Open Water Course + Diving

[WarmWaterDiverTJ]

My sister and I will be traveling to Australia/New Zealand in June/July 2017 for approx. 4 weeks. I want to spend at least two weeks of that diving. My sister will be obtaining her open water diving license while there but doing at least the online course work prior to coming. Can I get recommendations on:

1. Dive Shops in either Cairns or Townsville for Open Water Instruction (note I'll take other recommendations for other areas on east coast as we are still figuring out our whole trip)
2. Dives Shops to work with for day trips in either Cairns or Townsville
3. Other areas that are worth diving from for day trips on the east coast?
4. Seadragons are something I would love to see too! I read that they are mainly in the south or west. Any recommendations on places to dive from in the south that should be able to see one of these beautiful creatures!

I noticed in what I've researched to date, that in Cairns there appears to be ONLY large boats going out, are there any smaller boats that go out worth the extra cost?

Thanks for all recommendations!

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

There are a few decent ones in Cairns. See here for a few options. You can do a budget course over 4 days or an over night trip.

I would try to do the theory and confined water before you come and then just do the 4 training dives as a referral on an overnight trip, That way you maximise your time.

If you just do the theory it may not be much of a cost or time saving as the pool and theory is done over the first 2 days so you are not saving much of either.

Cairns is more larger boats for courses, but the groups are still limted to 8.

One certified there are a lot of places long the est coast and lots of posts on Scubaboard too. For leafy sea dragons you need to go down south really to Victoria and maybe South Australia. Victoria along the Mornington Peninsula has lots of shore dives and under the piers e.g.. Portsea or Sorrento has sea dragons

 

[Hemrick]

For courses in Townsville you have two main options Remote area Dive or Adrenalin Snorkel & Dive

Remote Area Dive mainly run over night trips out to a small group of islands north of Townsville, you should do 3-4 dives on the Saturday, camp over night on an island then do a couple more dives on Sunday before heading home. RAD has the benefit that it isn't affected by weather as much because you can always find the lee side of the islands to dive on and it will get the open water dives done over the weekend.

Adrenalin Dive run to the reef and the wreck of the Yongala on either a day boat or 3 day, 3 night live aboard. The day boat is smaller than most running out of cairns but it isn't a 6 pack if that is what you are after. They have an onsite pool at the shop if you need to do the pool dives but I haven't looked into how they structure OW courses. The dives they offer are probably more interesting and if you are in the area I would suggest checking out the Yongala anyway however it is a long boat ride to the Yongala and Reef from Townsville so they are more subject to weather and probably more likely to cancel because of it.

 

[stiebs]

Can't comment on Cairns, but you'll want to head down to Melbourne for leafy sea dragons. Flinders Pier in Western Port Bay is the pick of sites for leafies. Although in June/July it's gonna be chilly down here (water temp about 13ºC, or 55ºF)

 

[WarmWaterDiverTJ]

I'm going to give it a try - any dive shop recommendations for Melbourne?

 

[MA]

There's plenty of dive shops in melb. Most reputable. I would recommend ocean divers or diveline as a start.

 

[elmo]

Can't comment on Cairns, but you'll want to head down to Melbourne for leafy sea dragons. Flinders Pier in Western Port Bay is the pick of sites for leafies. Although in June/July it's gonna be chilly down here (water temp about 13ºC, or 55ºF)

Flinders pier is definitely the best bet for seadragons around Melbourne. I've dived the site plenty of times, and never not seen them. Other piers and reef dives you might see them. Just a slight correction: around Western Port and Port Phillip (i.e. Melbourne area) we have weedy seadragons. The leafies are in South Australia. All are great!

 

[Wingy]

Leafy, Weedy and the new kid on the block - the Ruby Sea Dragon all found in Western Australia - although you may find the timing of your visit will give you anything but warm water

 

[PugHugger]

We also have quite a few Leafy Sea Dragons here in little old Adelaide. I'd recommend Rapid Bay.

Mind you - it would be cold...

 

[clownfishsydney]

If you sister is learning to dive in Australia, then I would strongly recommend against diving the Yongala, this is a dive that needs a lot of experience. As to your other questions, Byron Bay or South West Rocks in NSW are the best places to get a dive any day at that time. For sea dragons, try Sydney, The Monuments at Kurnell has many. Abyss Scuba Sydney Scuba Diving, PADI Learn To Dive Courses, Scuba Diving Gear would be my recommendation as to how to dive it.

See my web site for more information on all these sites Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site.