You know it is going to be a great dive trip when you descend to find an octopus hanging out on the mooring line. This was the first sight that greeted us on our second day of diving! The marine life around the sunken Lermontov was spectacular – blue cod, perch, sea cucumbers etc… it is distinctly different from marine life you expect to see when diving in the North Island.

Brent from Go Dive is the host of the Lermontov Lodge. The stories he told during surface intervals gave us more insight into the mysterious sinking of the Russian cruiser, Mikhail Lermontov. Having dived the wreck for years, Brent knows every single corner of the Lermontov. He is an excellent dive guide, and always willing to give you tips when you are ready to venture further into the bowels of the Lermontov. The wreck is only a 10 minute boat ride from the lodge, thus it is an excellent set up for people who get seasick easily, like me! It is a dream set up for a diver… wake up in the morning, breakfast, go out for a dive, come back to dry out, lunch, and out to dive again! No sitting around in your wetsuit!

The Lermontov was a huge Russian cruise ship, measuring 176m long. Presently she is lying on her starboard side, at a depth of 15m – 38m. Due to this, diving inside the wreck can be quite disorienting, especially when you see stairs… you have to go right in order to go down a level in the Lermontov. Some parts of the wreck can be quite silty, so proper buoyancy and finning techniques are required when you decide to penetrate into the wreck. However, there are certain areas such as the swimming pool and Neptune’s Bar that can be quite easy to access, not a lot of silt, and are still an amazing sight. Imagine swimming in a swimming pool, but in the wreck the swimming pool is sideways!

After the first day of just taking a look outside the wreck; surveying the 4m long gash that sank the cruiser, the propeller, etc. Hannah and I decided it would be too ambitious to try to cover every single corner of the wreck… thus we chose the pub crawl option! We would be just diving the Lounge deck where most of the bars were located. We visited Neptune’s Bar, Bolshoy Lounge, Nevsky Bar, and along the way we checked out the swimming pool, the games room, the cinema, and the Winter Garden. On the third day, with more experience on the wreck, Hannah, Nicole and I decided we wanted to check out the reception area and the infamous spiral staircase. This area is deep within the wreck, and Brent warned us about the visibility of the place being obscured by silt. He was right! The moment we entered the doorway that led to the corridor, silt started pouring down on us, dislodged by our exhaust bubbles. (Remember: you have to go deeper in order to get to the centre of the wreck). Within minutes, we could no longer see the daylight coming from the door that we entered! Luckily, we took Brent’s warning seriously and had run a reel into the reception area. Thus, we calmly took a quick peek around the reception area and the confusing spiral staircase, and we simply followed the line to exit the room.

This dive trip, in a nutshell, was legendary – great company from Botany Bottom Scratchers, great dives, excellent set up at the Lermontov Lodge and beautiful South Island scenery. We even had fresh mussels that we collected from a nearby mussel farm after the dive for lunch. At the end of the dive trip, every diver had a little souvenir from the wreck. Brent had told us we were allowed to take a small souvenir from the Lermontov, so long as it is not part of the wreck’s fixtures, didn’t detract from the wreck for the average recreational diver, and finally, do not be greedy! I found a small storybook printed in USSR floating around, and Kristen got a stack of plates from the restaurant, which she graciously shared with everyone.

Until the next time, Rusty Rusky.

© All photos courtesy of Ken Lonie of Botany Bottom Scratchers (BBS).

A joint club trip from AUUC (Hannah, Sonny, Stacey, Kirsten), Botany Bottom Scratchers (Ken, Tony, Blair, Brent) and Wellington Underwater Club (Nicole).

I wasn’t sure at all what to expect from a weekend of wreck diving on a Russian cruise liner that sank in NZ waters in 1986. However, the chance to go on a trip with other divers from the Auckland University Underwater Club (AUUC) and Botany Bottom Scratchers (BBS) seemed like a perfect chance to explore the unknown in the beautiful setting of the South Island Marlborough Sounds, which is still a backyard dive for Wellington divers.

Looking at the deck plans the night before and then following Brent from Go Dive Marlborough on the wreck was a bit of an eye opener. The wreck is huge and it was quite difficult to match reef artefacts to ship structures and 3D ship structures to the 2D deck plans and that on close to a 90 degree angle – I was lost and happy to follow… We spent most of our first lunch time sitting down over maps and drawings and slowly images from the dive started to match real structures. Lucky enough Brent, Stacey and I went out with Brent again on the second dive. This time we did a descent close to the mooring line and on the same deck down into the Bolshoi Lounge along tables and the dance floor. A right turn got us up one floor and past the chandeliers we went, through and out the Panorama Deck. On the way back to the mooring line I came across a nudibranch and a barracuda was checking us out just at the edge of visibility.

A bit more confident about where we were, we went on exploring the Lounge Deck on the next day. Following the windows along the Bolshoi Lounge we explored the Nevsky Bar, came up through the Games Room and then explored the Funnel (down a bit meant we went up some decks – it was still a bit confusing). The second dive of the day I buddied up with Hannah and Sonny who had explored the stern area first. So I was leading the dive on the bow side into the Winter Garden, pointing out the Cinema. Hannah had a look in there first, Sonny and me followed and we went back through the Nevsky Bar, up and out and back into the Bolshoi Lounge where I went around staircases and out, starting my ascent while Sonny and Hannah had a good look around the Panorama Deck.

The Saturday had a cracking forecast predicted and we decided to dive the wreck of the Lastingham closer to Cape Jackson. Unfortunately none of the hunters and gatherers came up with treasure or some lunch so we went back for the second dive at the Lermontov.

The plan was to drop down to the middle staircase and reception area. So we went the usual way along the Lounge Deck, past the Game Room to the lobby entrance, up and around and in through the stairs from the deck above. Sonny was leading and attached a line, followed by Hannah and me. We did a slow descent down to the reception area trying to stir up silt as least as possible. Mission impossible, I stopped at the corner to the stairs, Sonny and Hannah had a more detailed look a bit further down and slowly silt started to build up from above where we were descending and stirred up by our bubbles. After a slow ascent Hannah was leading through the Winter Garden into the Neptune Bar and Swimming Pool. A short tour along the Pool and back along the top finished off this great dive day.

Sunday morning was my last dive of the weekend with Brent and Stacey who planned to go with Brent on a tour through the Engine Room. Hannah and Sonny planned for a longer dive on their twin sets. Off we went over the decks to the funnel, down to the skylights of the Engine Room and through the lower hatch of the skylight into the wreck. Following Brent and his line we got deeper into the wreck (but stayed on the same depth). Around some corners and we were facing the top of the engines, pipes, drums and railings. What a view. The way out went through the bunker doors towards ambient light past some great reef life. Back on top of the hull we turned towards the stern and followed the window rows. One level up got us back to the pool. A last look into the Neptune Bar and back we went through the Winter Garden and Stairs.

Different buddy teams explored different areas of the wreck over the weekend and everyone got to see the most accessible places on the wreck. A great weekend and definitely a place to go back with a bit more experience in setting lines and penetrating a wreck!

Watch this space and keep an eye out for another trip to the Lermontov in 2012 and other joint club dives!

Wakulla Springs on one of it’s clearest days in sunny north Florida. WKPP Big team dive. Check out http://twitter.com/#!/guedivers for live blogging of all major GUE and WKPP events. For even more information or to become a member of GUE visit www.gue.com

A British-led team of divers have surfaced after diving a world record-breaking 8.8km (5.5 miles) into the unexplored Pozo Azul cave system in Spain.

Drag: Rene Houben is pulled through the midnight murk of sump two, a 5km (three-mile) underwater tunnel, on a ‘scooter’ propulsion unit to conserve energy (Pictures: Martyn Farr/Barcroft)

Explorers Jason Mallinson, Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, along with Dutch caver Rene Houben, charted new territory in a 50-hour voyage which saw them spend two nights camped deep underground.

‘It’s an incredible buzz to explore further than anyone has been ever before,’ said Mr Mallinson, from Huddersfield. ‘There was no wildlife down there, just a tunnel of crystal blue clear water stretching on and on.’

The team could only go as far as their safety line would allow before they had to turn back.

Mr Mallinson, 43, added: ‘The adrenaline builds when you realise you are looking at something nobody has ever seen before. It’s that which drives you forward.

Read full article from Metro.

The blue holes of the Bahamas yield a scientific trove
that may even shed light on life beyond Earth.
If only they weren’t so dangerous to explore.

We sink into Stargate, sweeping the void with our dive lights. Fifty feet from the surface looms a pale haze, less smoky than fibrous, like a silvery net of faint, swirling cobwebs hovering motion­less in the darkness. It’s a layer of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas created by bacterial colonies and decaying organic matter. Divers entering the gas may experience itching skin, tingling, or dizziness; some smell rotten eggs as it penetrates their skin and metabolizes through their lungs. The gas density in Stargate is relatively low, but I’m struck by a wave of nausea as we descend. I glance at my guide, Brian Kakuk—one of the world’s foremost cave divers. He appears unfazed. My head begins to throb; clearly, I’m unusually sensitive to the toxin. In the epic poem Beowulf, “dim serpent shapes” in the depths guard the lake of Grendel and his mother, shielding their lair. The otherworldly mist in Stargate appears to serve a similar role—a poisonous curtain that protects the deeper reaches of the cave.

Read full article and view more photos on National Geographic.

Steve Bogaerts demonstrates some basic skills scuba diving in sidemount configuration while using his Razor Harness and BAT Wing.

You could get in some practice dives on the Canterbury.

Nearly 800ft long, in less than 40 metres water, she surely is one of the best, if not THE best wreck dive in the southern hemisphere.

The trip is tentatively planned for either July or November, this will depend on how they get the required numbers. The trip is open to all divers, however minimum of Advanced Open Water is recommended. Nitrox will be available. Trimix will be available as well – however only to CCR rebreathers.

Wreck penetration cannot be recommended without a redundant air source and advanced wreck training or similar. Therefore single tank divers will be limited to small penetrations and the outside of the ship. They will have plenty of guides on the trip (Brend, Christian and probably one more), so that even on a single there will be some nice stuff to see in the easier parts of the wreck, just the deep penetrations will be restricted for diver safety. If you are on CCR or twins you can go for it.

Number of divers will be limited to nine. 5 spaces are already filled, so there are 4 spaces left at the moment.

Costs for 5 days diving including accommodation and all airfills, but excluding O2 for nitrox and He/O2 for trimix will be around $950 departing Picton (top of the South Island). Final price to be confirmed when they have numbers as this is a non-profit trip.

Contact Christian on email cblaschke@z-systems.co.nz.
Or see the SODS website.

Aucklander Pete Mesley is an expert deep-sea diver who’s recently been working for National Geographic. Listen to an interview with Pete Mesley on Radio New Zealand National at 11:34am on Tuesday 22 September (duration: 20’32″). Visit Pete Mesley’s website.

The Suunto HelO2 technical dive computer and dive planner make your whole diving experience simpler and more flexible. Plan your dives based on real previous dive profiles, program eight gases – including trimix – and get blending instructions. Then dive your plan with the Suunto Technical RGBM algorithm, providing extra flexibility by allowing you to decompress without steps between ceiling and floor.

Find out more.