Everyone to benefit from Adelaide dive-site

With the imminent arrival of the fomer HMAS Adelaide in early to mid 2010, our region will notice a major lifestyle change. Almost everyone on the Coast will benefit in some small way. However, it will all hinge on getting the wreck to work properly, having a marketing plan in place with money available and having a long term goal for the future.

After a lot of research and using our thirty one years of background knowledge in the dive industry, Pro Dive has developed a five, ten and fifteen year plan that will give us the maximum benefit from this great attraction. We are here for the long haul and we are prepared to invest in and grow our business and be an integral and vigorous part of the dive industry as well as the whole Central Coast tourism industry. It will be essential for all of us to work together, however, to make all this happen.

The Adelaide dive-site will need a long term strategy to realise its full potential with the money it generates staying on the Coast.
At Pro Dive we plan to employ four extra full time staff members immediately, once the ship is workable as a dive-site and as time goes by I am hoping to raise that number to seven.

Sydney operators could muscle in
However my major concern is that two or three out-of-area companies will grab a position and take all the money out of the Coast. Sydney is only a forty minute boat ride to Terrigal and twenty minutes from Palm Beach. Should this occur, the Central Coast will lose out big time. We cannot allow this to happen.

People have asked me “Will people come to the Coast to dive this ship?” – I reply a resounding “Yes”. Divers will come to see what a new wreck looks like, and for bragging rights. Three years later, the wreck will be teeming with life. Divers will return to see this event unfolding. We will keep a blog on our website to tell diving enthusiasts all over the world how the Adelaide site is changing. As soon as the fish move in, particularly the Jewfish and Blue Gropers – and perhaps a Grey Nurse Shark – we will have it on our blog. In five years time divers will return to see a flourished wreck complete with a myriad of sea life.

Adelaide will put the Central Coast on the world dive-site map
Divers travel the world diving shipwrecks. I take groups of ten or more each year to places like Truk Lagoon, Solomon Islands, New Guinea and Bikini Atoll to dive in wrecks. We have divers who have dived the wreck trail starting at the Swan off Dunsborough, the Perth off Albany, then over to South Australia to dive the Hobart, then up to Mooloolaba to dive the Brisbane. We will soon fill in the blanks with the Canberra off Port Philip Bay in Victoria but the jewel will obviously be the Adelaide. Our artificial reef will be the easiest and most accessible. The wreck will be a short three to five minute boat ride away.

More than just a dive-site – a major tourist attraction
With a population of over four million people on our doorstep and being less than ninety minutes from Sydney Airport, we instantly become a Sydney day trip destination (80% of all tourists to Australia come through Sydney Airport). The majority of divers will travel by private vehicle. Their non-diving spouses and families will not sit and wait for divers to return, they will venture off to the shops or other activities. With the help of Central Coast Tourism (CCT) we have instigated an adventure/activities brochure to assist families planning their stays on the Coast.

CCT is organizing an activities package whereby visitors will go to The Australian Reptile Park, try their skills at Treetops Adventure Park, walk around the Lavender Gardens or dine at one of the many fine restaurants we have. Accommodation houses are gearing up to cater for divers and their families and friends.

Over the years at Pro Dive we have seen people who have been so impressed with the Central Coast that some have actually moved here, while others have made investments in the region. With the Adelaide and the people it will attract from all over Australia and the world, real estate agents should expect to see more people eyeing off our region.

Is the Adelaide going to make money for all concerned on the Coast? Hell yes!

Back Send us your comments