Northland HMNZS Canterbury
DESCRIPTION
Dive Site Review & photos by Tom Crisp
Located in Deep Water Cove, the wreck stands proud on a sandy bottom at 37m. The shallowest point comes up to 14m making it great for sport and technical divers alike.
The exterior has an increasing amount of growth and marine life on it due to the Rahui which has been placed over Deep Water Cove. The sinking of wreck itself was instigated by Northland Dive, who organised for the hull to be cleaned and access points to be cut throughout the superstructure. This is still a reasonably new dive site with the ship only being sunk in 2007.
A non penetrating dive on the Canterbury is superb as the ship is still upright with many interesting features to see and explore. The top two levels of the Canterbury provide multiple opportunities for penetrations whilst remaining in sight of ambient light most of the time. Great for divers who are just starting to get into wreck diving.
In contrast the bottom two levels are a lot tighter in nature and less ambient light can be seen. This teamed up with shorter no decompression limits makes for a more challenging dive which requires advanced training and planning.
All up this wreck has something for everyone with the upper decks covered in wild life and the lower decks for the adventurous explorer. Common fish found on the wreck include leather jackets, snapper, john dory, king fish, demoiselles and blue maomao.
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