About Us
Who is Underwater Australasia?
We are passionate about the ocean above and below. Underwater Australasia was created by divers for divers, snorkellers and other water lovers as a comprehensive information resource, online shop for underwater technology and to provide a virtual meeting place for the Australasia dive community and anybody else interested in underwater Australasia.
The Team behind this site
Tim and Wandy Hochgrebe, an active couple committed to promoting diving in the region, have been running Planula Divers Retreat in Byron Bay as well as Planula Photo & Video, both established in 2000 (both are now closed). Tim & Wandy have been active in the dive industry for over 25 years. Both also started the Underwater Festival™ in 2006 which moved from strength to strength to become an Australasia-wide shootout from 2011 and evolved into the Underwater Project in 2014.
In 2018 they became co-founder of the Underwater Tour, an Australia-wide touring speakers event series featuring well known international underwater photographers and marine science speakers travelling together with an exclusive group of invited Tour Partners. The Underwater Tour was designed to reach further afield geographically than just a single Sydney event, providing people that are as passionate about the oceans as we are with an amazing night out and our Underwater Tour Partners the chance the meet face to face with a qualified audience in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The first event series was launched in 2018 and this tour culminated with the Underwater Tour 2020 where amongst other David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes garced our shores for speaker events in 5 captital cities. Due to COVID any further events had to be postponed and the Underwater Tour was eventually ended.
Starting in 2024 a new collaborative Underwater Photography Competition was founded, named the Underwater Awards Australasia. The winning entries were revealed on September 28th, 2024, at Go Diving Show ANZ in Sydney, Australia. The competition calls for passionate underwater shooters from around the world to submit their most captivating and compelling images and videos from the Australasian region. Shooters were invited to immerse themselves in the challenge of capturing the essence of this extraordinary realm, where every frame tells a story of the delicate balance and breathtaking beauty that characterises our oceans. This is our new annual event and will continue in 2025.
Historically, Nick and Sandra Lo, currently also running Ingredients are the database creators and web design team for underwater australasia. Our new Magento driven shopfront has been developed independently. Bec Smith senior designer at gammaray design is responsible for many of our historic web graphics and did deign our logos.
What this is all about?
Underwater Australasia is about everything underwater in Australasia. Our core mission is to provide infiormation and sales of underwater technology. Our current strengths are in Underwater Propulsion (DPVs) and Seascooters, in Underwater Photography and in Underwater Robotics such as Underwater Drones and ROVs. Underwater Australasia has been mainly focused on diving but also contains information on snorkelling, freediving and general enjoyment of the waters around Australia and the rest of the Asia Pacific region. It's an intuitive, up to date and comprehensive website for anybody interested in exploring Australia, Oceania and the Asia Pacific underwater and the underwater technology used to explore it.
Our mission is to promote Underwater Australia, Oceania and the Asia Pacific to the world and to offer a useful shopfront for niche products of the diving, underwater technology and underwater worlds in general. Underwater Australasia will always be up to date and be full of interesting content.
Why we made this site?
We designed the site with the user in mind. We hope that people will get excited exploring the features of Underwater Australasia to then leave their computers to explore it for real!
We aim to help organisations and businesses in our industry promote their products and services to the international underwater community and help to grow the awareness of the thrills of being and exploring underwater.
We are customer driven and dynamic
We listen to our visitors and our operators. If there is anything we can do to make your experience with underwater.com.au any better please dont hesitate to contact us. This includes any suggested features, problems or encouragement.
What we are not?
Underwater Australasia remains independent and unbiased by any gear manufacturer or certification organization. It is purely a huge information resource, underwater shop and community meeting place for users as well as members of the industry.
Want to be a part of it?
If you are a member of the industry dealing with anything underwater Australasia, please contact us to become a part of this website. If you are a diver or just passionate about underwater Australasia, we would love to hear your comments on this site, publish your photos and stories and host your discussions with likeminded people.