Ghost Diving, that’s who.
Rob Wilson, New Zealand’s representative on the international organisation, Ghost Diving, recently moved to Queenstown and has set up a local arm.
The 51-year-old says his service, and those of his small team of technically trained divers, is entirely free.
He’s already retrieved a gas heater thrown into Queenstown Bay from outside a Steamer Wharf restaurant — "from call to recovery it was less than 45 minutes".
He’s also been called about a drone that was 274 metres down — "it’s too deep for even technical diving".
"We can go to 50m, that’d be on helium, instead of standard gases."
Wilson’s planning to go along the shoreline every fortnight to keep it clean of junk, and is impressed how clean it is, though he’s heard the bay’s harbouring some street cones.
He says he started out as a freediver, "but realised I couldn’t hold my breath very well".
He adds Queenstown Freediving Club, founded by former world champion Kathryn Nevatt, is also keen to get involved with his group.
When it comes to wrecks — such as the steamer Ben Lomond which was sunk off Lake Whakatipu’s Kingston Bay in 1952 and has never beenrecovered — Wilson sayshe has a lot of underwater photography gear and underwater metal detection kit.
"I’m a real avid archaeologist."
As to what attracts him about diving, "I’m all about the mystery down there".
And as to why he’s freely offering his expertise, he says "I love this country and think it’s so beautiful, and I will gladly step forward to fight to improve it, and in Queenstown that’s exactly what I intend to do for this place and the entire region".
- Rob Wilson’s contact is rob@ghostdiving.org
