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The Rainbow Warrior Wreck: The Facts...
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Where is it? About the Rainbow Warrior and Why it's worth a visit? Recommended dive sites? Rainbow Warrior Gallery? Local operators? Rainbow Warrior Web Sites and further reading?
The Rainbow Warrior is located at the Cavalli Islands to the North of the Bay of Islands in Northern New Zealand.
See
Map 
About the Rainbow Warrior and Why it's worth a visit.
The Rainbow Warrior was the Green Peace flagship. It had been used all around
the world by them since 1978 protesting about all sorts of environmental and
humanitarian issues.
In
July 1985 the Warrior was tied up in Auckland in preparation for a trip to Mururoa
in the South Pacific. Greenpeace was demonstration against the repeated nuclear
detonations at remote atolls by the French(always 1000's of km away from France!).
Despite claims from France that "not a single particle of radioactive fallout
will ever reach an inhabited island" radiation was detected as far a field as
Samoa, Fiji and even New Zealand!! Despite massive, worldwide opposition to
the testing the French detonated over 200 underground tests causing massive
fractures in these remote atolls.
The intention of Greenpeace was to stop or at least hinder further testing.
Shortly before the Warrior was set to leave, it was attacked by French Secret
Service Officers. They detonated two bombs on the boat on the evening of July
10th 1985 killing photographer Fernando Pereria.
Shortly after the attack the two French agents were arrested, posing as tourists
in down town Auckland.
Initially the French Government denied all knowledge of the attack but later
acknowledged what the New Zealand Prime Minister described as "a sordid act
of international state-backed terrorism".
The two agents were sentenced in New Zealand but later were moved to French
Pacific Islands after pressure from France. They served less than 2 years of
a 10 year sentence.
It only takes about ten minutes to get to the wreck from Matauri Bay. It is
marked with a buoy and sits in around 25m of water.
Once you have descended down the buoy line you reach a sandy sea floor, the
Warriors stern is about 8 meters from the line. Much of the ship is intact and
many fish have made this artificial reef their home. The encrusting life is
extensive but it's worth looking around for fish life too. The rooms on the
boat are crammed with big eyes, slender roughy and the odd snapper. Goat fish
seem to like the wreck for feeding and sleeping.
Sea Things Favorite Dive Sites
Obviously the Rainbow Warrior is a must for any visit to the Cavalli Islands or even the Bay of Islands.
The wreck can be completely explored on a single dive and you will be able to marvel at the extensive marine life living on wreck and associated with it. Every section of the wreck is covered in encrusting marine life and it's not uncommon to see large King Fish and Sanpper in the area. Make sure you take a torch to look inside the small Port holes which are crammed to bursting with Big Eyes and Slender Roughy. Try to avoid entering the wreck as this increased the speed at which it will break down and rust away.
If you are in the area the Cavalli Islands also offer great diving. There are some exciting pinnacle to dive on and there is also a good chance of finding Cray Fish and Scallops in the area.
Want to recommend your favorite site (please do!), comment on a dive site or add to the description- e-mail the details and ideally GPS coordinated to: myfavedivesites@seathings.co.nz
All Photographs by Crispin Middleton, permission must be sought before using any of these pictures.
Please click on the image to open a larger image in a new window.
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Common Anemone The Rainbow Warrior |
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Jewel Anemone The Rainbow Warrior |
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Gem Nudibranch The Rainbow Warrior |
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Rainbow Warrior Bow The Rainbow Warrior |
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Jasons Nudibranch The Rainbow Warrior |
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Speckled Moray The Rainbow Warrior |
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Jasons Nudibranchs The Rainbow Warrior |
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Tambja Nudibranch The Rainbow Warrior |
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Jasons Nudibranch The Rainbow Warrior |
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Zooanthids The Rainbow Warrior |
Sea Things Favorite Operators:
The Rainbow Warrior is easily reached on private power boats and is clearly marked on the Cavalli Charts and has a small marker bouy attached near by.
There are couple of local operators though:
Paihia Dive, Bay of Islands
Rainbow
Warrior Web Sites and further reading?
Paihia
Dive, Bay of Islands
Please e-mail any web-site or book suggestions to: suggestions@seathings.co.nz