G'day Elmer,
You have plenty of choices in Melbourne for temperate water diving. I'd recommend you check out Sonar Wetsuits in Dandenong for a wet suit, or The Scuba Doctor in Rye (
The Scuba Doctor - Home - Scuba Service and Repair, Dive Shop, Courses and Trips) for wetsuits and drysuits. A lot of people who dive a lot in Melbourne are now getting drysuits. I have one, but as I have plenty of bioprene and don't feel the cold so much, I rarely use it. I mostly dive with a 5/7 mm semi-dry wetsuit. But in summer we even sometimes get to use a 3mm steamer. My partner Cheryl has a great Northern Diver wetsuit from The Scuba Doctor. It's a 5/7 mm full length suit, plus shorts and a top that can be worn over it, or separately.
Most of the diving in Melbourne happens down at the southern end of Port Phillip Bay, just inside the heads, plus outside the heads in Bass Strait. The major charter operator is Dive Victoria who operate out of Portsea and Queenscliff, so they have both sides of the bay covered. A typical boat dive from a charter operator is $70 to $80 per dive.
Most of the local dive shops have a "dive club" as a commercial arm of their operation. Some do some shore diving around the bay, but mostly use the charter operators.
Then there are plenty of university and other independent, non-profit, dive clubs. I'm a co-founder and member of the Bass Strait Aquatic Club which is a UK BSAC affiliated club -
Bass Strait Aquatic Club (BSAC) - who mostly do shore dives and charter boat dives, plus some private boat dives.
I'm also a committee member of the Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG) -
Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG) - who mostly dive from private member boats where it's $50 for a dive day and typically two dives. But you'll need your own two cylinders (or hire them) to be able to do two dives. VSAG have an end of year social meeting next Thursday. See the web site for details.
You effectively can't use UK cylinders in Australia. In theory, you can go through a convoluted process to get them Australian certified and tested, but in practise it rarely happens. It's way easier to buy new or second-hand ones.
Hopefully I'll see you at a club meeting or out on the water soon.
Best regards, Lloyd Borrett.
