The opportunity to dive the wreck of the Russian cruise liner “Mikhail Lermontov” came up, so I jumped at the chance of some more hours exploring her dark and silt covered decks. Setting off from my home on the Thursday, I caught the ‘Interislander’ vehicle ferry “Arahura” in Wellington to set sail on the three hour crossing to Picton in the Marlborough Sounds, South Island.
My station wagon car was loaded to the gunnels with dive gear. I had my AP Inspiration rebreather, Silent Submersion underwater scooter, various cylinders, and a set of open circuit dive gear, just to name a few of the things taken. After spending a few hours in Picton sightseeing, I met up with our 60ft charter boat “Affinity” which was berthed next to the ferry terminal and proceeded to load my gear aboard. When all the divers and crew were aboard, we set off down the picturesque Queen Charlotte Sound to moor for the night at Ship Cove (so named because Captain James Cook used the site as an anchorage during various expeditions whilst exploring and mapping the New Zealand coast line). That night I took the time to sit outside and reflect on the good times I‘d had with my dearly missed dive buddy Nigel Lees as Affinity swung gently on her anchor in the slight breeze. The water was still and stars twinkled brightly in their reflections off the water’s surface.
At sparrows fart (or first light to the uninitiated), our skipper Brian pulled the anchor and we headed to Cape Jackson where almost 20 years earlier the Mikhail Lermontov collided with a reef that resulted in her sinking. On the mid tide, Brian took Affinity over the actual bit of reef that the Lermontov hit showing up at 6m to the top using the depth sounder. About an hour later we were in Port Gore, the final resting place of the “Rusty Ruskie”. The wind had got up and was howling off the steep flanking slopes of the natural harbour, but we managed to secure the mooring over the wreck.
Divers spent the next three days acquainting themselves with the 578ft long ship, exploring areas such as the swimming pool, gymnasium, and medical quarterdecks, the bow with it’s cargo hatch, the bridge, and even the chain locker. The Rusty Ruskie lies on her starboard side in 37m of water and this can prove a real challenge to get your head around when moving through the internal decks of the ship.
I dived with Pete Mesley and we had both dived the Rusty Ruskie together before, so we visited a few areas within the ship that we were very familiar with and found a few new spots too. The first thing we noticed was that the marine life had significantly increased around the ship. I even heard red spiny lobsters cracking away from within the interior.
In no time at all, everyone had logged up a many hours on the Lermontov and it was time to head back to Picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington. This had been a great trip for all.
