Australian Diving Information

The diving scene is Australia is dominated by the big American agencies. PADI and SSI are the main ones, though there are also some NAUI shops. There are some Australian agencies, though they aren't that big, and there are also some BSAC clubs.

The general standard of diving in Australia is depressing in the tourist areas, especially northern Queensland. There seems to be an attitude that, once you're certified, that's it. An Open Water course is very cheap, at less than $300, but you get what you pay for. Very few places had 3 days pool and course work, as recommended by PADI. I know of one PADI 5* centre, which gave a student his exam to take home with him. His friend had taken his corrected paper home, so failure didn't seem likely. On a recent liveaboard run by another 5* centre, the students were all openly conferring whilst filling in their exam papers. There are also plenty of stories of Japanese people being certified despite not really understanding any of the theory because of language difficulties.

The only course other than OW that was regularly offered was Advanced Open Water. This was always advertised as just "advanced". Some people really did seem to believe that they were "advanced divers" on the strength of 20 dives, mostly in good visibility and shallow water. It was quite worrying really. They didn't seem to have any idea of their limits.

Away from the tourist areas, it is different, especially if you are diving with the locals. However, if you go diving mid-week anywhere, most of the people on the boat are likely to be tourists, and they probably trained in one of the main tourist areas.

Things are done differently in Victoria. There they have a system of levels based on people's qualifications and their experience. You also need to have experience of cold water diving before you're allowed to dive without a DM. The great thing about this is that, if you're suitable qualified, you can just book yourself on a boat to do something in the 30-50m range. Twinsets are common and the diving is similar to the UK, only a bit warmer and usually with better viz.

Courses which take you from Open Water to Instructor in one go are big business in Australia. It's not just confined to Queensland, shops in Sydney also run these courses. Unfortunately this tends to result in instructors with only the absolute minimum diving experience. Instructor's pay can be low, so a lot of people only work in the industry for a short time for the experience. Some instructors are backpackers themselves on working holiday visas which allow you to work for the same company for only 3 months at a time.

Nitrox is not used as widely as the UK. It's hardly used at all in northern Queensland. There is only one shop in the whole of Cairns that pumps it. It's more readily available in other states, though there still don't seem to be many people using it on the boats I've been on, and there are still plenty of shops that don't pump it. As a tourist, you certainly can't turn up and expect to find a buddy using nitrox. Trimix is even less common.

Queensland used to have some very strict diving regulations as part of their health and safety legislation. These have mostly been relaxed, and it's now up to individual boats to set their own rules. If they deviate from accepted safe diving practices, and have an accident, then the law comes down on them like a ton of bricks. But it does mean that you can legally dive to the limits of your certification but not beyond. So, if you're just OW qualified, they won't let you go deeper than 18m/60ft and they will probably check your gauges when you get out. As long as you're qualified, you can dive below 40m, and you can deco dive, though only with a very limited number of operators. Some people are still claiming these things are "against the law", but I suppose it's an easy way of keeping people quiet. Some DMs insist that you have a snorkel, even when you're boat diving.

Medicals are compulsory in Queensland, and possibly other states too now, if you're doing an OW course. Qualified divers don't need them as long as they can fill out the standard medical waiver form.

Commercial dive operations in Queensland must have a dive master on the surface at all times. This means that the dives generally aren't guided, particularly on liveaboards. Most boats don't have enough people to provide surface cover and lead all the divers. If you're not comfortable about diving in a buddy pair, you should arrange to be accompanied by a Dive Master in advance.

Most rental equipment is of a good standard and is usually American made. The vast majority of rental tanks are aluminium with A-clamp, or yoke tank valves. If your regs are DIN, you will need an adaptor as you can't rely on DIN tanks being available, especially in northern Queensland. Australian tanks valves must have a burst disc incase the tanks are caught in a fire. Most of the valves seem to be a local make and they are probably the worst valves I have ever used. The practice of turning your valve back off half a turn has more or less died out in most of the world. I never do it with my own valves and have never had a problem. However, if you turn on most Australian valves all the way, they will jam.

Most people associate diving in Australia with the Great Barrier Reef and Cairns is the biggest departure point. Here the reef is about 50 miles offshore, so a liveaboard is the best option. The reefs near Cairns have definitely suffered in the last few years and these include those marketed as "The Outer Reef". On my 2002 trip, there was a lot of dead staghorn corals covered in algae. It was quite depressing how the sites had degraded since my 1998 trip. However, if you head further north up to the Ribbon Reefs, the coral is healthy there and the visibility is much better. Better still is to go further out to the offshore reefs in the Coral Sea. Here you'll find vertical walls and the visibility is usually excellent.

Even moderately experienced divers need to be a bit careful what boats they book themselves onto. Some of them cater mostly for people doing their OW courses and that can restrict your diving both because of the sites and because of the mindset of the boat. I'd recommend booking on boats that don't do OW courses onboard. There are plenty to choose from in Cairns or Port Douglas.

South of Cairns, boats also leave from Townsville, where there's also the option to dive the wreck of the SS Yongala. This is a great dive because it is covered in marine life. Further south still is Airlie Beach. The area has a lot to offer, and the reefs were healthy there on my trip in 2002. However, having done two liveaboards there, I wouldn't recommend either to anyone moderately experienced. Read my reports to see why.

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