Descend Downunder
Come Dive With Us…
Come dive, Come dive away.
The great thing about a 3 1/2 month old is they don't care what you sing to them as long as it sounds fun. So I find myself turning everything into a nice little tune. (Sorry). Well a new year is here and we’ve all vowed to fit in as much pleasure diving as possible. We’ve got a few great trips lined up and taken the hard work out of it for you by checking out the dive itineraries, finding accommodation and picking places that we love to dive and therefore we think you will also love. All you have to do is come along for a great weekend, all with instructor supervision of course. So what are you waiting for?
Get wrecked at Portsea..
Australia Day long weekend..
This is without a doubt one of the nicest times - weather wise to dive Port Phillip Bay with temperatures, dare I say, warm!! We’ve booked some great dives including; The Eliza Ramsden shipwreck, the 26m and 36m submarine and as many shore dives as we can fit in. You might even like to try a night dive under Portsea Pier. Don’t worry if your not wreck certified, we’ll be sure to also put you on some great suitable dive sites. Full details below…
Portsea Weekend
26th-28th January  | | Our latest open water graduates |  |
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Special Dive Club Package Includes;
3 x nights accommodation (Fri, Saturday & Sunday)
4 x boat dives (two boat dives Saturday & Sunday)
Airfills for boat dives included
8 places available
Hire gear additional
Extra boat dives and shore dives can be arranged at your own cost
Only $350/diver $120/non diver
Limited places remaining. Book now with a $100 deposit
Dive Bicheno…
Easter 21st—24th March…
Located on the east coast of Tasmania with a population of 700 makes this beautiful little town a wonderful base for diving what is classed as some of the best temperate water diving in the world. You will be blown away by the sponges, kelp beds, brightly coloured soft corals and crayfish, crayfish & more crayfish—you literally have to push them out of your way. We’ve put together a great package. See details below…
Dive Bicheno
Dive Club Package Includes;
4 x nights accommodation
4 x boat dives – includes cylinder, weights and air  | | Abundent crayfish in Bicheno | |
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Unlimited shore dives – includes cylinder, weights and air
Return bus transfers Launceston to Bicheno
Must organise own flights to Launceston
Flights available from $129/person each way (Jetstar/virgin)
Meals extra
All for only $550/diver $200/non diver
All traveler’s are required to be in Launceston by 4:00pm Thursday 20th March for the bus departure to Launceston. Suggested flights as follows;
Thursday 20th March – Depart Melbourne 1:25pm – Arrive Launceston 2:25pm from $129
Monday 24th March – Depart Launceston 2.55pm – Arrive Melbourne 3:55pm from $129
You will need to act fast to take advantage of these cheap flights
Alternatively you can catch the ferry for approx. $99 each way
Anyone wanting to car pool just let us know at Descend and we will try and take minimal cars to Melbourne.
Select the links below for photos from our last trip to Bicheno;
Select the link below for Bicheno Dive Centre's web page
 | | Shore dive at Queenscliff | |
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Course Congratulations…
Congratulations to the following who completed the CDAA Cave Diving course recently run by Des and Rick;
Ross Hall, Mark Padmore, Kylie Clarkson and Chris Lethbridge. Well done everyone this course requires a high level of skill, not to mention the huge amount of gear you have to lug in and out of the dive sites which require twins. Glenda and Lloyd just have their prac dives to complete.
Please select the link below for some great pic’s from their practical weekend in Mt. Gambier.
Congratulations also to our latest open water graduates... Eliza Abbott, Anne Strange, John Bennett, Paul Preston from our fulltime course and to Zane Eyers, Bethany Patton, Tom Lenaghan, Peter Lenaghan and Barry Young from our December open water course. Hope to see you all back in the water with us again soon.
Select the link below to see our December graduates;
Select the link below to see our January graduates;
 | | Soft coral and sponges in Bicheno | |
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Wanted: Diving Professionals…
Do you have what it takes to become a diving professional. We are looking for suitably qualified divers to undertake our Dive Con course. This course will teach you to safely assist dive instructors, lead qualified divers on dives plus much more. Register your interest today. Select the link below for full details;
Truk Lagoon
The trip of all trips - affectionately known as wreck divers paradise! Not a wreck enthusiast – no problem the wrecks have also made the most perfect backdrop for coral reefs to thrive. So if you want to venture inside or stay on the outside there is always something for everyone. Again one of our most popular trips - limited places remaining. Full details at the link below;
Holiday in Fiji - By Barry Nichols
I have just returned from Fiji where I had my first diving experience after taking an open water course at Easter early last year.
I’d loved the pool training and the shore dives but the smell of the diesel and the swell on the boat had made me feel quite sick when we did the Queenscliff boat dives. This took a bit of polish off the end of the course and I did wonder about whether this was really for me, but now I had my ticket and the trip was already booked so I wasn’t turning back.
The hotel had a travel desk with a number of alternative dive companies and recommended “ Aqua Blue”. On the first morning a 4WD picked me up at the hotel and I met two of my fellow divers, Jim from Alaska who had done over 1000 dives and Kathleen a Canadian who had only just got her open water ticket. I thought this is good, a buddy at my standard. I was happy to hear from Jim that he was booked with this crew every day for the next 10 days based on personal recommendation.
The dive shop was very basic, on old grey “fergy” was loaded with the gear and we followed to the beach on foot. I now appreciated the comments on the quality of the gear used at Descend, by comparison the hire gear was out of the ark! But functional.
We traveled half an hour out to a reef off one of the small islands.
The way they ran the dives was that everyone stayed together as a group, rather than going on your own in pairs, the buddy checks were done by the boat captain before we got into the water. Our dive master, Solo, led the group and pointed out anything of interest as we went.
The descent for the first time out of a training environment was great. I think the warm water and the fact that the visibility was so good that I could see the bottom and the mass of fish for 50 metres in all directions made me relax. My concerns from Queenscliff vanished. The colours of the corals and the variety of tropical fish were stunning. All the training had paid off, it all felt so comfortable. Solo kept a close eye on Kathleen and I and asked to check out gauges regularly. Unfortunately I consumed my air much more rapidly than the others and had to end my dive after 30 minutes. Solo stalled the group on the sea bed, underneath us, whilst he helped me carry out my safety stop. We were using aluminium cylinders and I struggled a bit with staying at 5m, but got a lot better at each extra dive.
We saw white tipped reef sharks, large green sea turtle, a sea snake and giant clams just to mention a few
In summary it lived up to all of my expectations, I’m hooked!! And if anyone else is thinking about doing an advanced open water course let Kirk know because he can’t run the course for me on my own!!
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