rainforest scuba

Luana is a passionate advocate for platypus and other creatures that live in the rivers near Finch Hatton inland from Mackay. She has a small but well stocked dive shop featuring AUP products such as Oceanic scuba gear. She is a PADI instructor but also takes experienced divers and film crews on dive trips in the local rivers, day and night as required. The water is cool requiring a wet suit but quite clear unless the bottom is stirred up. We dived in January before the wet season which washes out most of the natural debris. Best time for platypus is after the wet season from April/May onwards. We dived with freshwater turtles and fish including large catfish, and saw platypus burrows but not actual platypus - however they are reported to be seen regularly in season. Luana was a great hostess and showed us around the area and best places to visit, eat and have coffee. Highly recommended for a different scuba adventure.

A friend and I recently made a 6hr drive to Finch Hatton to try out this dive experience and I have to say I was a little disappointed. We organised this trip via email with an emphasis on how much we were looking forward to the chance to see Platypus. We meet with Luana at Coffee Devine for the local briefing, and were told that the platypus had recently had young and it was incredibly unlikely that we would see them this time of year as they keep to the inside of their burrow. I realise that at the best of times it is a game of chance of weather or not you will see one, but I was incredibly annoyed that Luana did not chose to disclose this information to us in one of our various communications. I understand why she withheld, as she has a business to run, but an act of omission is akin to deception and does not present itself as good customer service. The next item of annoyance was that we were coerced into buying food at Coffee Devine. We had only eaten an hour prior to arrival at the Cafe but were told in no uncertain terms that Luana would not take us diving unless we bought some food - as "you can get the bends at any depth". Again, I understand that she is trying to generate business for her friends that run this cafe- and the cafe itself makes beautiful food that is expertly presented, but we did not appreciate being forced to eat food that we did not want or need. Second to this Luana's email advised that our drinks at the briefing would be included as part of the cost of the dive, but she did not cover the cost of a single drink. Additionally make sure you bring CASH with you, as Rainforest Scuba does not have EFT facilities - I was charged an extra 3% to pay directly to Luana via paypal on her phone (we were not told this prior to arrival). Aside from these things, the remainder of the information provided during our briefing was very informative and interesting, Luana explained in detail a number of the different organisms that live in the river system, and what we could expect and hope to see. As it turns out there are 5 different types of fresh water turtle that live at the dive site, and we were fortunate to see quite a large number of turtles, fish and crustaceans. During the dive itself, I felt Luana's tone towards my friend was at times condensing. Upon entering the water Luana snapped at my friend not to "go off by yourself" as she had her head in the water to put her fins on, and then again when my friend stated that her BCD was leaking. My friend stated that she could not stay off the bottom and could not achieve neutral buoyancy, to which Luana replied that she wants us on the bottom and thats why she loaded us up with extra weights. It was not until my friends third instances that the BCD was leaking that she came to her assistance, asking her to fill the BCD with air and then acknowledging the audible hiss of air from the release valve - which she promptly fixed. The rest of the dive went off without incident (unless you include the people using the rope swing who kicked my friend in the ear and narrowly missed me while underwater) and my only other feedback would be that Luana moves quickly through the dive site and did not noticeably ensure that we were both keeping up (I had to surface twice as I lost both Luana and my friend). Overall this was a really interesting dive site, but if you want to dive with Platypus and Fresh Water turtles I would recommend Remote Area Dive in Townsville, who occasionally do fresh water dives of this nature in the local river systems for club members. And yes- there are plenty of resident platypus up in this region - you just have to get lucky to see them.

We were well looked after by Luana! It was my first time and my partner is certified, but we both had as much fun in the wonderful freshwater setting in the rainforest! This is well worth it, no matter your experience level! Thank you Luana!

No where else in the world can you do this. The water is crystal clear and it runs from the Finch Hatton Gorge waterfalls all the way down to this wonderful spot.The shop is fully equipped for your diving needs and if its not there it will be ordered and in the shop in 4 working days.Nothing is an effort except to have a happy customer with a positive experience and feeling.

I planned my girlfriends birthday surprise months ago by emailing Luana at Rainforest Scuba, she was so helpful and gave me heaps of info on what else there was to do in the area to make a really good day which was a big help and I really appreciate it. The day came around and it couldn't of gone any better, we saw the platypus from the viewing platforms at Broken River and were given a full lesson on everything Platypus. Launa is the expert, she answered everything we threw at her and myself and my girlfriend learned heaps about the Platypus throughout the day. Launa knows more about the Platypus than any other as she lives in the heart of platypus area and has spent the most time of anybody researching the northern Queensland Platypus. The dive was great, we went late afternoon and it was just us three at the Gorge, it was so peaceful and very beautiful, depth was around 3.5 and the visibility was good aslong as you didn't kick up the silt and were careful, Luana knows the site well and showed us the burrow entrance and several other places under tree stumps and under the bank, we saw several freshwater turtles and I saw an Eel tailed catfish as long as my forearm. I let my girlfriend approach the main platypus nest on her own because I really wanted her to see one in the water, she did, he scuttled off pretty fast, and popped up on the surface, dived under again and popped up. Awesome! Great experience to be in the water with such an amazing creature. It was dark when we got out of the river, and as we washed off the fins the platypus came within 3 metres of my girlfriend, investigating the vibrations, with fireflysin the bushes and bats everywhere we left the Gorge very happy indeed! Big thanks to Launa as she really went above and beyond aswell as being great company, with great energy, and good laugh aswell.If you want to dive in platypus waters with a HIGHLY qualified dive instructor and Platypus researcher and see what there habitat looks like and possibly even see one whilst in the water then contact Rainforest Scuba.Superb day, Matt and Maile

Had a great dive in freshwater with one of the platypus coming out and being a metre away from me, wish my camera hadn't fogged up.