I've been trying to think of something rather poetic to say about the new-look HMNZS Wellington, sitting there all by itself on the seabed, and kind of minding its own business. When I originally dived the wreck it was 'nice'. They'd sunk it a spot not too far from shore. It was accessible by a relative beginner like myself, and wasn't one of those wrecks you'll have to make a substantial investment in time and money to get to. But, all that said, it was actually a little dull.
Having only seen two different wrecks, the Wellington and the Eliza Ramsden, I haven't exactly got a whole lot to compare. But the Wellington just kind of seemed a little too artificial, 'contrived' if you will. Which is hardly surprising, considering that it was contrived. You get my meaning though. It was just a little too ready.
Now however? It's something else.
The ocean has kind of taken it, picked it up, smashed the bastard with something like a huge sledgehammer, and left it strewn across a big section of sand.
Very, very impressive.
When I dived it the first time we started at the bow and swam around and over it. Then we did a second dive on the bow and swam around a through it. Because it was prepared for divers the access points were large, and there were a lot of holes cut for light. We got to swim into the huge space of the engine room for example, which was lit from a number of different angles. The water was remarkably clear for Wellington, and the wreck gave up some pretty memorable diving.
I still had this kind of nagging doubt about how many times I'd want to dive it though. There are only so many times you can see the same freaking boat. Personally I'd rather spend the money to try and catch crayfish. Which I've yet to do, by the way. Pesky blimmin' heart trouble.
That said, after the recent storm that originally destroyed the frigate I had intended to visit the site at least once more, but was held back for the same reasons as the crayfish dives. What forced the dive was the rather thoughtful gift of a voucher to dive with Splash Gordons.
As you may or may not be aware, Splashies has had a few problem lately. Their boat broke down and a couple of divers were stuck in the water, for example. Tell you what, trying to swim even the 15-20m back to the boat in full dive gear is incredibly hard work sometimes. Dive suits are designed for underwater swimming, and at the surface all the gear just kind of gets in the way, the flippers simply don't give out very much power, your dive jacket is inflated to keep you at the surface and acts as a form of drag, etc. These two divers were stuck out in the channel half because of these reasons, and half because of currents. But hey, no fatalities, right?
I figure that not long after a 'mishap' is probably the safest time to go anywhere with an adventure company, so grabbed the gift and headed out as soon as the weather permitted (and of course water visibility was up). While I'm on the subject of danger, I was asked the other day about my contingency plan for sharks. Not that they're a danger in our waters. But just in case, you know? Well, I don't have a big dive knife, so there's only one alternative. Make a beautiful corpse.
So, the frigate. Where we dived onto the stern last time, we did so again, and it was pretty much intact. We swam down the back and there was the 'F69' in those big yellow letters. The real difference was when we swam around the side of the tub. The first noticeable difference that the starboard side had collapsed, with large sheets of steel lying on the seabed. Pretty soon it became apparent that the entire contents of the engine room, and we're talking about chunks of iron bigger, and far heavier, than your average car strewn across the sand. I saw the gears from the engine, big, solid steel gears you'd need a crane to lift. They were maybe 15 or 20m from where they used to be?
The remainder of the wreck has been moved metres away and in another direction, with huge girders twisted around on themselves like corkscrews. Big sections of the middle section of the ships (midships) have been picked up and carried away, so that that they form this trail of destruction leading towards the bow, some 50m away.
Hugely impressive. As I say, I've been trying to think of something poetic to say about the majesty of the ocean, and the devastation it has wrought. But let's just say, “that frigate is well and truly fucked.” And far more interesting because of it. I'd recommend the dive to anyone.
PS. I'm trying to sell an old 1.8gig PC. Not too bad, just needed to be upgraded. Tana, if you're reading this, could you come over and kick it or something? Might make it worth more than $100. Go you halves!