Visiting Gold Coast/Brisbane, new divers, just got OW

[peteg]

Hello....my wife and I are visiting the Gold Coast then Brisbane in a few weeks. We recently got our Open Water certification and we want to go diving in Australia. Obviously, we are total newbs, and because we were trained in a lake in Texas, USA, we don't have any experience with salt water, boats, currents, etc. Can anyone reccomend a dive or a day trip or a shop that would be suitable for our experience level?

 

[almitywife]

if staying at the gold coast i would definately look into diving hmas brisbane

http://www.scubaworld.com.au/ (accomodation near by)

due to its depth (27mtrs) you most prob have to upgrade to AOW but what a nice place to do it

if staying in brisbane, i would recommend www.bigcatreality.com for a weekend liveaboard of Morton Bay

Chris (SydneyDiver) might be on later with some more info

cheers and enjoy!

 

[TSandM]

Oh, drive down to Byron Bay for a couple of days! Julian Rocks, which is the marine park there, is STILL one of the best places I've dived. Sundive, which was the dive op we used, was professional and lovely. You can read my report of the trip here.

BTW, I had about 40 dives when I went there, and I was still very shaky skills-wise. It's pretty forgiving diving, and not terribly deep. Just tons of fun.

 

[KeithM]

I've been diving with Nautilus who operate out of Brisbane a few times and like them. They have a good sized boat for the trip across Moreton Bay to Flinders Reef and look after people well. Diving from Brisbane always involves quite a long (an hour plus) boat trip to get across Moreton Bay and I prefer to do the trip in aboat that is big enough to walk around on and chat to people. Flinders Reef is a really nice dive site with lots of coral and fish life. Feel free to look at my blog at http://www.mydivinglife.com/keith/ the latest entry includes pictures from there.

I couldn't agree more with TSandM about Sundive and Byron Bay, the diving there is fantastic and they are a great dive shop.

The Gold Coast diving scene is a little difficult and I haven't found anyone yet I could recommend to you. If someone else has I would be interested to hear!

If you do want to dive ex HMAS Brisbane it is best to stay on the Sunshine Coast as it is a reasonable drive North of Brisbane (around 1.5 hours) so you'd have a very early start if you drove up from Brisbane.

 

[peteg]

Thanks everyone. Byron Bay sounds perfect and we just got an email back from Sundive. Cheers

 

[TSandM]

Post a report when you get back, so we can enjoy your trip vicariously with you!

 

[emanuelw]

I third the statement about Sundive and Byron. I have seen turtles, sharks and rays on every dive i've done there. Grey nurse sharks in winter are really cool.
A little bit of current and surge, but pretty shallow and easy.

 

[peteg]

For the record, we went with Sundives and did two dives on Julian Rocks in Byron Bay. It was fantastic, great visibility, tons of sealife. We saw a large school of eagle rays, a giant ray of some sort, a leopard shark, more wobbegongs than I have toes or fingers, etc. My only regret is not diving there more. Sundives was excellent and effecient. A very positive experience for both of us. I can't wait to go back.