At the heart of Blue Dive are your friendly and expert hosts – Jess McQueen, Jamie Wilson, Vanessa Green and Chad – and owner Mark Fraenkel. At Blue Dive we are always in the pursuit of excellence and are proudly involved in several campaigns to defend our marvelous Great Barrier Reef. Our team of experienced, international dive professionals hail from Australia, Germany and the UK. They all have an unrivalled knowledge of the Port Douglas and Cairns reefs and are happy to share their knowledge with you.
Jess comes from Perth, Western Australia and has been diving from the age of 8. She has worked in the diving industry in Thailand and here in Australia. Jess is a bit of an all-round dynamo – teaching diving, hosting private charters, running the office and making sure all are happy. Diving is pretty much in Jess’s blood, as 2 of her family members are diving instructors.
Jamie Wilson, a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) and former senior marketing professional, brings a decade of marketing expertise to his role as a private instructor and guide for Blue Dive Adventures in Port Douglas. Recognized with a 2020 PADI Award for Excellence, Jamie’s commitment to teaching and environmental conservation is evident in his current position. Jamie excels in ensuring safety, maintaining equipment, and delivering exceptional customer experiences. His diverse experience includes stints as a Scuba Instructor in Spain and the Philippines and as a Dive Master in Indonesia, demonstrating his adaptability and passion for promoting scuba diving as a transformative and sustainable activity.
Extended Range qualification with Technical Diving International. Blue Card 854024/1. Mark has worked as a diving instructor in the Egyptian Red Sea and on the Great Barrier Reef and has dived extensively around Australia, the south Pacific, Indonesia and other parts of the world. From 1999 – 2008 Mark worked for Ocean College in Sharm el Sheikh, and also managed the Bedouin-owned Sharks Bay Diving Village on the Sinai Peninsula, and ran numerous dive safari trips to the southern Red Sea towards the border with Sudan. He was the Projects and Marketing Manager for the multi-award-winning Red Sea Diving College, Egypt. Under his direction the College won the Dive Centre of the Year 2007 and 2008. The College was one of the few dive operations to win the Project Aware Environmental Achievement Award (2007). This award was given in recognition of numerous environmental projects organised by Mark, including underwater clean-ups. Mark worked very closely with the directors of the Ras Mohammed Red Sea protected area (the equivalent of GBRMPA on the Great Barrier Reef).
Mark has been visiting Australia since the early 1980s and in 2008, he moved to Port Douglas and set up Blue Dive to be close to the best parts of the Great Barrier Reef. Mark hails from London and has a Bachelors Degree in Politics and Modern History from Manchester University. He did have a career in the UK civil service as a PRINCE 2 project manager before he became a diving professional in 1999. He tells us that it was a great move and that “I’m still not sure what I want to be when I grow up”.
Despite his London background, Mark is related to well-known Australian WW1 General, Sir John Monash – of German-Jewish extraction, who fought at Gallipoli and was central to establishing ANZAC Day after the first World War. General Sir John Monash appears on the Australian $100 note.
Blue Dive has a sister-company called Blue Adventures Rainforest Tours, which was established specifically to provide our dive customers with wildlife and rainforest tours. These private charters explore the magnificent rainforests of North Queensland, with a focus on seeking out Australian wildlife. As with Blue Dive, you can expect outstanding customer service, delivered with a commitment to ensuring you have the very best time possible. The minimum number of guests for these private charters is 2 and a maximum of 6. If you have any queries at all, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0427 983 907 or info@bluedive.com.au
© Blue Dive Port Douglas 2024