the Rainbow Warrior

I went diving today at the Rainbow Warrior, which, to quote the brochure, is one of New Zealand's premier wreck dives.

I was actually really nervous - the guy on the phone, when I booked said that they don't normally take along people with my certification level (PADI Open Water), but since I had experience diving in cold water (yeah, 17 years ago), that it was okay. I worried I was in a bit over my head. But it's not like I talked the guy into it.

(Again according to the brochure), "The Rainbow Warrior was Greenpeace's flagship vessel. It was on her way to protest French nuclear testing on Mururoa Atoll when she was sunk by French saboteurs on July 10, 1985 in Auckland Harbour.

Three years after the bombing Greenpeace gifter the Warrior to the sea and she now lies as an artifical reef in the Cavali Island group, a refuge for the marine life she was sunk trying to protect."

I had a good time. We ate lunch on an island and then did a second dive in the area. I met a young couple from Boston who have been travelling and working in Australia and New Zealand for 16 months now and are now off to Thailand for another 4 months. Then they'll think about maybe going home.