With his ship docked in Townsville, the first port of call for Tarun Grover was to find a local guide to take him scuba diving.
"I hope to see a lot of small fishes around and corals," he said.
"It's just a nice experience to be doing scuba. I've done snorkelling before, not scuba."
During the pandemic, Mr Grover spent more than six months at sea without leaving the ship once.
Reflecting on the "tough" time, he said he did not want to take the shore leave for granted.
"It's not a good thing to keep seafarers onboard all of the time," Mr Grover said.
Mr Grover and his colleagues are lucky to be on land as some international shipping companies continue to deny staff shore leave due to the risk of COVID-19.
Supporting seafarers with gifts
Graham Miller volunteers with Townsville-based Mission to Seafarers, an international organisation that works to improve the treatment of seafarers and shipping practices in Australia.
He and other volunteers work to support sailors on-and-off ship with access to medical, welfare and chaplaincy services.
Mr Miller warned that a mental health crisis was unfolding among seafarers due to the restrictions.
"If COVID is rampant in their country or around them, [companies] tell the captains of ships and masters of ships, 'Don't allow shore leave unless it's absolutely necessary'," he said.
"[Sailors] are finding it very difficult to cope with the restrictions and stay onboard what some of them have called prison ships.
In Gladstone, volunteers such as Melissa Anderson send care packages onto ships in port.
"The owners are very scared that if their crew come ashore and contract COVID, then they have to travel together in close quarters," she said.
"They aren't overly enthusiastic with pushing for shore leave for crew members."
Across regional Queensland, volunteers are doing what they can to lift the spirits of crew members who are not allowed to leave ship.
Welfare packages with sanitary products, warm clothes and magazines are common, but some donations include hand-knitted beanies from the community.
In Townsville, this has included beanies for Ukrainian seafarers in the colour of their nation's flag.
Maritime Industry Australia chief executive officer Angela Gillham said it had heard about international companies refusing shore leave but was not clear about how widespread the problem was.
"Not allowing seafarers to take shore leave during the pandemic has had a huge mental health impact."
