Due to Hannah having a reverse ear block, and strong current at the location, we did not managed to dive the wreck. In fact, we were separated almost 3 mins into the dive due to the current. Everything ended up well, following safety protocols - we looked for each other underwater for three minutes, ascend to the surface and waited for each other and the boat to pick us up. We were disappointed that we did not managed to visit the Lastingham wreck, but we decided that we can always come back again. Blair (BBS) got a few old champagne bottles from the wreck!
After the reverse ear block from the Lastingham dive, Hannah and I decided to sit out the next dive on the Lermontov. We thought it would be a good idea for her to take a rest, have a hot shower, and some painkillers to get rid of the ringing in the ear before we decided whether we would be diving later in the afternoon.
Hannah felt better after a short rest, and we decided she would be up for the afternoon dive on the Lermontov. Again, Nicole would be our third buddy on this dive.
Dive 5
The plan for this dive was to go to the reception area and the Amidship spiral staircase through the entrance by the Winter Garden. Brent (GoDive) advised us to run a reel because all the silt would start pouring down from the corridor and it would silt up the room very quickly regardless how careful you are! And he WASN'T kidding! I was responsible for running the reel... I tied off to the beam between the two doors, and dropped into the dark room. It was huge, and from studying the ship's plan, I knew that it would be easier to just dropped into the wreck rather than finning so as not to kick up unnecessary silt. Dropping into the dark, the spiral staircase came into view, and the reception area is behind the stairs. It was disorienting with the spiral stairs on its side! I could feel silt raining down on me as Hannah and Nicole descended into the room. I saw the corridors that would led to the other parts of the wreck along the starboard side. Ten minutes passed, I looked up and I could no longer see the daylight coming through the windows from the wreck which we entered from! The silt cloud obscured the entrance we came through, and that entrance was our exit! Luckily, we took Brent's advise seriously and ran a line into the room! Hannah signaled to me she was ready to get out of the room - she saw the spiral stairs as well... Slowly she and I followed the line out.
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| Spiral staircase |
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| Stairs on the Lermontov can be disorienting |
Glad that we were out of the silt cloud, we lead Nicole along the Winter Garden towards the swimming pool. Nicole had wanted to see the swimming pool as she had never been this way on the Lermontov. We visited the plaque of Erica Lowe, one of the divers who had died while diving the Lermontov.
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| "Erica Lowe" plaque |
One of the lessons Hannah and I learnt from this dive was that wrecks are a different creature from caves! Caves are scary, but wrecks are unpredictable! Even when we were so careful with our breathing, buoyancy and finning techniques, silt out in that reception area could not be prevented! The silt started raining down on us the moment our exhaust bubbles hit the ceiling!
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| Book from the Lermontov |
On the way to the swimming pool, I picked up a book titled "A Special Mission" along the Winter Garden. The book was about the world's first expedition to the North Pole by the Soviet surface ice-breaker the Arktika, published in1981, printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)..
Bottom time: 59mins
Avg depth: 15m
All Lermontov dive pics are from Pete Mesley (http://www.petemesley.com/)
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