We are planning to go for a guided double dive with Gold Coast Dive Adventures to Palm Reef and another Gold coast reef or wreck to be confirmed on the day depending on conditions. These will be sites suitable for Open Water divers. These sites are just a 10 minutes boat trip from Runaway Bay Marina in the Gold Coast.

Palm Beach Reef is the largest coral reef system on the Gold Coast and ranges from 5m to 24m, with lots of different environments to explore. There are many different sites here that can be explored, depending on the conditions and the time of year, as different sites are better suited to different wildlife. In the summer, leopard sharks frequent the reef and grey nurse sharks are occasionally seen in the winter. Stingrays, eagle rays, wobbegongs and turtles are frequently seen, and the site is well known for nudibranchs. Large schools of tropical fish are common and the shallower parts of the reef offer a good variety of tropical fish.

The Scottish Prince was an iron-hulled barque ship with three masts, built in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1878. It was a passenger and cargo ship that operated between the UK and Australia. It ran aground at the end of a voyage from Glasgow to Brisbane in 1887, without loss of life, and now lies 800 metres off the Southport Spit. Now, what remains of the 64-metre ship is covered in soft corals and sponges, and is a haven for crayfish, shovelnose rays, catsharks and wobbegongs, as well as plenty of tropical fish.

The cost is $170 including two tanks, weights and snacks. Gear hire is not included (if you need hire gear, please check out our loans webpage https://www.unidive.org/diving/loans/). 

Notes on Payments:

If you wish to pay by Electronic Funds Transfer, please email treasurer@unidive.org for instructions. This event can also be paid for via our online payment system, or via EFTPOS on Thursday nights down at the shed.

All payments must be finalised at least 10 days before the event. If for any reason you need to withdraw from this dive, eligibility for a refund will be dependent on us filling your place on the trip, so please ensure you can definitely make the dive before signing up. If the event is oversubscribed, we will be maintaining a waiting list for members who miss out and will do our best to fill your spot if you need to cancel unexpectedly. If the dive is cancelled by the operator due to weather we will reschedule, and you will be eligible for a refund if you can't make the new date.

To iron out the details we will meet at the shed on Thursday night,  14th March, at 6:15 p.m.

If you have any questions about the trip, please email dive@unidive.org.