Mikhail Lermontov
Saturday 13th December 2008
Our trip was previously postponed due to rough sea and strong winds but we successfully rearranged the dive and met on time 6am at North Road. We loaded up the vehicles with enough time to stop and get breakfast at Picton's best bakery!! We met the skipper and his wife (Des & Beryl) at their mooring at the Waikawa Marina jetty and loaded up the boat quickly. I think we were all motivated at that early time of day not just by the desire to get out onto the water but also by the thought of home made muffins and coffee for morning tea as we headed out to our destination. There was a slight eerie silence as we sat huddled up reading some of the Lermontov history during the journey out to Cape Jackson also taking in some pre-dive orientation pictures the wreck itself. We anchored up and put on our gear, equipped with torches we followed the anchor chain line down. Personally not having dived that deep before or in such limited visibility I was particularly anxious not to lose sight of my dive buddy John. I'm sure my eyes were the size of dinner plates with the adrenalin and sensory overload with the humbling feeling when I caught my first sight of the wreck itself.
Sticking to John like glue we swam our way towards the stern before descending to find thepropellers....unfortunately due to my greed for air, the decision to surface was required only a few metres from the props to ensure I got to see plenty of the wreck.......next time perhaps. Back at amore friendly depth we made our way along passing the swimming pool, swam up the chimney and even had a boogie outside the old abandoned nite-club dance floor before making our ascent back to MV Playmate.
Probably being the least experienced diver it felt an achievement to do my first wreck dive at last although Angela tells me the second time is even better!!! We celebrated back on board with a large cup (or two or three) of hot chunky meat soup which I think we would all agree was fantastic and certainly helped to nurse Angela's radical shivers and bring her body temperature back to normal range!!! 3 more dives followed, and on the first I managed to christen my new catch bag with a successful scallop dive at secret spot X. The largest scallop of the day measured 143 mm!!!! A small catch of crays was made at Cape Lambert although I admit not one by my own hands despite the effort and encouragement by others-thank-you John! A secret cray switch into my bag was unsuccessful as no one noticed by the time we re-boarded the boat!! We returned to the spear fishermen dropped off earlier but they had no success in hunting the elusive butterfish. The last dives of the day near Cape Jackson were all time limited due to tide conditions and the temperature was starting to drop, shivers were definitely exhibited underwater. The crayfish catch was added to here. The thought of a hot shower on board was most welcoming but when it came to it, the shower was a far greater challenge of coordination than getting out of my wet suit!!!! Conditions were a little rough on the home bound journey I had a memorable experience in that shower... one minute almost being thrust into the toilet the next moment thrown the other way, with the shower head almost taking my teeth out.....this was repeated several times!!! After we had all showered and changed into dry clothing and refuelled our own body tanks on pizza we arrived back at Waikawa Marina with enough time to unload the boat and catch for the day to settle with a welcomed beer back at Picton for a debrief. All in all it was a great trip out and good fun was had by all!!!! Louise Jackson
