Why take this package..?

If you have a PADI Open Water Diver certification and are a travelling diver then you can start.

Most divers visit and do just 2 dives on the SS Yongala. They comment “if I knew the diving was going to be this good, I would have planned 4 dives over 2 days instead.” Main problem is they have forward bookings so cannot extend. Don’t be one of these people! (Book Ahead). The main benefit of taking this package is you leave with extra qualifications which will benefit you in the future and it doesnt cost much more.

You will leave as a PADI Adventure and Enriched air specialty diver meaning you will be able to dive nitrox anywhere in the world (see below why nitrox is so good here). If you make 2 more adventure dives you can become a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver.

How are the dives and training split.?

• Dive 1 – PADI Adventure Deep Dive
• Dive 2 – PADI Adventure Wreck Dive
• Dive 3 – PADI Adventure/Specialty Enriched Air (Nitrox) Dive
• Dive 4 – PADI Enriched Air Specialty Dive 2

Do I need to do any study before I arrive..?

Yes/No…….we highly recommend you do. It will leave you more time in the evenings to relax after diving. The options are:

• We can provide you with 2 x PADI eLearning access passes – all you need is an internet connection and you can study online, complete the knowledge reviews and enriched air (nitrox) exam – leaving just the training dives to make once you arrive.
• We can post you 2 x PADI Paper manuals and you can study in your own time. It is possible to arrive early the day before you start the training and study the whole day and be ready for the training dives but we recommend studying before.

What is the cost and what is included in the package ?

Course Duration: 2 days plus self study

Includes:

• 4 Dives over 2 days on the SS Yongala Shipwreck
• PADI Advanced + Enriched Air (Nitrox) Manual
• PADI Adventure Diver Certification
• PADI Enriched Air (nitrox) Specialty Diver Certification

1 or 2 Nights Accommodation (additional cost if required)

Cost: $695

Course Dates: run on request

PADI eLearning Courses

Includes:

• as above (except the manuals)
• PADI eLearning access passes for both PADI Adventure & Enriched Air (Nitrox) Course

Costs: $575

PADI eLearning costs: $240

Includes: unlimited access to the PADI Open Water Manual on-line, interactive presentations with knowledge reviews and quizzes to gauge progress

Can I upgrade this package and get my complete advanced certification..?

Yes,  you can upgrade to the full PADI Advanced Open Water Course with us, it will take you one more day and you get another two dives on the SS Yongala dive site.

Day 3 will include:

• Dive 5 – PADI Adventure Navigation Dive
• Dive 6 – PADI Adventure Dive (select any one below)
  • Peak Performance Buoyancy Dive
  • Naturalist
  • Aware Fish ID
  • Boat
  • Digital Underwater Photography

Cost: $275

Example of what you gain using nitrox when diving the SS Yongala

The wreck lies in 15 to 28m – to show you the benefits of extra bottom time using nitrox see the examples below. Day 1 – dives made on air and Day 2 – dives made using a 32% or 36% enriched air mix. Using the same dive depth and time to make it a fair test, compare the 2 dives made on Air to 2 dives made on Nitrox mix of 36%. (Tests made using the PADI Recreational dive planners):

Diving on air (21%) to 22 metres, allowing 36 minutes bottom time for both dives

• First dive – maximum allowable bottom time = 37 mins, with a 36 min bottom time & 1 hour surface interval
• Second dive – maximum allowable bottom time = only 21 mins !

The first dive is right on the limit (not recommended), the second dive only gives you 21 mins before you go into decompression, so realistically you could only dive for 15 mins before surfacing with approx 3 quarters of your air supply still left. This could be avoided by making the depth of the first or 2nd dive shallower but why miss out on seeing all of the wreck!

Now see what happens if we do the same dives using Enriched Air (nitrox):

Diving on nitrox (36%) to 22 metres, allowing 36 minutes bottom time for both dives

• First dive – maximum allowable bottom time = 70 mins, with a 36 min bottom time & 1 hour surface interval
• Second dive – maximum allowable bottom time = a massive 54 mins !

You can see the first dive on nitrox is much safer as you are not even close to your maximum dive time, therefore you are not loading your body with lots of nitrogen, meaning after the same surface interval and the same depth you can easily dive for an extra 30 minutes. If you use enriched air for both dives you could safely make them both with longer bottom times e.g 40 to 45 mins each.

These examples were planned using dive tables which takes your maximum depth as the depth of the whole dive – we generally use dive computers which allow more bottom time as it adjusts for the time spent at each depth. However the results using a dive computer set to air (21%) and the dive computer set on nitrox (36%) would show much similar results.

So not only is using enriched air safer for us, it also allows much more dive time on the wreck !

When wreck diving we suggest you use the rule of thirds – e.g. if starting air = 210 bar. Divide this by 3 = 70 bar, you use 1/3 for the descent and outward swim, 2/3 for the swim back and the ascent – that way you should have 70 bar remaining in your cylinder at the end of the dive. As PADI recreational divers we always follow good dive practices which means making slow ascents with safety stops and never diving close to the limits or doing decompression diving.