Cairns is where I completed my PADI Advanced Open water dive course. I went with Downunder Dive on their Atlantic Clipper for a 4 day live aboard dive course which was absolutely fantastic. I originally looked at diving with a company called Pro Dive but they seemed very up themselves and I had heard many a good thing about the PADI dive courses that Down under Dive offered. Also after some further research I found out they had probably one of the best boats. The SV Atlantic Clipper.

It’s an old 140ft tall ship but has been fully refurbished and has on the modern technology installed. It has very nice air conditioned cabins which cater for 2-4 people, has a large saloon, lounge and even its own bar. Of course it even has a hot tub on the front deck to sit in and relax, chill out and have a beer. The food was fantastic and served from a rather well built kitchen… one of the best things they prepared was probably the most basic of all and that was potato wedges with sweet chili sauce which was often sat waiting for us on deck for when we came out from night dives. Hmm hmm.

The Atlantic Clipper is permanently based at the Great Barrier Reef which would move every day to other parts of the reef, which would either be done over night if a long way or early in the morning if a short distance. This was excellent as you get to see a variety of reefs and have a truly unique diving experience. Downunder Dive had a fast transfer boat which takes you there and back which also allows you to spend as many days and nights aboard as you want.

I truly couldn’t recommend anyone else to dive with in Cairns but if you decide to look elsewhere please be very careful when selecting a dive operator in Cairns as many dive schools use fixed platforms at sea which you stay on and then commute by boat for the diving, not quite the live aboard you expected!

View more of my scuba diving travel photos in Cairns.

Cairns Travel Photos

The HMAS Swan was scuttled almost ten years ago, on December 14th 1997. Situated in Dunsborough, South West Australia in a depth of just over 30m. The Swan is one of the most popular dive sites in Australia most probably due to its sheer size. The wreck is 112m long 13m wide and 21m tall, being only 1.3 miles from shore allows it to be cheap to dive.

If you are looking for or planning your next dive trip or diving holiday in Australia you have to come and visit this wreck. Nearly the whole vessel is penetrable apart from the engine and boiler room, which have been closed off to stop any entanglements. Apart from this you can go everywhere even up and down the lift shafts! There are many diver access holes which have been cut out into the ship so you don’t need to worry too much about getting lost as I can remember seeing one every 20m or so.

Marine life here is excellent, it was one of my very few encounters with a Grey Nurse Shark too. Another diver told me it was a Bronze Whaler but it didn’t look anywhere as stream line and had a shorter head so I’m pretty confident I’m correct. Anyway if it had of been a Bronze I’m glad it wasn’t too curious! There are many Batfish around the top of the mast, some big Samson fish which seem to come out of nowhere, and others such as Bullseyes, Blue Devil fish, awesome Shaw’s Cowfish and some very strange looking Dhufish. There is some small size soft coral growing around the wreck, but of course the biggest dive attraction is the HMAS Swan.

Diving the HMAS Swan Photos