Brisbane Dive Operators

[Paul Smith]

Hi All, just thought I'd canvas some opinions regarding certain dive operators in the Brisbane area. My buddy and I are pretty experienced divers (myself over 17 years diving and most of it around Brisbane). This Sunday we went out on trip on Super Cat operated by Nautilus (Toowong) and had the worst experience. Overcrowded, disorganised, putting divers into strong currents without running a line from the bow to assist in getting to the anchor line. All this with a LOT of new inexperienced divers onboard. To cap it off when I complained to the staff about the overcrowding, the message was relayed to the skipper who promptly lost all sense of reason, assaulted my dive buddy and banned us from ever going on this boat again. All this took place in front of several O/S tourists (USA, Japan, Korea) so really didn't do Queensland Tourism any favours. So anyone else had similar experiences (recent) with this or other operators in the Brisbane area?

 

[ferris213]

This Sunday we went out on trip on Super Cat operated by Nautilus (Toowong) and had the worst experience. Overcrowded, disorganised, putting divers into strong currents without running a line from the bow to assist in getting to the anchor line. All this with a LOT of new inexperienced divers onboard.

This was our exact experience a couple of years ago, except we were the inexperienced divers then. The shop gave us one impression of how the day would be run, then things changed for the worse when we got on board. Disappointing to hear things haven't changed...

I'd love to know the details of the run in with the captain. I really can't imagine how that could ever be appropriate behavior.

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[Maples]

I went out with go dive in October and had a pretty good experience. The boat is a good size for the crowd they put on it, the staff are friendly and the service was good. I was unimpressed with one of the DMs who was big on moving bits of 'dead' coral around to find brittle sea stars. I'm a hands off diver but I know not everyone is.

 

[Paul Smith]

This was our exact experience a couple of years ago, except we were the inexperienced divers then. The shop gave us one impression of how the day would be run, then things changed for the worse when we got on board. Disappointing to hear things haven't changed...

I'd love to know the details of the run in with the captain. I really can't imagine how that could ever be appropriate behavior.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

Altercation with the skipper was as follows:

I had to hire regs from the crew because my own regs failed on the first dive (free flowing). I was going to use these rented regs on the second dive. Because of the chaos on the deck kitting up I was requested by the crew to jump in and wait for my buddy. As soon as I hit the water I realised the current was running really strong and had to grab the line from the back of the boat and hang on. I tried 3 times to fin to the anchor line but couldn't and the crew hadn't run a bow line. I ended up aborting the dive and climbing back in the boat. My buddy had already somehow managed to fin to the anchor line. A trip he later said was ridiculously hard and probably put him at risk of DCS. When I got back in the boat I was pretty annoyed about the way the both dives had been conducted. I complained to one of the crew about the overcrowding and lack of line being run from the bow to assist in getting to the bow but there was no real response. Later on I was upstairs and asked by one of the crew to return the regs and pay for them!!! I said I'm not paying for the reg hire as I didn't dive with them because of the crew failures to conduct the dive properly and that I was going to be asking for my money back, citing a litany of safety concerns (to which they had no responses) and went downstairs. My dive buddy was still upstairs (lamenting the fact that his DV got smashed by someone dropping a tank on it during the cluster going on kitting up for the second dive.) A few seconds later I hear "Where's <my name>!!!" being bellowed several times from the upper deck. "Where the $**K is he!!!". I came back to base of the ladder to the upper deck where my dive buddy is halfway down the steps. Next thing my buddy says is "I've just been smacked in the head by the skipper!!". The skipper who was yelling my name, mistook my buddy for me and hit him. Next thing the skipper is halfway down the ladder screaming at me that I'm banned from his boat and so is my dive buddy, who had done nothing wrong but was guilty by association with me. Suffice as to say complaints have now been raised with the maritime safety authority and assault charges pending.

 

[Oldbear]

In the U.S. we sue each other for everything...from barking dogs to serving too hot of coffee at McDonalds. But in your case I think you have a good civil case against this operator as well the pending assault charges (I just do not know Australian Law). I hope whatever the law is that this Dive Operator and Skipper gets the book thrown at them.

Super Cat operated by Nautilus (Toowong) --- got it. :fire:

 

[Mantra]

They certainly do try to pack as many as possible on that boat. It's a big boat, and I guess that is the only way to make it profitable. It's a shame because it is a very comfortable ride.

Please keep us posted will you, Paul? The treatment you describe here sounds outrageous. I hope you guys got the details of witnesses to the assault.

We have only dove with them once, when they sponsored the reefcheck fundraiser a couple of months back, which was good of them. Everything went smoothly. The trip on that occasion consisted of a couple of well organised groups independant of the dive operator so organization on the deck was being handled pretty well. The conditions were benign. It sounds like it differs from your experience in several fundamental ways.

The seas over the weekend were obviously pretty big tides - I know of a few cancelled charters, and we certainly felt the conditions over on Stradbroke Island. There was room for misadventure there, for sure. Not much fun on the surface, erratic and at times strong current, and big surge. We did have one pair of divers blown off the dive site, and they were an amazingly far way out to sea by the time all the rest of us were recalled to the boat. Much easier to chase divers in a small inflatable than a big boat like the cat, too. Good safety protocols were especially important this weekend, for sure. Given the distance between dive deck and the anchor line on the cat, a bow line would seem like an obvious and sensible thing to do. I wouldn't have liked to swim that distance on the surface in the conditions we had out at Straddie that's for sure.

Ozzydamo has in the past raised concerns here about this operator anchoring on the reef when the moorings were out recently.

Its a shame. A nice boat does not make up for incivility or carelessness. I'd be really interested to hear how this pans out.

Thanks for letting us know.

 

[Joti]

Just another's experience with Nautiuls for the sake of a well rounded discussion - I have dived with them quite a lot and have generally had good experiences. While it has gotten crowded generally when I was diving with them they'd get the rec divers to gear up and get in the water first, while students or inexperienced divers needing help would wait inside.
As for the safety concerns, again in my time with them nothing ever stood out as a concern to me.