annqldau

Hi everyone... .

Who's been diving on the Sunshine Coast and where did you enjoy the most?

And, seen as the Aussies all think the water here is cold, how many mm did you wear and was it a shortie or long sleeved/legged?

Unycorne

The diving on Straddie is meant to be amazing - havent tried it myself as our dive gear is STILL in the container. I wouldnt dive in anything less than a 3/2mm full length - after all i am the girl who dived the Red Sea with my dry suit because i get so cold.

Look forward to hearing about any other good dive sites/dive companies.

michelle
xxx

Buzzy--Bee

I have dived Moreton island, and Byron Bay, not far from where you are talking about. Water temp about 20 - 21 degrees, used a 7mm full length suit and was fine.

Not the place for shorties I'm afraid. Even the Coral Sea and Barrier Reef can be only 20 degrees.

Cheers

Buzzy

annqldau

We dived the Barrier Reef up Cairns end in 7mm with just sting vest under bib and brace but as we are bit lower down did think water temperature would drop.

We are due to dive the Brisbane soon and want to enjoy the dive without ending up cold... .

We also intend to carry on diving this area so on the look out for good spots.

Cheers

annqldau

Vicious rumour from Pickfords is our container will be here this week - that means the diving gear will be here - that means off we go to get wet!! Neither of us ever fancied diving in hired kit - been waiting for ours to turn up. We are diving with Redcliffe Dive Centre, based in Kippa Ring shopping centre and they seem very professional. Will post after our first weekend with them if 'seems' equates to 'are' when we're out there. Can't wait. And even I didn't dive the Red Sea in my drysuit!!!!! and I feel the cold as well - although I did have a 7mm bib and brace with the full 7mm jacket over the top - hubby dived it in a 3mm long and was ok. Did you do liveaboard in the Red Sea or dayboat?

lacey21

We can't wait to come and dive, it is a real rush. My lad who is 13 has divied loads of times with tanks on his back. He loves it. Superb Anne, well be doing this too with you.
hugs Lace xx

Unycorne

My husband and i have done both dayboat and liveaboards. We are both PADI instructors who freelanced part time in the UK and as such if we agreed to go to the Red Sea as instructors for a UK dive center we didnt pay for the holiday - result I have been there about 18 times i think. I will have to look at my passport and count the "stamps" haha

The best holiday was where we agreed to teach on a 8 day liveaboard from Sharm and we flew out 3 days after Sept 11th. The boat was empty - our "students" never arrived so my husband and i have a fab holiday on a 16 birth boat with only 6 of us in total - 1 of them was another UK instructor with her 2 students, the dive guide and us. It was brilliant. The laugh was that out of 24 dives i only did 2 of them cause i was too busy playing backgammon with the crew.....

annqldau

It'll take us bl**dy years to get to instructor as we were just a few courses away in UK with SAA and Padi won't fully recognise your cross over so would have to do loads of Padi cash courses duplicating what we already have to get there. Not sure if it is worth the effort but great for you that you are already Padi.

We were quite happy being SAA in UK but no SAA dive clubs out here so knackered. Redoing Nitrox and Wreck diver now so we will at least have Advanced Open Water and Rescue equivilant now.

We loved the Cenotes in Mexico was one of the coolest dives we have done, very surreal. Have only done Red Sea once not as dedicated as you two... so will have to go back a few times to catch up.

Keep the diving tales coming... . You should have a fish not a horse avatar.

Buzzy--Bee

The best diving I ever did was in the Cayman Islands - viz like an aquarium, amazing variety and quantity of sea life, fish I had never seen before everywhere (and I have seen a few!) and the Bloody Bay Wall was amazing - drift over the edge of it at 12 metres and know there is nothing below you for 2 miles!!!!! Rather unnerving to start off with but great fun once you got used to it.

Close second - Catalina island off the coast of LA. Much colder, but very very special diving. Can't wait to go back on our way down to Oz next year.

Cheers

Buzzy

PADI NZ DM #453248

annqldau

Will have to win the lotto to go to all these places my fins are twitching in the container at the thought of it all... .

Unycorne

I have been diving with PADI since i was about 12. My dads best friend was a Course Director (which in diving terms is God) in Thailand so i spent many years diving with him and not bothering with any qualifications. So i near enough grew up with PADI and new what it was about.

My husband and i did our Open Water on our honeymoon nearly 8 years ago and he loved it. It was a bit embarrassing showing my log book with over 100 Try-dives and no qualification at the age of 20 however i didnt nead a qualification until then lol. I qualified as an instructor in 2000 and progressed up from there.

In 2003 i was involved in a diving accident - near fatal but apparently because of me and a quick underwater response the guy survived and even came back to me to progress to Rescue diver. I asked him why he came back to me and his response was "you saved my life once, i will trust you to save it a 2nd time" haha - he was open water when it happened........ i lost confidence in teaching total beginners but i think it was because of UK conditions that caused the problems. I am looking forward to getting my gear because i also dont like to hire the equipment and will get back into the water and hopefully just get on with it.

My best dive ever has to be (believe it or not) The Epcot Aquarium in Disney World, Florida........imagine....perfect conditions - no current, perfect water and all the wildlife you could imagine. There were sharks, dolphins, eagle rays and tons of fish. The diving was brilliant however as you are the entertainment you are expected to make an idiot of yourself infront of the spectators who are watching and eating lunch in the restaurant so you end up blowing kisses and somersaulting in the water etc. It really was a good laugh....

well i could go on for ages and ages about Diving, but i will go back to the main topic and look forward to some recommeded diving sites.

hopei didnt bore you too much

michelle
xxx

PS my avatar is of a horse because i am training to be a horse riding instructor hehe

annqldau

'Quote' "imagine....perfect conditions - no current, perfect water and all the wildlife you could imagine."

Hmmmmm - sound just like St Abbs on the North East/Scotland border on a wet Sunday in January ....... NOT!!!!!!!!! LOL Then again, St Abbs in January would be more like - ' 0.5 meters viz at 18m depth - current like a washing machine, even the fish stayed at home and the kelp was horizontal' but what the hell - that's why we dive the UK

Hope your kit gets here soon - maybe we can get some diving in together. I'm sure redcliffe diving can find some space on the boat for you LOL. In fact, they do a 'group rate' if 6 people hire the boat for a 'sole charter' I think

yamahaha

Surprised at that. What is the ave temp around year for the Barrier reef etc?

Anybody dived in the Maldives? We did our OWD there. On our first dive we we followed by a 5 Manta ray for the whole dive it was a truely spritual experience. I love diving and plan to do a Dive Master course when i get to OZ. Living in Scotland I just have NO inclination to dive in cold water, tried it before years ago when I did my BSAC training and just didnt enjoy it. I like getting wet with as little mms on a possible! Also went diving at Sipidan in Borneo, stayed at the SMART divers resort on Mabul Island, Id really recommend that place to anybody whos serious about their diving!

Buzzy--Bee

Average temp for the inner Barrier reef is about 25 degrees but as I said it can drop to 20 degrees, One instructor I dived with said she has experienced 19 degrees there.

It can get to 28 degrees though at the right time of year.

Cheers

Buzzy

PADI NZ DM #453248

Shaun&Dee

Rainbow Beach, Grey Reef Sharks there. A guy called kevin runs the dive shop there (his own business).