First Trip to Australia

[DesertDiver82]

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

 

[WetPup]

1. Liveaboard from Cairns - Mike Ball or Spirit of Freedom specifically.

2. Absolutely Ok, only kind of. The best sites really are only accessible by liveaboards (either Mike Ball or Spirit of Freedom visit Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs, and Osprey Reef). It's not to say the other boats visit bad sites by any means, it's just that they're not "the best". If this is likely to be your only trip to the GBR, I'd be splurging. Save your money elsewhere.

3. December/January is our monsoon/cyclone season. You might run into one, you might not. Diving conditions are pretty good at that time of year - assuming you don't run into an epic storm system.

4. Cairns - there's more to do there in my experience. Port Douglas is nice if you just want to chill and do nothing, but if you actually want to get out and do stuff, I'd say Cairns.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Only 1 live aboard option out of Port and its very expensive and only runs to order. Many to choose out of Cairns which is the gateway to the GBR.

Ribbon Reefs are definitely the better dive sites and these trips depart Mondays and Thursdays (the Thursday trip also includes a section out in the Coral Sea = shark feeds and amazing vizability 30m/100ft +), The reason why the Ribbon Reef trips are more expensive is that you fly one way up and motor back. Its a long way to travel.

Details of the most popular Cairns over night trips here. Lots of decent day trips too if you decided to go that way. (If you weigh up land accommodation and meals etc live aboard is more economical. You can leave large luggage at the operators shops too).

Mike Ball and Spirit of Freedom gear hire is extra but Outer Reef trips its all included.

Stay the first night in Cairns and go out on a live aboard (for the Outer Reef trips you can do 2 day 1 night or 3 days 2 night etc). Spend a few days in Cairns as there is a lot to do there, and then drive the 60km to Port Douglas for a few days R&R. Port is a very small town but nice beaches and laid back restaurant, cafe scene. Consider Palm Cove as well as my preference as a Cairns local, I go stay there a lot more than Port. Its got far more beachfront accommodation and is a really nice spot. Its mid way between Port Douglas and Cairns.

January weather is very hit and miss and as WetPup says its our monsoon season, but very rarely do trips every get cancelled and its still very hot with warm waters. See here for some info.

 

[Adryana]

Hi!
1) From Cairns all the way. First of all, you will get more choices as of depatures, prices and liveaboard boats. Second, it's a lovely tropical town and there's lots of side activities you could enjoy! For the nights aside from the liveaboard trip... Look for some hostels or cheap hotels / B&B in term of accomodation, but wait... no bunk beds! Some are great with a bar and a pool and double occupancy rooms.

2)The outer barrier reef is definitely a must see and from what I know, only liveaboard boats venture there!To me it is a must to do the outer reef sites such as Ribbon Reef and Cod Hole. It is possible to find good prices. Sometimes there are special deals, last minute departures, etc. Check this page now and then, maybe you'll catch a deal!

3)December and January are often recommended as the weather is perfect and diving condition at the top. I was there mid to end of december and I don't remember one drop of rain or one cloud ! Of course weather is unpredictable but these are general guidelines from my experience! You'll find lots of information as well as liveaboard boats reviews here!

4) See point 1 ! Also, Port Douglas is sure lovely and if you are looking more for a quiet town and tot just relax, it might be a good idea... But cairn is my recommendation

Happy Diving!

 

[Kevrumbo]

You might want to be prepared and get familiar with using the metric system as well:

ScubaPro Dual Scuba Pressure Gauge - SPG in Metric and Imperial | SPG

Litres, metres and bar - Diving with the metric system in Australia | ex HMAS Canberra Reef

 

[TravisD]

You might want to be prepared and get familiar with using the metric system as well

If you take your own regs, won't be an issue. I was the lone non-metric diver on SpoilSport when I did it in 2011. If you're buddying up with a metric diver, just make sure you're both in agreement on how to communicate. In our case, the only thing we really worried about was being able to indicate our turn pressure, with a simple "T" hand signal - didn't need to fuss with exact pressures. The dive crew on the boat had no issues with it.

Cairns was fun. Do the Kuranda skyrail tour.

 

[DesertDiver82]

Thanks so much everyone for the replies. I'm new to this site, and didn't even realized that you all replied, which is the reason for the delayed response. Have you heard of Pro Dive Cairns? It goes to some outer reefs (not the far ones like Ribbon or cod hole), and is pretty economical. My only concern is that from the reviews is seems as though they might have a lot of open water cert students on their boats. My first choice would definitely be the Mike Ball or Spirit of Freedom trips, but I don't think that will be an option because of price. Any other recommendations would be very much appreciated.

1. Liveaboard from Cairns - Mike Ball or Spirit of Freedom specifically.

2. Absolutely Ok, only kind of. The best sites really are only accessible by liveaboards (either Mike Ball or Spirit of Freedom visit Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs, and Osprey Reef). It's not to say the other boats visit bad sites by any means, it's just that they're not "the best". If this is likely to be your only trip to the GBR, I'd be splurging. Save your money elsewhere.

3. December/January is our monsoon/cyclone season. You might run into one, you might not. Diving conditions are pretty good at that time of year - assuming you don't run into an epic storm system.

4. Cairns - there's more to do there in my experience. Port Douglas is nice if you just want to chill and do nothing, but if you actually want to get out and do stuff, I'd say Cairns.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Mike Ball and Spirit don't take students apart from those taking Advanced course on board.
All the Outer Reef trips will have OW students but these will be with their instructor and generally out of yr way.
Pro Dive run Scubapro and have a good reputation.
Personally for outer Reef trips I would only consider Scubapro or Ocean Quest. I linked to yhem5in previous post. Both great operators and good sites.
Scubapro smaller vessel than OQ

 

[DesertDiver82]

Thanks a lot Aquapro. Do you know if Scubapro or Ocean Quest have AC in their cabins? Also, how are the sea conditions generally? It's taken some convincing to get my wife to do a liveaboard since she gets sea sick pretty easily. What is the water visibility usually like in early January? I also noticed that most of the liveaboards have a fee for a divemaster. This is something new to me, as typically a divemaster has accompanied me on my boat dives. Is this the standard in Australia? I usually enjoy the divemaster because I don't have to worry about navigating plus many times they know cool little areas to check out or where certain sea creatures like to hang out. If so, do you recommend paying for a divemaster, or are the majoirty of the sites pretty easy to navigate? Many thanks. Adam

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Yes to air con on both.
New Years eve very busy do expect full boat and book early.
Jan is middle of monsoon and possibly cyclone although quite rare. However if we have some in the Gulf can make seas rough. Impossible to say how it will be until much closer to departure date.
Same with viz. Usually average 15m (50ft) but can be better or worse depending on weather.
In these boats always 2 crew in the water to help and follow. Shared guides fo cost more but generally not necessary AUD $15 per person per dive.
Send me a PM if you have lots of specific questions as its easier to go into more detail


You can find lots of info on both if you try this link

Cairns Live Aboard Over Night Dive Trips To The Outer Barrier Reef, Cod Hole And Coral Sea.