EAST or WEST Australia for Dive Trip AND Site Seeing 50/50

[mchiapetto]

We are planning to do a few days (maybe up to a week) on a liveaboard out of the Cairns area. We have a few questions and wondered if anyone had any recent experience they could share.

We are considering Mike Ball on the Supersport. The Mike Ball liveaboards have received wonderful reviews. But we have heard that the Supersport was "getting tired". Has anyone sailed on board this boat lately? Can you comment on her condition?

The other ship we are considering is the Spirit of Freedom. She sounds like a nice, higer end type boat (comparable to the MIke Ball experience). Has anyone sailed on her lately and what did you think?

Finally, we are torn between a trip to the Coral Reefs vs. one that hits the Ribbon Reefs/Cod Hole. The ideal might be if we could do both. But if we could only do one, which one would you recommend and why?

By the way, I received some interesting updates on the Mike Ball pricing strategy. If anyone is interested, I would be more than happy to share.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[scubakimmi]

I am thinking for a two-week trip that a half liveaboard and half land would also be perfect. I have read some good reviews for Mike Balls' on another thread here. Haven't seen any recent ones, though, to be honest. Also, for the land portion of our trip, do you have any suggestions which area on the East coast would be best for independent exploring, like renting a jeep and finding cool "local" things to do.

I hate to keep posting questions and never contributing. I promise to return the favor to those in my position next year upon my return.

Thanks all! SCUBA KIMMI

 

[caymaniac]

We are going to Oz in June for a couple of weeks, we are diving with "Diversity" a Quicksilver liveaboard out of Port Douglas. So far, our plans include: Riding the Skyrail
Hiking in Daintree & riding toward Cape Tribulation on a 4wheel drive tour.
Doing a Wait-a-bit tour where your look for animals after dark or at dusk.
And of course diving in the Coral Sea as well as the GBR., which would include Ribbons and Agincourt reefs.

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac

ps. anyone have other suggestions?

 

[dominik]

Diving off of Cairns and Port is fantastic; I mean, how can you go wrong with world heritage rainforests flowing into world heritage tropical reefs!

And there are a number of activities aside from diving that are no less exciting (well, maybe a bit less, but still up there in excitement!) =)

Here just happens to be one of them:

www.drivenxdiscovery.com

Dom
-Shamelessly plugging away =)

 

[h3o]

My friend and I are doing 3 weeks starting May 25. We're flying into Cairns, and are going to do a cod hole/ribbon reefs and coral sea liveaboard. We're probably going to make a few day trips when we get back as well. Then we're flying to Sydney, driving to Melbourne, then ferrying to Tasmania, then driving to adelaide, spending a few nights camping on kangaroo island, then up to alice springs and uluru, then to darwin and kakadu, and finally back to Cairns. We were thinking of making a flight out to the west coast for the whale sharks and monkey mia, but we probably won't have enough money or time.

have fun!

 

[mchiapetto]

Wow h3o, that sounds like a fabulous trip. Be sure to post a trip report when you get back. We are thinking about doing just about the same thing. It would be nice to hear how it goes for you and what you thought about it.

What liveaboard are you planning to use?

 

[h3o]

i'm not sure what liveaboard yet, i've heard its better and MUCH cheaper to book the liveaboard when you get there... but i'm leaning toward 'spirit of freedom', they have a 4 day/4 night trip for around $550 USD.

 

[mchiapetto]

The Spirit of Freedom is one we are considering too. But the price I saw for them for the 4 day trip is almost $760 US (A$1250 ). Where did you get the $550 price from?

I have heard it can be cheaper to book last minute. But I don't know if I am willing to risk getting there and finding everyone is sold out. That would be too much of a disappointment.

I would really be interested in hearing how your trip goes. It all sounds very exciting. I hope you have a great time.

 

[h3o]

Sorry, its actually $575 USD for a quad share on the Spirit of Freedom, not $550, check out www.divethereef.com

I'm debating whether to do Cod Hole/Ribbon Reefs or the 4 day Coral Sea. I want to see the big stuff the coral sea has to offer and the kick ass viz, but then again, I'd hate to dive GBR w/out going to Cod Hole... but then again I heard its overated... decisions...decisions!

After one of those trips, I'm going to go on one of the cheaper closer reef liveaboards for $240 USD (3 day/2 night with Down Under Dive) dive gear included.

I heard Taka is great for budget too...

I hope it's a lot cheaper when I get there... With all the options, liveaboards departing everyday, and the timing in the semi low season, I'm not at all worried about liveaboards being booked up... worst case scenario, we'll still go diving and have a blast.

 

[frankzeg]

We spent a month in Queensland in Dec/Jan 2002/2003 and can render a bit of advice. We took the Coral Sea trip on the spirit of Freedom- its maiden voyage. THe boat is very nice and the crew and captain are energetic, more than accomodating, and very knowlegeable. However all that was essentially wiped out by the fact that in 2002 a tongue of warm water pooled in and essentially wiped out all the hard corals down to about 60 feet out in the Coral Sea. This refers to ( if I can remember the names) Flinders and the other reefs out in the blue. believe me we went darn near everywhere and although the viz was spectacular and the coral terrain was amazing there was nothing alive. A few turtles etc but nothing to write home about. Even fish populations were severely diminished. Some of the deeper walls were nice below 60. We finally bailed and went up to the Lizard Island area where the reefs were untouched. Believe me there were plenty of disappointed (and some really pissed off) divers on that boat.
As for the diving on the inner reef it is quite excellent as far north as Lizard- where there is essentially no agriculture or habitation on the mainland. The cod hole is wonderful. As you progress south it degrades significantly due to increasing runoff from expansive sugar cane and other plantations. Not to mention the odd prawn breeding farm. Although perhaps impressive to neophytes the inner reefs near Cairns are not what you fly half way around the world for. At least I wouldn't.
We did some of our best dives out of Townsville and the wreck of the Yongala is not to be missed. Not only is the visibility obscured by fish but on one dive we saw mantas, eagle rays, sea snakes entwined around my fins, numerous turtles, and what I would call a marbled ray that was simply huge and about six inches from my nose. The fish on the wreck are what I would call "museum quality" absolutely stupendous sized versions of morays, puffers etc- I didn't know some of these fish came that big. Long boat ride though- and rather cramped. Perfect nitrox depth.
As for the non diving part we drove from cairns north to Cooktown then ambled all the way to Sydney. We loved the Australian people- hands down the nicest folks you'd ever want to meet. Talk to them and you will discover how more of us should behave.
You do not have to drive way into the desert to experience at least a taste of the outback- we visited some isolated towns and felt like part of a family in a day. Got to carve the "pig on a spit" at a town party! And the wildlife is quirky, weird and fun to see- especially the amazing variety of birds in Daintree. And all those hoppers are way cool- those are what I like to call "aerospace animals" - ultralight balanced design that is amazing. A portable tripod to enable those hands to manipulate stuff like humans almost. And they can rear up on that tail and biff their buds right on the chest with those feet if the need demands- remember those old cartoons? I think our Colorado deer and elk should count their lucky stars that those beasties didn't evolve into temperate climate animals.
We paddled for a week in our folding kayaks in the Whitsundays and had a blast. Nothing like sharing a beach with only wallabees and big goana lizards.
Sydney has become one of my favorite cities and is great for just hanging out watching all the tourists- certainly one of the weirdest species in all OZ. Go see the little penguins!
We wished we had more time to explore but the place demands years not weeks. And one more thing about size- multiply the scale by about 2 since the number of freeways with high speed limits is tiny along the east coast. Imagine the US in 1950 and you get the idea. But you also get the peculiar hotels and restaurants since the homogenization process moves more slowly when the limit is 50 miles/hour. And by the way they ticket for 51.
Oh and one more thing-- BOWEN MANGOS!!!