Welcome. My name is Tom Byron and I run this publishing company. We specialise in scuba diving guide books that cover the entire area of coastline (4500 kilometres) from Thursday Island at the top end of Queensland to Eden, situated in the south of the state of New South Wales. We endeavour to provide both Australian and overseas scuba divers with the latest in diving information along the east coast of this country. Including charter boat operators both day and live-aboards, best time of year weather wise to visit the Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea Reefs and Atolls also the coastal waters of beautiful New South Wales. Undersea terrain ranges from the blue clear waters of colourful tropical coral to the deep clear rocky reefs and drop offs of southern New South Wales.
I have been diving for over 45 years and seen the sport of scuba diving grow from a backyard industry where just about everyone made their own equipment to a multimillion dollar industry. Over the years I have made well in excess of 8500 dives without a single accident and dived under many different conditions from open ocean to caves and muddy sink holes. My maximum depth was 70 metres and do not intent to go any deeper. During many wonderful years in the diving industry I have been a dive shop propriety, a charter boat skipper, a pioneer scuba instructor before the advent of dive instruction organisations in Australia, an underwater photographer using both stills and video, for which I have won many awards world wide. Manufactured underwater camera housings and written numerous articles for many different magazines in Australia and overseas. I was in 1993 honoured with the Australian diving industries highest accolade, the Scuba Excellence Award for locating, mapping and recording of scuba diving locations along the east coast of Australia. One year later I was presented with the SSI 5000 Dive Platinum Card. I have written nine scuba diving guide books of which seven are still in print after several updated new editions. My latest book is THE HISTORY OF SPEARFISHING AND SCUBA DIVING IN AUSTRALIA. The first 80 years 1917 to 1997, it was published in 1999.
The following information is for the benefit of overseas divers visiting Australia for the first time. Overseas Visitors Information: New South Wales: Scuba diving is all year round. Southern New South Wales ocean waters are mild throughout the year ranging from 23 degrees down to about 15 degrees in winter (June-July-August). Wetsuits can be worn all year round but dry suits are more favourable during winter months. Sea surface ranges from smooth to choppy and sometimes very rough. Visibility ranges from 30 metres or more during winter down to about 3 metres or less after rough seas. Best time of year to dive on average is from April to October which is through Autumn, Winter and Spring. Summer months are popular with divers because air temperature most times is well above 25 degrees. Sharks are of little trouble we mostly have the grey nurse species that grow to about 3 metres and are considered harmless. They live in particular areas along the coast and are visited regularly by divers for the purpose of photography and sightseeing. Of course there are other species of sharks but very rarely sighted and do not pose a threat to divers. Sea currents are generally not a threat either, however at times they do flow along the coast. Whales are frequently seen close to shore migrating to tropical waters. Sea bed growth is fantastic once below 25 metres and there are a number of shipwrecks below 40 metres. Along the coast of southern New South Wales there are a number of rocky outcrops and islands that produce wonderful and exciting diving, some have seal colonies whilst others display underwater caves, steep drop offs, tunnels, colourful sponge gardens and an abundance of southern fish life. Northern New South Wales changes a little from the south in the way of fixed growth and fish life. The closer one dives to the Queensland border you will notice a mixture of tropical and sub tropical species of fish and the same with fixed growth otherwise the general seascape is much the same.
Recommended areas to visit: Coffs Harbour: Sub-tropical growth and fantastic fish life. Lord Howe Island: Coral and tropical fish life. South West Rocks: Sea Tunnel, fish life and grey nurse sharks. Forster and Seal Rocks: Grey nurse sharks and shipwrecks. Sydney: Shipwrecks, grey nurse sharks, excellent southern reef growth. Jervis Bay: Rich deep sea growth, caves, tunnels, drop offs, sponge gardens and fish life. Montague Island: Large seal colony. Eden: Shipwrecks, caves and southern deep sea sponge gardens.
Overseas Visitors Information: Australia's Great Barrier Reef. One of the most popular dive areas on the entire Great Barrier Reef is from Cairns to Thursday Island. This area of barrier reef is perhaps the best in the world, about one third of the entire reef, and covers dive destinations such as Cairns, Port Douglas, Cooktown, Lizard Island, the popular dive sites of Ribbon Reefs and Cod Hole. Expeditionary diving to the Northern Tropical reefs and the Northern Coral Sea reefs as well as the wrecks of Quetta and Pandora are of special interest to all divers. Safe reliable live-aboard dive charter boats sail to these areas every week from Cairns and Port Douglas. Once past Lizard Island traveling north the reef changes slightly, it becomes more colourful in growth and richer in fish life. It is my opinion the northern reefs offer scuba divers far greater rewards than those closer to Cairns or Port Douglas. Recognized dive locations as Raine Island, The Great Detached Reefs, Northern and Southern Detached Reefs, Tijou Reef and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea and others are all first class dive sites. Further south from Cairns lies Townsville the jumping off point for wonderful and exciting Flinders Reef situated in the central Coral Sea. Flinders has just about everything a diver could wish in the way of blue water sea life and colourful fixed growth. South again is the Whitsunday Islands also catering to scuba divers, mostly backpackers. This area of reef close to the mainland is not as good as the outer reef, water visibility is limited around the islands to about 6 metres (20 feet). However day water transport is available to the outer reefs where diving is a little better than the inner reefs around the islands. At the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef is world renown Heron Island, Lady Elliot Island, the last island on the Barrier Reef, Great Keppel Island and Swain Reefs. All are popular dive destinations with Australian scuba divers. All dive operators along the Great Barrier Reef cater for different levels of certifications, some provide for a high level of competence whilst others provide for backpackers only and others combine all levels. Before booking a scuba holiday make certain that the dive operator caters for your level of diving, if you don't you may get stuck with a charter boat that visits below average dive sites
Recommended areas to visit: Dive locations out from Cairns: Good average coral growth and fish life. Dive locations out from Port Douglas: The Ribbon Reefs, Cod Hole, Pixie Pinnacle. Far Northern Great Barrier Reef: One of the best multi dive locations on the entire Great Barrier Reef. Northern Coral Sea Reefs: Osprey Reef, Bougainville Reef, Holmes Reef, Flora Reef. Exciting blue water diving and steep drop offs. Townsville: Flinders Reef in the Central Coral Sea and wreck of Yongala. Whitsunday Islands: Catering mostly to backpackers. Around islands below average diving, outer reef a little better, controlled diving to a particular area from a floating pontoon. Heron Island: Excellent all round coral reef diving catering to all levels.
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