DesertDiver82
New
Greetings fellow divers,
My wife and I are planning our first trip to Australia for 2 weeks during New Years Eve this year. We are just starting to plan our trip. We'll be flying from Los Angeles, CA to Syndey. We're planning on staying in Sydney for a couple days then gonna take a flight to Cairns. We're still not sure about whether we should stay in Cairns or Port Douglas? I am an experienced with over 400 plus dive/20 years experience. Much of my diving has been throughout the gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Hawaii, Roatan. My wife is a newer diver with about 20 dives. Neither of us have been on a liveraboard before, but based on my preliminary research it seems to be a must for diving the Great Barrier Reef. Any help to these questions would be really appreciated.
1) Do you recommend leaving on a liveaboard from Cairns or Port Douglas?
2) Is it mandatory to do a liveaboard to see the best sites? Is Cod Hole and the Ribbon Reefs a must? It seems as though the liveaboards that go out there are substantially more money.
3) How is the weather end of December/beginning of January? How are the diving conditions during that time of year?
4) Aside from the liveaborad, do you recommend staying in Cairns or Port Douglas? We'd prefer to stay in a tropical place on the beach. Any recommendations for nice, but not outrageously priced hotels?
Thanks much!
Adam
scuba_adam_leon@yahoo.com
My wife and I are planning our first trip to Australia for 2 weeks during New Years Eve this year. We are just starting to plan our trip. We'll be flying from Los Angeles, CA to Syndey. We're planning on staying in Sydney for a couple days then gonna take a flight to Cairns. We're still not sure about whether we should stay in Cairns or Port Douglas? I am an experienced with over 400 plus dive/20 years experience. Much of my diving has been throughout the gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Hawaii, Roatan. My wife is a newer diver with about 20 dives. Neither of us have been on a liveraboard before, but based on my preliminary research it seems to be a must for diving the Great Barrier Reef. Any help to these questions would be really appreciated.
1) Do you recommend leaving on a liveaboard from Cairns or Port Douglas?
2) Is it mandatory to do a liveaboard to see the best sites? Is Cod Hole and the Ribbon Reefs a must? It seems as though the liveaboards that go out there are substantially more money.
3) How is the weather end of December/beginning of January? How are the diving conditions during that time of year?
4) Aside from the liveaborad, do you recommend staying in Cairns or Port Douglas? We'd prefer to stay in a tropical place on the beach. Any recommendations for nice, but not outrageously priced hotels?
Thanks much!
Adam
scuba_adam_leon@yahoo.com