diving the great barrier reef (advice)

[lynnemari]

HI,
My husband and I are planning a trip, a once in a lifetime trip to Australia to experience the great diving there. The problem is we are using our time share. We are exchanging through RCI but so far there is nothing that has come up in the region near the great barrier (Tropical Queen Land). There has been places available in the Gold coast, and we saw there are dive shops there, but we are not sure how the diving is there. I have read that the best way to dive the reef is from a liveaboard, are there any trips that only go out for a few days, and are the accommodations private? We have never been on one.
Thanks any advice on the diving in Australia is appreciated.
Lynne

 

[WetPup]

Mike Ball and Spirit of Freedom offer 3-4 night liveaboards out of Cairns. Both boats have private cabins - but some cabins have an ensuite, and some have shared bathroom facilities...Depends how much you want to pay. Both boats have common areas for eating and lounging around.

The Gold Coast is quite a long way south from the reef (you'd spend the best part of a day just driving to even the southern extent of it). If you're looking for a specific place for a timeshare in order to dive on the GBR, you need to really be looking in the Cairns area. I can't say I've ever dived on the Gold Coast, but I've dived in Brisbane (which is just north of the Gold Coast). It's not terrible, but nothing like what you'd see diving on the Great Barrier Reef. The GBR is pretty and colourful and tropical Brisbane is...Not.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

There are quite a few posts on this site about east coast diving and I am sure if you browse around you will get some good info on places like Morton Bay, Stradbrook Island, Julian Rocks etc which are not that far away from you. Here is a good link to some of the best Brisbane sites that would be close to you at the Gold Coast.

The Barrier Reef itself really stretches from New Guinea down as far south as Bunderberg, but in reality once you get past Townsville there is not really the spectacular Reef areas to dive. (Having said that there are some great dive sites on the Sunshine Coast - an hour north of you).

If you can get a cheap return flight (look at Jetstar but avoid Tiger who are notoriously bad!) and can get to Cairns then there are lots of great live aboard trips. The ones WetPup advised are the best for sure, but there are some good 2 day or 3 day trips to the Outer Reef.

 

[button]

HI,
My husband and I are planning a trip, a once in a lifetime trip to Australia to experience the great diving there. The problem is we are using our time share. We are exchanging through RCI but so far there is nothing that has come up in the region near the great barrier (Tropical Queen Land). There has been places available in the Gold coast, and we saw there are dive shops there, but we are not sure how the diving is there. I have read that the best way to dive the reef is from a liveaboard, are there any trips that only go out for a few days, and are the accommodations private? We have never been on one.
Thanks any advice on the diving in Australia is appreciated.
Lynne

Hi Lynne,

My husband and I had our first diving experience in OZ in 2013. We did a Try Diving with Cooly Dive in Coolangatta, QLD. We weren't sure if we were going to like diving, so went that route before we tried diving the GBR. Of course we fell in love with it and then did 3 more Discover Dives with Poseidon out of Port Douglas. We also did a 2 day sailing trip on the Whitsunday Getaway, but only got to snorkel with them. The Whitsunday reefs are incredible and the coral was in great shape, plenty of variety in sea life and some giant Maori Wrasse.

My advice:
Use your timeshare somewhere in Gold Coast. There is diving to be found.

If you want the most bang for your buck and have limited time, get a liveaboard out of Airlie Beach (Proserpine Airport). Kiana and Anaconda III both go to the GBR. There are probably other boats that go all the way out to the GBR too, and there is at least one that does a day trip out of Airlie.

Not sure where you are traveling from, but if you live in the US (not sure??), you'll want more than a week in OZ. The time change and travel required is pretty brutal to do anything less - I'd suggest two is ideal. Maybe do a week of your timeshare in Gold Coast, hop a plane to Airlie (or Cairns or Townsville), do a liveaboard, then come home.

I'm planning a return trip next year and will be there from May 12th-May 26th. We have a 2 year old, so have to limit our diving while we're there, but our itinerary is going to consist of one or two days of diving in Coolangatta and one day trip with ABC out of Port Douglas in the latter half of our trip.

Lauren

 

[Thrawn7]

If you're going to be in the Gold Coast area.. have a look at Julian Rocks at Byron Bay. Its about an hour drive south and is one of the top dive sites in Australia

 

[button]

Thanks for the tip on Julian Rocks! Any particular dive shop you'd recommend?

 

[clownfishsydney]

Sundive is the one shop to use at Julian Rocks.