Gold Coast Dive Club

$3000 plus worth of books brought years ago, worth next to nothing today 😢🤣🤣🤣🤣

https://concreteplayground.com/brisbane/travel-leisure/wonder-reef-artificial-dive-site-gold-coast

You Can Now Swim Around Underwater Sculptures and Coral at the Gold Coast's New Artificial Dive Site Wonder Reef lets you dive down to 30 metres and swim around nine giant buoyant reef sculptures — all just a ten-minute boat trip from the Gold Coast Seaway.

NO PUBLIC ACCESS AT ALL — Have you been gearing up to dive the new artificial reef dive site off The Spit when it opens? Well better pack your regs and BCDs away because YOU'RE BANNED!

Announced today via the Gold Coast Bulletin is a swathe of restrictions for the public-owned artificial dive site which is situated in a public open space, and they want to make it law and enforce it.

Whilst there is certainly a need for some obvious common sense proximity restrictions around such a structure in terms of mooring, anchoring and fishing activities, it seems you can't even visit the site or dive there unless you pay council-chosen commercial operators.

The new law proposed states that "Access [to the dive site] is only to holders of a dive precinct permit and commercial dive tour operators, under an agreement with the council that will be the subject of a tender process."

They are proposing to totally monopolise access and tender it out to commercial operators, creating a private and exclusive commercial dive space that is only accessible to those who pay private operators for the right to visit it.

So even if as a private citizen you had a legal, safe and qualified boat and captain, and followed all the rules around safely visiting the site, not anchoring or mooring close to it, being fully licensed and equipped and then you descended for a dive with a buddy, you will be breaking the law as you are NOT permitted to go near this thing.

Also banned will be anchoring, mooring and any fishing activity inside an exclusion zone set around the dive site.

We've certainly seen the veracious appetite for public Land Grabs under this council's current leadership, but this has now transcended to include brazen Ocean Grabs.

There is reportedly going to be a 21-day public consultation period where council will seek public input on the proposed restrictions. We will publish full details on how to have your say (who knows to what end either) when it is opened.

Save Our Spit will be contacting council to seek further clarification regarding the right of use of the site and why it appears the public is banned from it.

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The Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) is a four-stage project which will see submerged sculptures installed off the North Queensland coast. Check out the link.

Museum of Underwater Art on Great Barrier Reef Divers to start visiting new North Queensland attraction.

Time to get wet

'It gives me goosebumps': Scuttled Navy ship ex-HMAS Tobruk opens to divers Tourists dive off ex-HMAS Tobruk for first time, eight months after its botched scuttling.

I won't let this go. There's some important questions that need to be answered,” said Mr Bennett

Tobruk scuttling a 'devastating failure': MP Stephen Bennett MEMBER for Burnett Stephen Bennett has labelled the sinking of ex-HMAS Tobruk a "devastating failure”, after the ship come to rest on its side.

Notice to Mariners 236 (T) advises that the sunken position of ex HMAS Tobruk is at 24°53.015'S, 152°48.045'E.

Trawling or fishing in the area is prohibited.

The site is marked with two yellow buoys, flashing yellow every 0.5s at night. The buoys will be replaced with mooring buoys in the coming weeks.

Note...National Parks advise that there is an exclusion zone of approx 500m from the ship on all sides (ie a 1.2km box). This will remain in place. Those diving the ship will require a permit.