Welcome to my post on SCUBA Diving in Australia. I have been diving in the waters around Australia, but mostly Queensland, for over 39 years. I have dived the reefs around Queensland from the southern Cook Island where I learnt to dive (technically NSW) and Byron Bay (Julian Rocks) and as far north as Pelorus Island in the Palm Group of Islands. With an advanced open water and rescue diver and over 300 logged dives, I’m looking forward to exploring more of the world’s great dive spots and bringing you along on the journey.
Along my SCUBA diving journey I have been fortunate to have dived some of the best wreck dives in the world including; the SS Yongala, exHMAS Brisbane, Coen and Tangalooma wrecks and at Million Dollar Point in Vanuatu. I started including my adventure dives on this site in the hope that it might inspire you to put on your mask, snorkel and fins to take a look underwater and experience the wonder of life in the ocean.
My Personal Journey
Life underwater really started for me in front of the television, watching the amazing adventures of Jacques Cousteau and his crew on the awesome ship ‘Calypso’. The adventures into the deep blue ocean and the amazing underwater footage highlighted a world so foreign to my life in the city that I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to dive in.
It wasn’t long before I acquired an old wetsuit, saved some money from my paper round and bought my first mask, snorkel and fins. I even bought a spear gun with the intention of catching some fish for dinner at the same time. At 12 years old I was all set. My first adventure into the deep was at a small inlet at the heads of Wellington Harbour, what I experienced there was unlike anything I could have dreamed about.
Leaving the cold for the tropics
I left New Zealand in 1986 to return to where I grew up in Australia and moved to the Gold Coast, and after passing the Tweed Dive Shop on the NSW side of the border of Queensland. Having seen a sexy girl pulling on a wetsuit out the front of a shop, I managed to pull off an inconspicuous a U-turn and inquired about a SCUBA diving course. Six weeks later, I have achieved my first twelve dives and gained a NAUI Open Water SCUBA diving licence. It was 1986, and I was only 22 years old.
The rest as they say is history. I met some great mates and had some wild adventures, including drift diving in the open ocean on a reef called ‘Nine Mile’. My diving had dropped off due to study, wife, kids and a mortgage. But as fate would have it my son wanted to dive, living in Bowen, North Queensland at this stage there was plenty of opportunity to take him snorkelling. We would often kayak onto a local reef, throw down our anchors and use the kayaks as dive platforms. Soon enough, snorkelling, he wanted to take up SCUBA diving. This was the opportunity I needed to get back in the water.
A New Beginning
With new gear, a zest for adventure, my son and I headed out into the ocean. He is now a Dive Master travelling the world, diving on all the best spots and exceeding my abilities. Check out our stories and let me know what you think.
Click on the blog link “SCUBA Diving” in the menu to see and read more of our adventures.