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The Three Kings 2003

Lead by Neil the fearless (also author of the web site) and the two intrepid skippers (Right) we headed north from the Bay of Islands on a beautiful Monday evening. Excitement was high but the main thoughts in everyone's minds were 1) What did I forget? and 2) Why does the entire food supply Neil (the cheap bastard) bought consist of sacks of spuds? However we were off and heading towards the Kings for an adventure.

The Three Kings sit approximately 55 kilometres north west of the northern most tip of New Zealand's North Island and are one of NZ's most remote -and most exciting dive sites.
Tony, Mark and friend
  
   
Underwater the scenery is spectacular. There is an abundance of caves and swim-thoughs the most spectacular of which is Ken Durys dream pipe which sits in 30 metres of water and is a haven for huge colonies of sponges and the very rare Three Kings coral. In twenty something years of diving this dive is the most spectacular dive I have ever done!
 



The treasure of the Elingamite is one of The Kings main diving attractions. We did six dives on the wreck site and many coins were found. Neil also spent two of those dives trying to work loose a port hole but returned to Auckland defeated! The wreck of the Elingamite is in private ownership and permission to take anything off the wreck is needed before any pillaging is done. After lengthy negotiation we got permission from the owner (me) to 'go for gold'.
Neil's pathetic haul of loot from the Elingamite wreck site.  
   
In 1902 the Elingamite arrived in NZ with a bang creating a unique (for NZ) dive site. While not so good for those on board (many died) it did create, literally, a treasure trove for divers. Namely when it sunk it had 6000 gold half sovereigns and a whole lot of silver coins on board. Much of it is still down there waiting for the lucky diver. On this trip only one gold was found but a whole heap of silver plus a bunch of artifacts. This dive site is definatly for experienced divers only as it is well exposed to the prevailing southwesterly swells and winds not to mention 2 plus knot currents.

 
John arrives for work on the Elingamite wreck site
   
The Kings are a wild place to dive and not for the faint hearted. On the bottom right is Neil swearing mildly to himself while taking a rope in to a diver (centre of the photo) who decided to go rock climbing rather than face the angry sea.
Neil doing the hero thing
  
   
While some people did their fishing thing
John did his own thing in his own way.
     
Two last photos
  
View of the Elingamite wreck site at West King Island. The yellow buoys mark the top of the shot line tethered to wreckage 38 metres below.
Sunrise over East King

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