Trust seeks that sinking feeling

A Far North group is competing for the right to sink the decommissioned Navy frigate Canterbury as a recreational dive attraction in sheltered Bay of Islands waters.

Tenders for the sale and disposal of the 36-year-old Leander class frigate, which is now tied up at Devonport Naval Base, close next month.

A yet to be formed charitable Bay of Islands trust group is likely to compete with at least five other groups and organisations around the country known to be interested in securing the old Navy vessel.

The Bay of Islands group wants to add to a Northland dive trail covering Tutukaka, Bay of Islands and Matauri Bay.

In recent years, the former Navy survey vessel Tui and the decommissioned frigate Waikato have both been sunk off the Tutukaka coast, north-east of Whangarei.

Further north, the Cavalli Islands off Matauri Bay mark the underwater site of the former Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior.

No specific sinking site in the Bay of Islands has yet been determined for the 3000-tonne Canterbury if the local group succeeds in bringing the vessel north.

"If we put it in the right place, it's there and accessible all year round to divers," says group spokesman and Bay of Islands dive instructor Kelly Weeds.

The Bay of Islands-based trust group is keen to avoid a repetition of what happened when the frigate Wellington was sunk last year off the south coast of the capital.

The vessel quickly moved and broke up in stormy ocean swells.

A carefully selected Bay of Islands site in sheltered waters, avoiding any potential navigation or environmental hazards, would attract more amateur and recreational divers than other sites in exposed waters which might deter all but experienced divers, the group believes.

The Canterbury could be stripped and prepared for sinking at the Port of Opua, as the Waikato was in 2000.

The Far North District Council supports the proposal and the group is now seeking support from community and mid-North iwi and hapu groups, business interests and Northland tourist and economic development agencies.

In Northland, there will be competition from the Tutukaka-based group which sank the Tui and the Waikato and also wants the Canterbury.

Another group wants to convert the vessel into a floating hotel.