Your complete dive store: not just the greatest variety of boat dives: courses, gear and trips!
Grey Nurse Charters - Boat diving, Dive Newcastle, Dive Swansea, Dive Nelson Bay, Dive Port Stephens, Learn to Dive with Padi Dive Courses, Wreck Diving, Shark Diving, Dive Broughton Island, Scuba Diving Gear & Dive Travel
Use the link above to sign up to PADI eLearning for any of the following courses:
Open Water Diver
Advanced Open Water Diver
Enriched Air Nitrox
Rescue Diver
Divemaster
Select your course, NSW Australia and affiliate us by putting Newcastle Aust as your location and selecting Grey Nurse Charters. We can begin the adventure.
Our Dive Training Philosophy
Diving around here since 1991 has taught me a lot of things. So many dive shops have come and gone. There have been discount wars in the race to the bottom. But diving is a lifelong recreation that is relaxing and enjoyable; why should training be rushed and stressful? Diving has risks: this is why you can't just walk in off the street, buy dive gear and jump in. Take the time to learn to dive confidently and enjoyably and you'll be hooked! After the course you should be getting confident to dive in familiar sites without direct supervision from a dive master. As you gain experience you gain more confidence and independence as a diver.
We don't think you should buy gear until after you've done the course and know what you like or don't. Splits or blades, jackets or wings, black or clear skirted masks? Once you've done the course, sure buy the gear as you can afford it. We'll try to help with quality gear at good prices, packages and specials passed on from suppliers. Divers who own their own gear dive more often and gain confidence with the familiarity of their gear.
We won't hassle you to do more courses. You've learnt to dive; enjoy it! Get experience and dive! Don't just sign up for the next course. Unlike some dive stores we don't believe that the Advanced course is Open Water Part Two; not if you've been taught properly in the first place! Buoyancy and trim are the major skills of being a diver not something to try later! Being over-weighted from your Open Water course is just the sign of lazy instruction. Being prepared to dive in local conditions means that some experience with current is essential in your Open Water course. Do the Advanced when you're ready to dive deeper, do night dives and extend your diving.
We only use and hire steel tanks for single tank diving. Sure aluminium tanks have their place in multi-tank diving systems and in the tropics but aluminium and neoprene don't mix. The lead required diving with an ally tanks and 7 mm wet suit usually exceeds recommended loading in most BCD weight pockets, makes weight belts more likely to slip and getting around out of the water much harder work. Leave aluminium tanks to your relaxing tropical island getaway with warm water and 3 mm or less exposure suit and dive locally with steel tanks.
There are so many great dive sites locally; it's amazing how many local divers including instructors have never ventured beyond the same handful of shore and boat dives; at Grey Nurse Charters we want to show you the amazing variety diving has to offer here, around Australia and around the world.
Courses
Click on the link and find about how to learn to dive with Grey Nurse Charters
Advanced Open Water course - do PADI eLearning. The practical is $350 which includes a double boat dive for Deep and Wreck specialities. $250 without boat dives.
The Advanced Open Water qualification increases your maximum certification depth from 18 to 30 metres. The course itself consists of five open water dives. Navigation and Deep (to 30 metres) are compulsory dives: the other three are optional. Choices for the dives include Wreck, Drift, Night, Boat, Search and Recovery, Shark, Underwater Naturalist and for those who did not learn to dive with us, Peak Performance Buoyancy.
Again we offer discounted boat dives for those wanting to do Wreck, Shark, Boat or Deep dives from the boat to any of our suitable sites. Halifax Park is our regular Deep dive if the shore option is chosen.
Diving with an oxygen enriched breathing gas reduces the risk of decompression sickness whilst increasing dive times. The course consists of PADI eLearning, an exam, using a gas analyser and two dives with enriched air.
The dives can be done at any site with suitable depth; boat dives, shore dives or even combined with other courses.
The Deep Dive Speciality course qualifies you to the depth of 40 metres, the maximum depth for recreational divers. For that reason it is also the stepping stone to future Technical Dive courses. Deep qualification also allows you to visit many of our deeper wrecks in the area.
Our Deep Diver course includes 4 boat dives and the PADI manual. There is no eLearning with the Deep course; just work your way through the manual and then do the practical component.
PADI Deep Diver course including 4 x boat dives $430 + PADI Theory
Want to learn techniques to improve your underwater snaps? Tony has been taking underwater photos for years; constantly working on his technique and learning from many other photographers. He has had photographs used by newspapers and websites including the Australian Museum and is an Admin for Scubashooters.net Check out Tony's photos: Portfolio.
The course involves two dedicated photo dives on two days with post-processing of images using PhotoShop after each dive. Processing techniques can make the difference between a pleasant snap and a professional-looking underwater photograph.
The PADI Rescue Diver course is $165 which includes tanks for dives. PADI theory is paid to PADI beforehand.
The Rescue Dive course is one of the most important courses you can do. You learn to recognise stress not only in others but in yourself. You learn skills that can save lives. It may be necessary to update your First Aid qualifications - don't worry we can do that too.
The Rescue Diver course consists of PADI eLearning followed by a Pool Session revising many self rescue techniques and learning and practising new rescue skills. In an Open Water dive the new skills are practised again before a rescue scenario is played out featuring the search, recovery and rescue of a missing diver.
The PADI Master SCUBA Diver recognises qualifications and experience. To achieve this rating a diver needs to have completed Open Water, Advanced, Rescue and 5 speciality courses as well as having done at least 50 dives.
Apart from EANx, Deep and Photography, the other popular Speciality Courses we offer include Wreck, Drift, Night, Search and Recovery, and Underwater Naturalist (Tony did this course himself with the great late Neville Coleman).
Price for Master SCUBA Diver depends on Specialities chosen, equipment required and number of dives required for the course.
PADI Divemaster is the entry to the ranks of professional divers. A Divemaster not only leads diver but also assists on courses, can run Refresher and Discover SCUBA courses. The prerequisites to start the Divemaster course are OW, Adv OW and Rescue qualifications, up-to-date First Aid and a minimum of 40 logged dives.
How we do the course varies with the students availability and requirements. Students gain experience assisting on a number of Open Water and Continuing Education courses, assisting and then leading shore and boat dives, mapping a dive site, learning skills around dive shops including filling tanks, servicing tank valves, dive planning as well as the PADI eLearning course. We tailor the course to suit your needs.
Apart from fixed PADI costs our price varies depending on how you want to do the course. Pay as you go for a part-time course is an option instead of up-front fees.