Diving The Marlborough Sounds

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Diving. Those who have been reading my blog will know that this sport that I favour has somewhat eluded me of late. Not any more. At least not entirely. I had booked myself on a trip to go out to dive the Mikhail Lermontov, said to be one of the worlds largest divable cruise ship wrecks. However my luck just aint that great. I didn't get out to the Lermontov due to high winds, but I did get to dive.

The trip out to the dive site was one of the most beautiful ever. An hour of motoring through a deep valley between green mountains, complex bay systems and dramatic cloud formations. The diving itself was good - but not the best I've done. Forget the thin wetsuits like I wore in the Coral Sea - this was full 7mm two piece suits with hoods, gloves and boots. And I still came up from every dive shivvvvvering. Visibility was less than 5 metres, but at least there was a lot of life. We saw octopi, hermit crabs and a starfish actually moving along the bottom, as well as a lot of fish! Some people also saw a seal, but I wasnt so lucky. There was also a lot of coral, and a fair amount of interestingly formed vegetation (seaweed!).

I don't think I'll dive again until the Milford sound (simply don't have enough time!) but today was really good fun, despite being very 'british' when compared to the barrier reef. I did for the first time though get to sample the delicacy of eating a sea anenomes raw reproductive organ - which was suprisingly palatable!

Dive Log

63 - Rangitoto, Cape Jackson, Marlborough Sound, 12m, ??:??, 62min, 200->100 Bar, 15Kg
64 - Waiki, Cape Jackson, Marlborough Sound, 18m, ??:??, 62min, 200->90 Bar, 15Kg

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