British Diver Off to Vanuatu and OZ

Hi all
I'm new to this forum and have a question. I'm from the UK and may well be working in Vanuatu next summer...(sorry, winter, August time, getting my hemispheres confused

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the diving is like there. Anyone dived the SS President Coolidge? What dive operators do you know of there. Also, after Vanuatu I may go to Oz for Christmas. Where's the best diving (obviously the Great Barrir Reef, but more speficially?)

Contributed by Ben added 2004-12-10

Replies of 3

Deb added 2005-01-11: Hi Ben,

I'm Deborah.....i live in Melbourne Australia its far far from the great barrier reef but hey...smile....we have some great diving down here.....and i have the videos and pics to prove it...lol...the great thing is diving isnt that popular yet down here....so most the sites we have to ourselves and you can explore to your hearts content......so if you do come to Aussie land....dont miss melbourne......oh and if you like wreck diving there are 2 great wrecks just off the coast of Eden in New South Wales....oh and my parents live there and dad has a boat...lol...and they are very friendly welcoming people....lol

As for Vanuatu......OH BOY........GO MAN GO.......its fantastic.... we have done 33 dives on the coolidge alone......santo is a very quaint and friendly town.....the deco stop loge has great and cheap accomodation and great food and you cant go past Alan Power and his crew for dive guides....Alan has been diving the wreck for many years.....he has been taking people down for many years as well...and never had a mishap. We dived to a maximum depth of 68 meters....217 feet.....but the boat has many interesting things to see from about 20 meters onwards.....the deco stops are also great with plenty of marine life....great photography material....smile

Vanuatu is so great...my partner and i are looking for a dive holiday site for this coming july....and if we dont find anything interesting....we are going back to the coolidge....smile

oh by the way.....while we were in vanuatu.....we met lots of other divers....some had booked thru aquamarine...but were disappointed because it seemed they kept going back to the same dive site....where as we got to see most of the ship..... and no....i owe Alan power nothing for this recommendation....lol.....im just telling you how it is...

Have a great time....and hey if you come to melbourne....my partner and i will show you some good dives....smile
Deb

bjdive added 2005-01-29: Hey Ben,

Working in Vanuatu? Wow, that would be great. The Coolidge is by far one of the most amazing wreck dives I've ever done. I would recommend at least 10 days to dive it but if you're going to work there, even better!

I dived there over the Christmas holiday and had a great time.

For dive operators, I would definitely recommend Aquamarine. They are professional, friendly and will take you just about any where on the wreck that you want to go. They are also the only dive shop there that has all of the proper credentials for the type of wreck diving that goes on there. The owner, Barry Holland, is a TDI Instructor Trainer and he really knows his stuff. I wouldn't miss the chance to dive with him if I were you.

While I was there, a diver diving with Alan Power got bent. From the sounds of it, he was just following his guides but the diving practices sounded a bit unsafe to me. Plus they advised the guy to go back into the water with some oxygen rather than helping him to get to a chamber. I wasn't at all impressed with what I heard and saw about Alan Power's dive team and I couldn't recommend them in good conscience.

I had a great time with Aquamarine and their diving practices are much safer than I what I saw at the other place.

Whatever you decide, you should have a great time!

Lyndell Ross added 2005-02-08: HI Ben

Come dive with us onboard Reef Encounter and you can stay on as a hostie at the end and work for meals accommodation and diving if you like - Reef Encounter no doubt about it the BEST liveaboard Dive boat in Australia
see it http://www.reeftrip.com:)
Lyndell Ross
Reef Encounter
www.reeftrip.com
lyndell@reeftrip.com

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British Diver Off to Vanuatu and OZ

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