOP MANAGER

Any one wanting become a Go Dive friend on facebook, click on the Facebook icon on our home page and join-up. Go Dive Marlborough is our Face book name.

For those who are looking at getting wet this coming weekend, the weather is settled and the vis is very, very good, the Long Island marine reserve is around 20 metres and the Lermontov about the same. I have a 9 day stint out at he Lodge with international and local groups over the next week or two, so Lydi will be handling the blogs for a while.

safe diving

 Brent

Go Dive

I have just returned from a 4 day trip out to the Lodge where we experienced fantastic weather and great vis for almost the entire trip. Prior to the trip we experienced a 24 hour period where over 3 inches of rain fell in the bay where the Lermontov lies, the water closer in was about the color of a ploughed paddock, with it even changing the course of the creek leading down to our beach, eating away our track and depositing about a foot of mud on the beach.

After all this weather action I was doubtful that the vis would be as good as I left it on Thursday ( 20 plus metres). Saturdays dive was average vis wise, but it steadily increased over each dive to get back to a good 14m plus by the end of the trip.

The group was from Dive Tech an Auckland based group of divers, all were diving twins with the exception of Nipper an Inspo diver from Aussie. Over the 4 days we managed 12 dives, Jamie, Mel and James spent some time clearing areas of debris for easier penetration and laying lines for the rest of the team.

Sign in Russian on the Lermontov

I managed a number of dives where I cleaned up old lines which had been haphazardly laid through the wreck over the years. One line in particular which had just recently been laid in the Leningrad restaurant, was a real menace and the person who left it their would be well advised to do a course in cave or advanced wreck diving or stay on the outside of the wreck where they aren’t a danger to themselves or others. Lines should always be retrieved after laying, with the exception of areas that are regularly visited, here permanent lines are acceptable as long as they are well laid and maintained.

Safe diving

Brent

Go Dive

Last weekend Go Dive hosted the Dive Shack at the Lermontov Lodge in Port Gore, for more reason’s than one, it turned out to be a very eventful 4 days, which I think will stick in some memories for quite a while.

The weather was less than perfect with high winds and rain, however given the record snow in Southland and floods up in the North Island, we still managed 8 good dives in the three days of diving. With wind speeds topping 60 plus knots or over 150k’s thats not to bad. Visibility was effected by the rain but we still managed an average of 10 metres, with it topping 15 to 20 on Sunday when I sneaked in a dive on the way home.

Some of the team spent dives gaining credit towards their Great Russian Pub Crawl T-shirt, while some spent their time retrieving lost reels, kit and lines from previous dives.

Congratulations to Drew and Xan who completed their PADI Advanced openwater course on the trip, completing Deep, Wreck, Photo, Videography, PPB and Naturalist dives on the wreck.

Thanks to Aaron and the team from the Dive Shack for diving  with Go Dive again, we look forward to catching up again soon.

KISS REBREATHER DIVERS READY TO SPLASH ON THE LERMONTOV

LERMONTOV ANNIVERSARY DIVE WEEK.

February the 16th 2011 marks 25 years since the Russian cruise liner the Mikhail Lermontov sunk in Port Gore, making it one of the worlds most accessible and best wreck dives.

To commemorate this event Go Dive has organized a full week of diving activities based from the Lermontov Lodge. The package includes 4 days of diving, 5 nights accommodation, meals and a special 25 year anniversary T-shirt and a night dive on the Lermontov on the 16th at the time that is sunk. Go Dive is doing the package for a special price of $650.00 for club members or $750.00 for non club members. Numbers are limited with just over half of the available spots now booked. For those who can not make it for the entire time, there is options to book for a shorter time or for dates either side of the event, which are Feb 14 to the 18th 2011.

This will be a great week and one not to missed if your a keen wrecky or just like good company. If your keen for more info contact me on 0800 GODIVE or email info@godive.co.nz

Dive safe

Brent

On Friday I seriously considered the wisdom of taking a group of divers over to Port Gore for a weekends diving. The rain was torrential from Thursday night to the time we left at 6.30pm Friday night, the guy’s traveling up from Christchurch had to endure rock falls, slips and flooding from Amberly right through to Blenheim, at Kaikoura the swell was up to 4 to 5 meters and the sea that dirty you could plant spuds in it.

All day Friday I looked at he weather maps and with the promise of a better day on Saturday decided to go ahead with the trip. After a slow three hour drive, avoiding rock falls and slips on the road over we arrived at the Lodge at 9.30am and settled in for the evening.

Saturday dawned with SE winds of 25 knots and cloudy skies, after a late start we headed out to the wreck for our first dive at 10.30am and were greeted by the best visibility I have had on the wreck since last Spring a real surprise given the rain and conditions down the east coast.

SEA PERCH ON A HAND RAIL OF THE MIKHAIL LERMONTOV

Sunday was even better weather wise with it being as flat as it can get, sunny and warm, the vis was still pretty good and everyone had a very enjoyable days diivng. Guy had his new video camera and spent some time getting footage of the wreck and divers, Hamish took his Harcourt’s flag down for a photo, with the hope of entering it into a Harcourt’s photo competition. Watch out for the product of both their efforts in the near future.

Overall it the weekend was very pleasant and proved to me the value of basing our Lermontov wreck dives from the Lermontov Dive Lodge in Port Gore.

Thanks to Awesome Scuba for diving again with Go Dive and to Guy for his efforts in the kitchen.

safe diving

Brent

Just for a change I have scheduled a weekends diving away from the Lermontov and Port Gore for August 7/8th.

Plan is to dive one day out at Long Island and Motuara Island with a stop off at East Bay for a kai dive for scollop’s and then a day locally or out side Tory Channel, depending on weather.

KOKOMOHUA ISLAND LOOKING TOWARDS LONG ISLAND MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS

The Marine Reserve has been established since April 1993 and covers 619 hectares, over the years fish life has re-populated the reserve, in some areas crayfish up to 5 kgs in weight are common and are very friendly.

For Dive Club members the weekends diving will cost only $170.00 to $190.00 depending on how far out we get on the second day, this includes cylinders, air and all kit if you don’t have any. If you aren’t a club member this is the ideal opportunity to join up and get a great weekends diving, meet other members and take home a feed of scallops. I had my first feed of Port Gore scallops last night, even though the row was a bit small the muscle was large and juicy as usual and melted in the mouth.

Check out the club page for more details on the club.

UPDATED 27 July: Only 2 spaces available

safe diving

Brent

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

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

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

Last weekends group to visit Port Gore had the bonus of being accompanied by Melville, a juvenile Bottle Nose dolphin. The dolphin seems to be quite young and quite possibly the calf of Maui a Bottle Nose dolphin that has been a regular in the Kaikoura and Marlborough Sounds region for over 15 years now.

From early Friday to Sunday, Melville spent all his/her time cruising around the cove, swimming into water as shallow as 1 metre and rubbing on our stern rope. Some of the group who took the time to jump in for a swim had a number of close encounters although Melville was generally quite shy when approached.  When I returned back to the Lermontov on Monday on a day trip, Melville was still their, maybe he/she will become a permanent resident.

MELVILLE THE DOLPHIN, PHOTO BY CLAIRE MURPHY

The visibility on the wreck seems to holding up still, but we were subjected to a bit of a weather bomb Saturday morning so decided to dive on the mussel farm rather than be subjected to the sever weather conditions further out in the Bay. The mussel farm dive proved interesting with sightings of seahorses and many other smaller critters.

By the afternoon the sun was shining again and we managed another Lermontov dive, followed by a dolphin swim and then a night dive in the Cove.

On Sunday we dived the Lermontov in the morning, and after lunch headed out for a last dive on the Rangitoto, a steel streamer that hit the same reef as the Lermontov and sunk in 1873. This wreck although broken up is a very nice dive, alive with reef fish.

Thanks to the group from Dive HQ for diving with Go Dive, we look forward to diving again with you in the near future.

 Up-coming Lermontov Lodge Port Gore events:

4/5/6th March 3 day trip to the Lodge 3 spaces

19/20/21 March 3 day club trip to the Lodge

23/24/25th April TDI Adv Nitrox and Deco Procedures course at the Lodge

1/2/3/4/5th may KISS rebreather course at the lodge

Safe diving

Brent

Go Dive