Australia Diving

[dbush]

One thing that Mike Ball did that was annoying but I kinda really liked: when you went in they asked you your pressure, mix, and MOD. And you had to acutally show them your guage. When you came back up, they would check you off AND you would have to initial the list to make doubly sure they did not confuse you with someone else. It was a little annoying at times and quite manpower intensive for the crew, but NOBODY on that ship was going to get left behind! Going in, you know the diver has air (that is on) and knows his limits. On the way out, you know they are back on the boat. Best tracking system I have seen.

Don't know if it was "mandated" by law or just something they did.

 

[Doubles]

Greetings, we just returned from 5 weeks down under. We have been going every year for several years. We like to dive with Tusa, day boats for inshore diving and their liveaboard the Spirit of Freedom for the 4 day Coral Sea/3 day Cod Hole trips. The Spirit of Freedom is simply spectacular, great crew, great food, great SAFE dives!

QLD has some of the most stringent laws for diving in the world. I would not jump to conculsions about law/ship policy based on a single separate crew members private conversation. I don't see an issue with being asked to return with 50 bar or 500 or 750 psi. I have seen plenty of divers barely make it back to the surface with 0 bar/psi as they did not monitor their air supply well. With 20, 30 or more divers on any vessel diving the GBR the crews need to be concerned about everyone's safety. Those folks get divers from all over the world with all kinds of experience and training - or lack their of.

We have taken the 7 day trip on Spirit of Freedom 2 years in a row, and will be back next year. Although they are hard to get bookings on as they are quite popular. Over 70% of their slots are already booked for 2006. I know this as I can't get the week I wanted next year and found out just how popular they had become.

Here in Florida every dive operator I have been with has asked that we all return with 500 psi.

Just a thought for those who want to return with less than 500 psi, if you had to do a safety stop, had 300 psi when you got there and your buddy had a problem and had to share air, would you both be able to get your stops in?

Cheers

 

[lorien]

I agree, the Spirit of Freedom was the best! I also just got back from the 4 day Coral Sea trip and the crew was fantastic as was the diving. They did require that you dive with a computer but I did not think that was any big deal. They did ask you to come back on board with 500 psi, also no big deal and their was always a hang tank available under the boat. They did ask your depth and time when you returned, wrote it down next to your name and had you sign off, took a few minutes but did not bother me. They did great briefings before each dive with recommendations as to depths etc but no restirctions such as you mention. Plenty of deep dives available. I have to say they were the nicest and most helpful crew I have gone out with. And the food was great too, just way too much of it!

 

[caymaniac]

Two years ago my wife and I spent a few weeks in Cairns and Port Douglas. We also went on a 5 night liveaboard with "Diversity". We really enjoyed our trip and dives. I also know of someone who was on the same boat we used, only in the fall instead of the summer and they had a harder time with the DMs than we did. It might depend on the crew or captain. We had to start out following but at the end of the dives were always left on our own. The nothern reefs (Osprey) could nearly compare to Kimbe Bay PNG, but not quite! PNG has much more diversity and healthy corals. Still, I'm not putting down our Oz dive trip, it was excellent, especially the Minke whales.

 

[TX101]

for some light bedtime reading you can give this a try - i got bored very quickly. http://www.dir.qld.gov.au/workplace/law/codes/divingcompressed/recdiving/measures/supervision/

Hey, THANKS for that link.. very interesting reading.

AFAIK, there is no diving "laws" in QLD. There are workplace health and safety guidelines though - which is what that link describes. And most of those pages confirm what I already suspected - that most dive operators in QLD are full of *****.

For example, on this page: http://www.dir.qld.gov.au/workplace/law/codes/divingcompressed/recdiving/measures/divedepth/ it states that:

1.3.9D Certificated divers

The employer/self-employed person should advise certificated divers they should not dive in excess of the depth to which they have been trained or have experience to.

These divers should be advised that if they get into difficulty beyond 40 metres, a recreational diving worker may not be able to come to their assistance, that is, dive beyond 40 metres.

I see absolutely nothing there about a 30m depth limit - which all boats seem to quote. Also "decompression diving is illegal in QLD" - yeah right.. so why does the government not only release OH&S documents on decompression dives, but also mixed gas and rebreather dives?

I'm printing this stuff out just so I can stuff it down the throat of the dive guide next time I dive in QLD...

 

[alcina]

I'm printing this stuff out just so I can stuff it down the throat of the dive guide next time I dive in QLD...

a) not a very nice attitude
and
b) what you have read does not. I'd bet, constitute all of the standards, guidelines, laws, regulations and other tidbits that an operator may have to abide by.

I still think asking questions and talking with your chosen operator and crew before hitting the water is the best way to get the most from your diving - especially if your research has turned up potential points of interest.

Just because divers are only told partial information or given a company statement doesn't mean the crew is out to get them or meaning to lie...I'll bet listening to a full on rundown of everything would bore everyone to tears - just think how LONG you thought the last dive "briefing" was you heard on a commercial operation LOL - and I, for one at least, really don't need to know all the "whys".

If it's something that I would like to alter I find that talking it over works well in most instances...

 

[RTodd]

I just got back from a fabulous trip to PNG and Australia. I will post a detailed trip report later about PNG, but I have a question about Australia.

I went out on a 3 day/2 night with Pro Dive out of Cairns and was very dissappointed with the operation. Everyone was treated as if they had never been in the water before, there were depth restrictions (no deeper than 55 ft), .....

Since I spend a lot of time in Cairns for work I am slowly going through all of the operators. In general, the operators here specialize in infrequent divers and snorkelers. Crew turnover is very high and their experience level and service is dreadful. There are a few liveaboard exceptions that are supposed to be very good: Spirit of Freedom, Mike Ball, etc. I have not found any exceptions with the day boats yet. Service levels as far as diving goes in Northern Queensland have, for me at least, been far lower than anywhere else I have been diving in the world.

Although not covered in the question, for others reading this, don't bother to travel here for day boat diving. Most places in the world have better diving that is closer than what is available in the Cairns/ Port Douglas area.

 

[Doubles]

Well put Alcina

I am having difficulty understanding the issues of the safety proceedures of the liveaboards? Really, those DM's meet every kind of diver there is. Experienced, non experienced, those who are legend's in their own minds, and of course think of all those divers that have told you they were a Navy Seal, and then asked you how long they could stay underwater with an 88cuft tank? Give em a break, dive well, stay safe, my bet is they would ease up on you a bit. Start challenging the dive briefs by taking another crew member aside just creates suspicion, they would probably wonder a bit....I would.

I would much rather dive with a group that is more safety concious than have someone get bent, ruining the trip for the rest of the divers.

If I wanted to do decompression diving, I would be out with a tech diving group, not mixed in with the recreational divers. Both types of diving are a blast, but they don't blend well together imo.

There's a tree out there and a forest, which one are you looking at????

I love diving in Cairns, I even enjoy the day boats. It's a long way to travel from Florida, any chance to get wet, I'm in. Every dive that I return from still able to dive again, well hey that was an excellent dive!

While I am confused about all the fuss, I am not confused about one thing. I would never have a dive buddy who would print out something so they could fly half way around the world to "stuff it down the throat of a dive guide..."

Cheers

 

[annie]

The guideline about being on the surface with 50 bar is all over the place (including here in Ireland). Just because they also recommend it in QLD does not mean that it's part of the law there, it may be, I don't know.

 

[VaughnBuck]

Just because we pay our money does NOT give us the right to do whatever we want to on a charter.

True but dive operators need to lay out the rule BEFORE you sign up, pay, and show up. Blaming the Government is no excuse. We're planning a trip for this summer (August). I've read a number of the website for operators and NONE of this has been discussed. One mentioned the need for a check out dive if you don't have a lot of dives.

I don't like to push limits but 750 lbs cut into very expensive (considering airfare) dive time. 30m rule isn't a big concern since I don't like deeper diving but at times you'll drift a few feet lower than expected. So cancelling my next dive over it would really peeve me.