Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Diving School in Cairns

Hi,

Does anybody have any recommendations for a diving school in Cairns? I'm looking into getting my PADI Open Water certification. This is my first time diving, and I'm looking at a 4-5 day course.

I found these two firms, and would be greatly interested to hear about anyone's personal experience with either of these firms or with other firms.

Down Under Dive http://www.downunderdive.com.au/index.htm
Pro Dive Cairns http://www.prodivecairns.com/5daylearntodive.html

Thanks!

Without going into a long story, Queensland has some new and very stringent medical standards. A very minor issue long ago was disqualifying for my being able to dive (had a great time snorkeling). A person we met later had to go to a clinic to be cleared even though she was fine at home. A note from your doctor at home might avoid wasted time and money getting it in CNS.

You'll likely get a better answer to your question at Scubaboard (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/australia/). When you complete your training, I can, however, highly recommend Mike Ball's live-aboard trip to the Coral Sea.

I don't know if it's still possible, but when I was getting PADI-certified, I did my classroom/pool work here in the US and got a transfer document from the dive school that I took to Mike Ball in Townsville. I did the required open water dives to complete my certification there. Worked out great for me, didn't cost any extra (I was NOT looking forward to doing my open water dives here in the Pacific Northwest in December!)

This was several years ago, and I also enountered the requirement for a doctor's ok to dive. We realized I didn't have it half an hour before the liveaboard was due to leave on a Friday evening. They (Mike Ball dive crew) called a local doctor and a taxi and I raced into town to get the doc's ok to dive.