ARTICLES on past Lermi trips

APR 2010 trip report

OCT 2008 "LUST FOR RUST"

NOV 2005 "RUSTY RUSKY" Tour

Feb 2005 "Secret Squirrel Part 2"

April 2003 - Adventures of "Secret Squirrel"

LERMONTOV

Lermontov April 2003

The adventures of “Secret Squirrel” by Pete Mesley

 All adventures begin with drama!! And this adventure was no different. Low and behold it was weather related. Wellington is well known for a lot of things but this weekend it was famous for 5 meter swells, and 40 knot winds. ALL the ferries were cancelled and we were tied to the hard. These were the small mountains one has to scale to get out to the Infamous Jewel of the Marlborough Sounds – The Mikhail Lermontov. All we had to do was get there!!  

Our charter for the weekend  - “Sweet Georgia” was nothing less than pure luxury. Having dived on many different dive boats over the years this certainly took my breath away. Not only was it one of the best platforms I have dived off but also the most comfortable to live on. {

 The adventures of “Secret Squirrel” started with a reorientation to the wreck and funnily enough everything was where I remembered it. The viz wasn’t that good but once inside the wreck it was like old times. This time the adventure was to progress further into the wreck and learn a bit more about this ‘Rusty Rusky’. The viz was getting progressively worse and with the overcast day ambient light was at a minimum.

 Here are a few areas that I dived.

Starboard Promenade Deck “Scary monster stuff!!”

The dive started in the pool area – a familiar place. Gary and I descended past Neptunes bar down down towards the starboard doorway. The double doors were caked in a foot of silt so entry into the prom deck was a tricky exercise.

Having the rebreather has huge advantages and not dislodging the silt on the ceiling was one of them!! I squeezed through the doorway and tied off. I have never experienced darkness like this before. Three head mounted torches and the Greenforce HID light lit the way. Armed with a reel in one hand and the video camera in the other I made my way down the corridor. The only sound was the anticipation of secret squirrel!! My eyes focused on an object in the silt. It was a hand!!!!! A dolls hand. Phew… Scary monster was out tonight!  Then I looked round and shone my light shone directly into the faces of small people. More dolls. They were evil looking bloody things.  Much like “Chukky” in those horror movies. No wonder why the Russian kids had issues – it stemmed from childhood. It was a store room. There were loads of little bodies suspended all round the room.

Pressing on… I came to the end of the deck and above my head was a doorway. This led into the lobby. Immediately to my left was the gents Barbour shop.  A rectangular glass door with etched patterns and carved handle prevented entry into the shop. The hinges were at the highest point meaning that the weight of the door was pulling directly on them. Not a good idea to try and open and squeeze through!! I backtracked and headed back to the entry point where Gary was waiting for me. This is a different penetration technique used. Normally Two people enter a wreck and reel off. The front person will let the line out and the second person will come shortly behind. Personally in these situations when I enter an unfamiliar area I communicate to my buddy that I will spend no more than a certain amount of time in the area. He will then wait at the opening giving light at the opening while I reel off inside alone. This might seem reckless and unsafe to some. Far from it. When diving in such dangerous environments silt-outs are the biggest danger. Even the most experienced diver kicks up some sort of silt and if there are two of you there is double the amount to start off with! Also if you want to hightail it out of there you only have to worry about yourself!!! I have been in siltout situations in the past with people in the middle of a wreck and it has not been pretty ( sphincter factor 10!!). The time agreed upon must be strictly adhered to. If this time expires then diver # 2 will come in along the line to see if anything is wrong. These techniques were adopted on the trip.

 Shopping Arcade

 Now this was a great dive! Secret Squirrel was working overtime!! Coming into the main lobby is really neat. We entered the ship around amidships, sneaking down and around a set of stairs leading to the winter garden. Right the way down to the bottom of the lobby, passing a staircase leading down into the Leningrad restaurant and for the more lazy passengers – a lift across from the stairwell. Here once again the blackness engulfed us swallowing us up into her belly. The same glass etched doors came into view leading into the shopping arcade ( must have been on special!!) The top door was also still attached but the bottom one had fallen open. Slipping through easily I made my way into the arcade. Almost impossible to imagine that once a bustling place with keen shoppers. Now – silt city. Now all that can be seen are bottles of hand lotion resting on the ceiling in the Matreshka shop , must have been some sort of pharmacy. A set of empty shelves came into view as I passed through the main arcade floor. All I could hear was my heart and the air rushing past the one way valves of my rebreather. It was very quiet! Not having enough time to pass fully through the arcade I would have to leave it to next time to explore the Club bar Sadko positioned at the far end of the arcade. A well placed watering hole for the thirsty shoppers. On the way out I spent some time looking round a little corner shop – the “Jasmine”. At the opening, an ‘opening hours’ sign came into view. Not much left in the way of decipherable objects except for a glass  but a quaint little impulse shop none the less in it's time!

We then ascended up through and out of the lobby heading boward into the Bar Nevsky. Here hidden away in the depths of the silt are many bottles of the usual watered down poison, bars serve!! We also came across bottles of champagne, bourbon, and gin! Still many little bits and pieces to find on this once gracious ship!

Feb 2005

The adventures of Secret Squirrel part 2........ the adventure continues...

Steaming over the Lermontov site brought a tingle through my body. That ever familiar feeling of anticipation and excitement. This was my 5^th expedition to the Mickhail Lermontov and I was just as excited, if not more than on previous trips. The problem with this wreck is that no matter how much you dive on her, you always leave wanting more. To know whether that passage joins another exciting area, finding new rooms and getting to know the wreck that little bit more!!

 This trip was no different. Over the last few trips we had been extensively diving one floor and this was the trip where, hopefully another piece of the puzzle would be put in place. There were a couple of objectives I had in mind. One was to have a really good look at the Leningrad Restaurant  and the other was to join all the dives I had previously done to make for one exciting penetration through most of the Boat deck, from stern to midships.

The first objective, the Leningrad restaurant. The last time I ventured there I had a mate of mine accompany me, Gary was on open circuit and his bubbles really caused a lot of “rain” to shower down on us making conditions really difficult for safe exploration. Because the wreck lies completely on her starboard site at 90 degrees, there is a lot of debris all pushed against thin walls, tables hanging by a thread and terrific breaking down of materials on the ceilings and walls. So any disturbance really made for a snowballing effect. So utmost care was needed. This time both of us were on Closed Circuit Rebreathers. No bubbles meant that we could spend long periods of time in the restaurant without worries. The challenge with getting to this place on the wreck was that you had to swim through two floors down two flights of stairs.

Easy? Ahhhhhh no! Picture a flight of stairs, on its side. When you are swimming down to the next floor you are in actual fact ascending turning 180 degrees then descending to swim down the second flight of stairs. This certainly takes its toll on your head. It is extremely easy to become disoriented and this is not a good thing. Dave lined off and we entered the main room from the starboard entrance. The only thing I could hear was Dave Ohhhhing and Ahhhhhhing in excitement! We made our way to the far wall of the room, then made our way back slowly having a good look. In this room there was only one exit, that was the way we came. There was another exit one floor up also if the need arose. I came across a piano which was still fully intact. Debris stacked high behind it. Cups, saucers, glasses, platters you name it. All hanging there by a thread! Cautiously Dave and I made our way back slowly. Shelves stacked full of alcoholic bottles filled a wall. Untouched since her ill-fated sinking 18 years ago. Questions still sing out at what exactly happened and the circumstances that led to the sinking of the ship. Not that we were complaining!!!!! This is without a doubt the best wreck dive in the southern hemisphere. Infact, I would be so bold to say one of the best in the world. Where can you dive an ocean liner, penetrate the ship for 2 hours and have maybe10-15 minutes decompression? The President Coolidge is a great wreck but deep, thus minimizing your bottom time with maximum decompression.

 The dive was great fun and Dave and I looked at eachother both thinking the same thing. Lets do that Again!  The wreck lies in about 34 meters of water, lying completely on here starboard side. The shallowest part of the wreck lies in 12m. The great thing about this wreck is that you can be a novice or be the most demanding wreck diver, both will have the time of their lives, and then some!!!! Penetrating the wreck is extremely dangerous and without the proper training and experience you could soon be in a whole lot of trouble.

Till next time.......

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