Dive Spear and Sport

✨ Breaking the surface ✨

Australia’s first-ever SDI Instructor Development Course exclusively for women is coming to the Southern Great Barrier Reef.

From 23–31 May 2026, we’re proud to host this landmark IDC in collaboration with Dreamers Dive Academy, creating a space designed to educate, empower and connect the next generation of female dive professionals.

If you’ve ever dreamed of turning your passion for the ocean into a profession, this is your moment.

Learn more here https://dss1770.com.au/womensidc/

SDI - Scuba Diving International
SDI Oceania
Agnes Water & Town Of 1770
Visit Gladstone Region, Queensland
📷https://nickleigh.info/

Breaking the surface: Australia’s first SDI Instructor Development Course solely for Women. - Dive Spear and Sport We’re hosting an all-women’s Instructor Development Course (IDC) at Dive Spear and Sport on the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Led by two kick ass industry women

Just an average Thursday on the Southern Great Barrier Reef. 🐋

When eight Humpback Whales swim past you while diving!!! Talk about an incredible, once in a lifetime experience, but this really happened TODAY at Llewellyn Reef located in the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Dive Spear and Sport at 1770 a High Standard Tourism Operator were lucky enough to be there in that exact moment, with guest and diver Hudson Meek behind the camera. They had only been in the water for about five minutes when out of the blue, these eight large and beautiful Humpback Whales swam close by. Carmen Bolten, Owner and Master Reef Guide at Dive Spear and Sport 1770, said: “Humpback whale encounters are very common during the winter months, and recently we’ve been having so many incredible experiences. This spot here at Llewellyn Reef our site stewardship location seems to have become a favourite pit stop for the whales, with countless encounters this winter season. But this one will definitely go down as one of the top moments for us and all our divers.” 🎥 Hudson Meek

At the start of July, we were joined by an absolute bunch of legends! The instructor team, led by their fearless leader Shrek, and an absolutely on point bunch of frothers for the inaugural Noob Spearo Beginners retreat at 1770.

This is a mind blowing, jam packed, informative and fun trip for Spearos of all levels looking to refine, learn or just get back to working on basics. The ultimate trip where the motto “Full froth, no ego” truly is the essence of the whole weekend!

At the end of the retreat, we relived the stories, wins and fails of the weekend in a podcast! Entertaining as, listening to 20 people recording at 9pm after a massive weekend of 11 hour days on the reef! 😂😂

We want to thank Shrek and the team for bringing it- energy, knowledge, fun and mind blowing expertise to 1770. Our team are learning so much from you guys and we just love collaborating with you!

➡️ To listen to the podcast, go to and listen to episode 302 with a full download from the weekend with everyone present.
➡️ For those asking about an upcoming retreat, Sept is full but drop shrek a message on .courses and he’ll get you on the wait list for upcoming dates!

We can’t wait to have you guys back up with a fresh group of frothers in September! 🐟

We can FINALLY let the shark out of the bag! 🦈

Last year, the team at Dive Spear and Sport @ 1770 worked on an incredible, fun new series for Netflix. It was bold, it was daring, it was different. It was an absolute ride!

And now, here it is! Dropping on Netflix, 4th July, 2025. (5th July in Australia).

Watch party anyone? 🍿

All the Sharks | Official Trailer | Netflix A first of its kind competition series where four teams of shark FINatics travel the world trying to find and photograph every shark imaginable in hopes of c...

We are super excited to be recognised as a TEQ Best of Queensland Experience for 2025! 🥳🥳🥳
Huge thank you to all the wonderful customer feedback that helped to get us there!

If you haven’t visited us on the pristine Southern Great Barrier yet, this winter is the PERFECT time to come and some Fintastic fun! 🤩

We are head over fins excited to share that Dive Spear and Sport 1770 has been officially recognised as a 2025 Best of Queensland Experience! 🌊💙

This recognition, awarded by Tourism and Events Queensland in collaboration with industry partners, highlights our ongoing commitment to delivering unforgettable reef adventures, personalised service, and genuine care for our environment and community.

A massive thank you to our guests, team, and supporters who make what we do so special ! 🙌✨

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Newcastle divers, Spearos and freedivers, our friends at Project Manta - The manta rays of Australia are missing a tag! If you, or anyone knows where this one is, can you please please get in touch with Project Manta! Let’s see what we can do to help! 🙏

Last week, Carmen was invited as a guest to attend the women’s dive weekend with the phenomenal team at , Stradbroke Island.

This great event was organised by the absolute powerhouse women of the Manta dive team, led by the fearless .

As a female owner in this industry, seeing an event like this absolutely blows my mind and makes me feel so overwhelmingly happy, because 10 years ago we didn’t have the women engaged in the sport like we do today. And to be there at the event with around 100 boat spots filled by women from all walks of life, all sharing a common interest of diving was insane in the best possible way!

Listening to speakers such as the inspiration Asia from project manta about her work and her journey, listening to the stories of the women who attended and seeing this sport and this community create such an outlet women… well, there are no words for how much this event filled all our cups.

Thank you so much to James, Dan and the team at Manta for your hospitality and for creating a space for women in the sport to come together for the weekend. Special shout out to the Queen- Tay, 🙌 who pulled together the whole weekend, a myriad of female businesses to support, wonderful speakers and an incredibly empowered group of sensational women. That was no easy feat! 💪 And thank you for demonstrating that women in this sport are a force to be reckoned with, and we are here to stay! 🙏

To any ladies diving out there, follow Manta and jump on their next one- it will be one of the best events you attend! 🩵

Hugs,
Carmen ☺️