FNQ scuba diving school Divers Den celebrates 50th anniversary

From humble beginnings with a pool in the Cairns CBD to employing 120 staff, sponsoring new citizens and certifying 250,000 divers, Divers Den has marked its 50th anniversary.

Entrada Travel Group subsidiary Divers Den, has celebrated its 50th anniversary. Picture: Supplied

Starting with a team of two people, and growing to a staff of 120, scuba diving school Divers Den has celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Founded in 1974, the longstanding school has been celebrated as one of the longest running scuba instruction facilities in the country.

Divers Den general manager Genevieve Wardleworth, who joined the company when it was bought by tourism group Entrada in 2018, said it was exciting to be part of the team.

“No day is the same in our operation and it’s really exciting,” Ms Wardleworth said.

Cairns' oldest scuba diving business and diver training centre, Diver's Den, is celebrating 50 years of operation. Chief operating officer for Entrada Travel Group Tropical North Queensland Genevieve Wardleworth at the Diver's Den training pool at Parramatta Park. Picture: Brendan Radke

“Divers Den is that end to end from dive school where we bring them into the pool, train them and take them out onto the boat, then they’ve got the day boat which also gives them options of going out to do more training.”

Ms Wardleworth credited the businesses success to the tenacity of previous owners.

“I think the history of the previous owners and their tenacity is a big part of it,” she said.

“Someone like Tony Physick who bought a boat, tacker, and made it into a live-aboard boat, quite successful and brought it up to the coral sea.”

Husband and wife team Bobby and Tony Physick, who owned and operated the Divers Den for 35 years, attended the scuba diving school's 50th anniversary celebrations. Photo: Catherine Duffy.

Mr Physick, who is originally from New Zealand, said he bought the Divers Den to get out of prawn trawling.

“I was driving a prawn trawler up the Gulf of Carpentaria and I had (my son), so I wanted to get off the boat, and I bought (Divers Den) to get out of it,” Mr Physick said.

“When I bought Divers Den, there was no boats, just a shop and from there it grew slowly.”

By the time Mr Physick sold the company in 2018, he had employed 120 staff.

Former Divers Den general manager Sohnja Forbes said her 20 years at the diving school were the best of her career.

“I think the thing I loved the most about it was that it was a real family environment so everybody took care of each other and everybody was happy to come to work every day,” she said.

Cairns' oldest scuba diving business and diver training centre, Diver's Den, is celebrating 50 years of operation. Diving Instructor Momo Steele puts students through skills training for their Open Water Diver certification at the Diver's Den training pool. Picture: Brendan Radke

“We had a lot of people who stayed three times longer than they would normally and a lot more people who stayed indefinitely and became Australian citizens.”

During his 35 year tenure, Mr Physick sponsored more than 150 people to become Australian citizens.

“I only have a New Zealand passport and I had to put it up every time to sponsor someone to become an Australian. I don’t know how that works,” he said.

“But we found a very good, very loyal and supportive team.”

Since its inception, Divers Den has issued 250,000 PADI certifications.

To mark the milestone, Divers Den will host an Open Day on the October 27, offering a range of family fun activities, including giveaways and introductory scuba sessions in the Divers Den Dive School pool.

Originally published as FNQ scuba diving school Divers Den celebrates 50th anniversary