best dive spots in Australia, and liveaboard q?

[geberhard]

Going to NE Australia, and woudl appreciate recomendations on good dive spots, reefs, day trips, and liveaboards. The more I research, the more options seem to arise, so would gretaly appreciaete your feedback and suggestions.

Planning to be in the Cairns and Douglas by the Great barrier in August

Thanks!

Gui

 

[WizFromOz]

Where will you be staying, for how long and what sort of budget are we looking at here.

I can help you much better if I know those 3 things.

Alternately you can always hit <www.diveoz.com> That's our local Australian Scuba BB and covers most things you might like to know about diving Down-Under.

DSAO :scubadive

WizFromOz

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Best way to see the reef is liveaboard - allow for a 5-7 day trip out of Port Douglas, Cairns or Townsville. See the large walls and pelagics on the outer coral sea reefs then in to the ribbon reefs. Theres boats to suit most budgets: so are you after 5 star service or something more basic?

The reef is a long way out (1-2 hours+ at high speed) so day trips aren&#8217;t really worth it and don&#8217;t get out to the good dive sites: they also tend to be cattle boats that ferry up to 100 tourists to a floating platform where people snorkel/dive from.

I've never heard a bad thing about Mike Balls trips - they are a very professional group. Others like the Nimrod, Diversity and Sprit of Freedom. The Taka is popular. I have enjoyed the Undersea Explorer. Off the top of my head these are the main boats operating up there. Do a search here and on google for feedback.

The Yongala wreak out of Townsville is also a great dive.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[caymaniac]

Anything from Lizard Island north is where the better sites are found. Osprey is very good, there are other outer reef sites that are good. Alot of the northern Ribbons are very good. This is just MHO because I've only been there once...on a liveaboard, out of Port Douglas.

 

[RTodd]

Going to NE Australia, and woudl appreciate recomendations on good dive spots, reefs, day trips, and liveaboards. The more I research, the more options seem to arise, so would gretaly appreciaete your feedback and suggestions.

Planning to be in the Cairns and Douglas by the Great barrier in August

Thanks!

Gui

The great barrier reef itself isn't worth the trip. Do a liveaboard out to Osprey (the most popular destination) or one of the other volcanic mount/reefs that are in the Coral sea. Most of these liveaboards also spend some time on the ribbon reefs (Cod Hole, etc.) which are much better than everyhting south of there, but still not as good as Osprey.

 

[geberhard]

Gang!

Thanks for the help and info. We came across Pro-Dive for a 3 day liveaboard, off Cairns. Our schedule is a bit tight, so this one seems like a good way to do it. Cod hole, etc were not available for our dates, but if I can negotiate a few more days diving, things may change.

So we will dive off Cairns, 3 days, 11 days (2 night dives), and the reefs and mooring are around Flynn reef, Milln reef, Thetford reef and Pellowe reef.

Has anyone visited those?

THX!

Gui

 

[RTodd]

Gang!

Thanks for the help and info. We came across Pro-Dive for a 3 day liveaboard, off Cairns. Our schedule is a bit tight, so this one seems like a good way to do it. Cod hole, etc were not available for our dates, but if I can negotiate a few more days diving, things may change.

So we will dive off Cairns, 3 days, 11 days (2 night dives), and the reefs and mooring are around Flynn reef, Milln reef, Thetford reef and Pellowe reef.

Has anyone visited those?

THX!

Gui

They are okay sites but just day sites. The pro dive liveaboard is simply stationed where all of the day boats from Cairns go. You may get a few extra dives in, but these are not the greatest of liveaboards. Up to you whether you would rather just take day boats and sleep in a hotel or use this "liveaboard."

 

[geberhard]

Thanks for the info. Yep,. that is what I was gathering about this one. I will check around more, I think my only issue is the schedules available to work around my schedule. I will keep on checking, thanks!

Gui

 

[webhead]

Curious, I've heard they dropped the Brisbane battleship in the last couple years. Is that a good/popular dive site?

 

[R.Soper]

You have to dive the Yongala, i have dived quite a few places around the world now, and it is one of the best dives i have ever done. You can't go all the way to Oz and not dive it. You can do it out of Townsville or Ayre. Yongala Dive is your best bet.