scubafan2006
Registered
Any comments, suggestions, why and when... prices.. which is the best destination for diving and dive center quality...etc...
Perth VS Cairns...
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caymaniac
Contributor
scubafan2006:
Maybe you should say Perth vs. Port Douglas, the farther north you go and the farther off shore the better. The reefs off Cairns are not as good as those farther north, Port Douglas being only one hour north of Cairns gets you closer to the better diving.
I've not been to Perth so I can't anwer your question, but I've been to Cairns and Port Douglas.
Zeeman
Contributor
the question should probably be "Ningaloo vs Port Douglas"....
Z...
Z...
MarkH
Contributor
If you want tropical, go Cairns. If you want temperate, go Perth. I've only been to both once, but I prefered Rottnest Island (near Perth) to the Barrier Reef off Cairns. For one thing, we spent more time getting to the Great Barrier R eef (2 hours) than actually diving. Rottnest on the other hand, was a short boat ride from Fremantle. There were lots more colourful invertebrates at Rottnest and the vis was a bit better (50 feet compared to 30 feet at Cairns). Prices for a day trip were about the same. I was treated like a kid on the Cairns trip (no deeper than 50 feet, no longer than 45 minutes) and the boat had about 40 divers on it. I dove with Malibu diving on Rottnest and there were only five of us on the boat and they let us do whatever we wanted. The only rule was to return to the boat if we saw great white sharks. If you want to see the usual colourful tropical fish in warm water, you won't find them near Perth though. The following links have my pictures/trip reports:Cairns Rottnestscubafan2006:
Daryl Morse
Contributor
I can't comment about Cairns, but Perth is great if you're looking for temperate diving. When I was there in February, I dove Rottness Island. The temperature was 20c and the vis was really good. I'm in Fremantle right now and was planning to be out on the boat today, but the trip was cancelled because the swells are too big. Oh well, maybe next time.
grocha01
Registered
I live in Perth and have just spent a week over at Rottnest Island for a research trip. The weather wasnt the best (come in summer: late November - March), but the diving was still great! As has been said, Rottnest is more of a temperate environment, but has some tropical influences due to a warm southward flowing current (Leeuwin Current) from the warm Indonesian waters. There is a rich divesity of fish and invertebrates, as well as plenty of interesting little bays to look in. There's only 1 dive shop over there and i have never been through them, but they always seem to be busy, so they cant be too bad! The island itself would be one of the best dive spots around perth and is very relaxing and pleasant to stay on! If you are interested in something more tropical, many places along the Ningaloo Reef (eg: Coral Bay) and the Abrolhos Islands are probably the way to go. Charter companies can pick you up from Perth, drive up to Geralton (about 350km north of Perth), and take you out to the Abrolhos Islands (about 40km offshore), but again i have never been through them. The diving is supposed to be amazing, with the best visability on the west coast, and plenty of wrecks, coral reefs, fish and inverts to look at. For me, the Abrolhos trip is planned for the not too distance future as i have only heard good things about it! As for spots in Queensland, i have never been there, but would also like to in the near future!
Alex
Alex
I dive rottnest regularly and it is soo beautiful. There are so many hidden little swim throughs which bring you out into beautiful big limestone structures..
I usually see plenty of Wobbygongs, rays, cuttlefish etc. and i have heard of other divers occasionally seeing a grey nurse shark fleetingly pass though the area. I agree with Alex about the weather, november to april is pretty good diving although the vis can be pretty good still in winter at Rotto. Heard the Abrohlis is pretty amazing to dive too.
Perth dive Academy in Fremantle have a fantastic big boat and a day trip out to rotto which includes lunch. Image Dive in Hillarys are brilliant too and can cater for a more experienced diver.. they also offer liveaboard weekend trips over to Rottnest http://www.imagedive.com.au. They both are top quality and include a second tank in the price of the day trip, if i remember correctly they charge about AU$100 a day.
Exmouth offers some brilliant diving and a chance to dive with whalesharks (from late march to july) or see a coral spawning (7 - 10 days after the full moon in march) if you are there at the right time of year. The other good thing is that you can dive right off the shore onto beautiful reefs without needing a boat. Flights from Perth arent to expensive and neither is accommodation, there are links from this divesite http://www.exmouthdiving.com.au/english/exmothdc.htm
The Navy pier is supposed to be a fantastic dive too (havent done that yet but reallly, really want to!)
http://www.exmouthnavypier.com/index.htm
Happy Diving!
I usually see plenty of Wobbygongs, rays, cuttlefish etc. and i have heard of other divers occasionally seeing a grey nurse shark fleetingly pass though the area. I agree with Alex about the weather, november to april is pretty good diving although the vis can be pretty good still in winter at Rotto. Heard the Abrohlis is pretty amazing to dive too.
Perth dive Academy in Fremantle have a fantastic big boat and a day trip out to rotto which includes lunch. Image Dive in Hillarys are brilliant too and can cater for a more experienced diver.. they also offer liveaboard weekend trips over to Rottnest http://www.imagedive.com.au. They both are top quality and include a second tank in the price of the day trip, if i remember correctly they charge about AU$100 a day.
Exmouth offers some brilliant diving and a chance to dive with whalesharks (from late march to july) or see a coral spawning (7 - 10 days after the full moon in march) if you are there at the right time of year. The other good thing is that you can dive right off the shore onto beautiful reefs without needing a boat. Flights from Perth arent to expensive and neither is accommodation, there are links from this divesite http://www.exmouthdiving.com.au/english/exmothdc.htm
The Navy pier is supposed to be a fantastic dive too (havent done that yet but reallly, really want to!)
http://www.exmouthnavypier.com/index.htm
Happy Diving!
Mark Goodchild
Contributor
I went to Oz this year in June. Dived at Ningaloo and also in the Coral Sea from Cairns. If you are around in Perth you can fly up to Exmouth in a couple of hours on SkyWest. I would say this is a must if you are there....
In my opinion which would I choose if you made me....tricky.
I like the remoteness and less touristy aspects of Ningaloo. You can see whale sharks, manta rays, reef sharks if you go at the right time.
The Coral at "Coral Bay" is superb and if you can get outside the reef...then mantas are nearly guaranteed. We also saw humpback whales from the boat which was special.
I think I would choose the West Coast every time if you are resort based. However if you can get out on a liveaboard in the Coral Sea then I would go for that. The resort based diving in Cairns is not as good as diving from a liveaboard on the remote reefs. Osprey reef was amazing with manta rays, many reef sharks and hammerheads if you are lucky...
Coral Sea liveaboard report:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Reports/CoralSeaSpiritofFreedomJune05.htm
Coral Sea liveaboard gallery:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Gallery/GBR3/index.html
Exmouth report:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Reports/ExmouthTripReportJune05.htm
Exmouth gallery:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Gallery/Exmouth1/index.html
Coral Bay report:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Reports/CoralBayJune05.htm
Coral Bay gallery:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Gallery/CoralBay1/index.html
Hope this helps!
In my opinion which would I choose if you made me....tricky.
I like the remoteness and less touristy aspects of Ningaloo. You can see whale sharks, manta rays, reef sharks if you go at the right time.
The Coral at "Coral Bay" is superb and if you can get outside the reef...then mantas are nearly guaranteed. We also saw humpback whales from the boat which was special.
I think I would choose the West Coast every time if you are resort based. However if you can get out on a liveaboard in the Coral Sea then I would go for that. The resort based diving in Cairns is not as good as diving from a liveaboard on the remote reefs. Osprey reef was amazing with manta rays, many reef sharks and hammerheads if you are lucky...
Coral Sea liveaboard report:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Reports/CoralSeaSpiritofFreedomJune05.htm
Coral Sea liveaboard gallery:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Gallery/GBR3/index.html
Exmouth report:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Reports/ExmouthTripReportJune05.htm
Exmouth gallery:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Gallery/Exmouth1/index.html
Coral Bay report:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Reports/CoralBayJune05.htm
Coral Bay gallery:
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Gallery/CoralBay1/index.html
Hope this helps!
RonDawg
Contributor
I just returned from nearly 3 weeks in Australia, of which 3 days were diving off Cairns. I decided against a live-aboard as I wanted to do and see other things besides diving while I was there.
I went with TUSA Dive all 3 days. Yes they're more for "tourist divers" but that was fine with me. The boats were large, a good thing as the waters were quite choppy going to/from the dive sites. The staff were all friendly and they served good food (for a day trip dive boat) too.
The only thing I have to say is that they do cater to a large Japanese crowd, so you may end up on a boat where almost everybody is primarily Japanese-speaking, including the crew. The crew does speak English, but it's of varying proficiency, although the non-Japanese dive briefings are done by someone who is proficient in English.
Of course, in the water language no longer becomes an issue if you and the person you're trying to communicate with are proficient with their hand signals.
I went with TUSA Dive all 3 days. Yes they're more for "tourist divers" but that was fine with me. The boats were large, a good thing as the waters were quite choppy going to/from the dive sites. The staff were all friendly and they served good food (for a day trip dive boat) too.
The only thing I have to say is that they do cater to a large Japanese crowd, so you may end up on a boat where almost everybody is primarily Japanese-speaking, including the crew. The crew does speak English, but it's of varying proficiency, although the non-Japanese dive briefings are done by someone who is proficient in English.
Of course, in the water language no longer becomes an issue if you and the person you're trying to communicate with are proficient with their hand signals.
I'm moving to Perth next year... going back to work as a Diving Instructor.... any idea about difference between living in Perth and Cairns.... (I live in Victoria at the moment)
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