Damselfish
Contributor
We originally booked the 4 night Coral sea itinerary on the Nimrod Explorer which didn't run. They had engine trouble (supposedly, though I wonder a bit as AFAIK there were no other Explorer refugees on Taka and wonder where they all wound up.) Anyway, after checking with us - the morning before - they rebooked us on the 3 night Cod Hole itinerary on Taka. Not the boat or itinerary we would have chosen, but we were already in Cairns so, oh well.
Crew were all good when doing their jobs, and the whole thing in general ran well. Cruise director was great and you always knew exactly what was going on. I am used to Peter Hughes and Aggressor type boats, with fewer passengers and much more service, and I missed that a lot. On vacation it's nice to have the bed made, dishes cleared for you, and all the little niceties you get on those boats, but it's just not that kind of operation. As far as I know they don't enter your cabin all week. You use your assigned and allocated towels. Clear your dishes, scrape your plate into a bin, put your trash in the trash bin, put the dishes in another bin, sort of like a high school cafeteria.
Everything about the boat looked clean and in good condition as you would expect from a fairly new boat. We had the largest cabin which was pretty large for a liveaboard. All the double cabins looked a pretty decent size too. Not fancy, but very functional. It would have been nice to have a hanging bar for some clothes, there was a cubby that looked like it was intended to have one, but didn't. Plumbing worked very well which is always a treat on a boat. The sink was so tiny you had to turn your head sideways to hit the sink when brushing your teeth and no place to set anything in the bathroom, even your toothpaste. I don't expect a palace of a bathroom on a liveaboard but for the biggest cabin I've had it had the tiniest and least functional sink. Not a big deal, but could have been better designed.
Diving ran well, especially for the number of people. There were a lot of new and inexperienced divers, but the mix was handled well and more experienced divers were not limited by it. Excellent dive briefings. You signed if you were skipping a dive. Everyone else physically signed in when getting back on the boat, literally before you'd gotten your mask off your face. Everyone had numbers, which they asked for in addition to signing in on one dive when a serious current kicked up and they had to pull everyone back to the boat with the inflatable. They would yell into the bathrooms on the dive deck and whatever they needed to to to make sure they had actual verbal communication with every single person. Seeing how unexpectedly conditions changed and how easy it would have been to wind up in New Zealand, it seemed like an appropriate system. The rental gear looked pretty good and I heard no complaints. Nitrox available and tanks always full.
Boat traveled to Cod Hole the first night. The feeding at Cod Hole didn't do much for me. I'm not a big fan of feedings of any sort, but I was there and thought it would be interesting to see since it's so famous a dive. Overrated from what I saw. I think I was disappointed because you hear so much about these huge 600# fish, and the ones there at the time (2) didn't seem all that big, although the interaction between the 2 of them was sort of interesting ti watch. We really enjoyed the other dives up there, around Ribbon Reef #10. We traveled south over the 3 days, and the diving was definitely not as good as we traveled further south. Our dives on the last morning were near one of the platforms the day or one night boats go to. Apparently this was a recent change, this boat became part of whatever company owned that platform and the moorings nearby. I think it's a convenient stopover point on the last day of this itinerary for their travel purposes, but I'm guessing it's not an improvement in diving over whatever they did before. We did see some nice critters on those dives, but the coral was nowhere near as big and pristine as we saw up north, and lots of the area was sand or sediment covered.
Other people (lots of Aussies) seemed fine with the food, or at least everyone always cheers the chef because it's the thing to do. But I wasn't too crazy about it. We got fed, some things were better than others, but mostly mediocre. The hot food seemed to be cold most of the time, fried things were greasy, and sometimes they really needed more of things. All buffet style, served at a counter near a corner which was difficult for people to get around. People ate, then the crew ate, then they called that it was ok to go for seconds. First time on a liveaboard I was ever hungry and dipping into some snacks I had along.
Nothing to drink but water, coffee and tea. No glasses to drink water from, just the stained coffee mugs. Bring a water bottle. No ice. I asked for ice at dinner the first night and the cook told me it was hard to get to at the time (under the back of the buffet counter) and he would get it for me later. He never did and I didn't bother asking again. I didn't want to create a production every time I wanted ice, plus it seemed I couldn't get it during meals anyway. (To be fair, no ice seems to be a common thing in Australia, I love a glass of cold water with lots of ice and learned I had to ask for ice in restaurants.) They charged for various canned beverages in a frig, none of which I was interested in. I would just prefer to have some basic stuff like lemonade and ice tea available, it wouldn't cost them much (especially considering what they charge) but would probably cut into their drink profits.
There weren't really any comfortable public areas to hang out on this boat. There was a large sundeck, which went unused after the safety drill. It had no partial shade cover like most boats, and no lounges so it's not very inviting. There are only some plastic chairs, which were tied down in stacks the whole trip, presumably so they wouldn't go overboard during a crossing. Sensible, but on a more service oriented boat they likely would have put out some chairs during stretches they would have been useful, and put them away when necessary. The lounge/dining room was mostly the dining tables with benches (laid out so you had to crawl over other people to get in and out of some of them.) 2 couches in one corner that guests used. The opposite corner had a couch and a counter with computers, and the crew hung out there. I don't think that corner was off limits to guests, but no one went there because it was made to seem very much like the crews turf where you weren't welcome. Other than the cruise director, the crew tended to avoid mixing with guests when they weren't on duty.
They run this boat on a really tight schedule. You did 2 dives on the last morning, then you had to get your stuff packed and be out of your room by 1pm, while traveling back to port. No time to really get stuff dry. Less of a problem for the majority of people who used the boats gear, a pain if you brought your own. A huge rush, not a relaxing way to end any trip. I understand why they do this, they basically clean cabins and turn the whole boat around while it is still traveling because they board a new group of passengers within a couple hours of getting to the dock. But, from the passengers point of view it sucks big time.
It was better than not diving while I was in Australia, but their prices are very high for what it was (like lots of things in Queensland.)
Crew were all good when doing their jobs, and the whole thing in general ran well. Cruise director was great and you always knew exactly what was going on. I am used to Peter Hughes and Aggressor type boats, with fewer passengers and much more service, and I missed that a lot. On vacation it's nice to have the bed made, dishes cleared for you, and all the little niceties you get on those boats, but it's just not that kind of operation. As far as I know they don't enter your cabin all week. You use your assigned and allocated towels. Clear your dishes, scrape your plate into a bin, put your trash in the trash bin, put the dishes in another bin, sort of like a high school cafeteria.
Everything about the boat looked clean and in good condition as you would expect from a fairly new boat. We had the largest cabin which was pretty large for a liveaboard. All the double cabins looked a pretty decent size too. Not fancy, but very functional. It would have been nice to have a hanging bar for some clothes, there was a cubby that looked like it was intended to have one, but didn't. Plumbing worked very well which is always a treat on a boat. The sink was so tiny you had to turn your head sideways to hit the sink when brushing your teeth and no place to set anything in the bathroom, even your toothpaste. I don't expect a palace of a bathroom on a liveaboard but for the biggest cabin I've had it had the tiniest and least functional sink. Not a big deal, but could have been better designed.
Diving ran well, especially for the number of people. There were a lot of new and inexperienced divers, but the mix was handled well and more experienced divers were not limited by it. Excellent dive briefings. You signed if you were skipping a dive. Everyone else physically signed in when getting back on the boat, literally before you'd gotten your mask off your face. Everyone had numbers, which they asked for in addition to signing in on one dive when a serious current kicked up and they had to pull everyone back to the boat with the inflatable. They would yell into the bathrooms on the dive deck and whatever they needed to to to make sure they had actual verbal communication with every single person. Seeing how unexpectedly conditions changed and how easy it would have been to wind up in New Zealand, it seemed like an appropriate system. The rental gear looked pretty good and I heard no complaints. Nitrox available and tanks always full.
Boat traveled to Cod Hole the first night. The feeding at Cod Hole didn't do much for me. I'm not a big fan of feedings of any sort, but I was there and thought it would be interesting to see since it's so famous a dive. Overrated from what I saw. I think I was disappointed because you hear so much about these huge 600# fish, and the ones there at the time (2) didn't seem all that big, although the interaction between the 2 of them was sort of interesting ti watch. We really enjoyed the other dives up there, around Ribbon Reef #10. We traveled south over the 3 days, and the diving was definitely not as good as we traveled further south. Our dives on the last morning were near one of the platforms the day or one night boats go to. Apparently this was a recent change, this boat became part of whatever company owned that platform and the moorings nearby. I think it's a convenient stopover point on the last day of this itinerary for their travel purposes, but I'm guessing it's not an improvement in diving over whatever they did before. We did see some nice critters on those dives, but the coral was nowhere near as big and pristine as we saw up north, and lots of the area was sand or sediment covered.
Other people (lots of Aussies) seemed fine with the food, or at least everyone always cheers the chef because it's the thing to do. But I wasn't too crazy about it. We got fed, some things were better than others, but mostly mediocre. The hot food seemed to be cold most of the time, fried things were greasy, and sometimes they really needed more of things. All buffet style, served at a counter near a corner which was difficult for people to get around. People ate, then the crew ate, then they called that it was ok to go for seconds. First time on a liveaboard I was ever hungry and dipping into some snacks I had along.
Nothing to drink but water, coffee and tea. No glasses to drink water from, just the stained coffee mugs. Bring a water bottle. No ice. I asked for ice at dinner the first night and the cook told me it was hard to get to at the time (under the back of the buffet counter) and he would get it for me later. He never did and I didn't bother asking again. I didn't want to create a production every time I wanted ice, plus it seemed I couldn't get it during meals anyway. (To be fair, no ice seems to be a common thing in Australia, I love a glass of cold water with lots of ice and learned I had to ask for ice in restaurants.) They charged for various canned beverages in a frig, none of which I was interested in. I would just prefer to have some basic stuff like lemonade and ice tea available, it wouldn't cost them much (especially considering what they charge) but would probably cut into their drink profits.
There weren't really any comfortable public areas to hang out on this boat. There was a large sundeck, which went unused after the safety drill. It had no partial shade cover like most boats, and no lounges so it's not very inviting. There are only some plastic chairs, which were tied down in stacks the whole trip, presumably so they wouldn't go overboard during a crossing. Sensible, but on a more service oriented boat they likely would have put out some chairs during stretches they would have been useful, and put them away when necessary. The lounge/dining room was mostly the dining tables with benches (laid out so you had to crawl over other people to get in and out of some of them.) 2 couches in one corner that guests used. The opposite corner had a couch and a counter with computers, and the crew hung out there. I don't think that corner was off limits to guests, but no one went there because it was made to seem very much like the crews turf where you weren't welcome. Other than the cruise director, the crew tended to avoid mixing with guests when they weren't on duty.
They run this boat on a really tight schedule. You did 2 dives on the last morning, then you had to get your stuff packed and be out of your room by 1pm, while traveling back to port. No time to really get stuff dry. Less of a problem for the majority of people who used the boats gear, a pain if you brought your own. A huge rush, not a relaxing way to end any trip. I understand why they do this, they basically clean cabins and turn the whole boat around while it is still traveling because they board a new group of passengers within a couple hours of getting to the dock. But, from the passengers point of view it sucks big time.
It was better than not diving while I was in Australia, but their prices are very high for what it was (like lots of things in Queensland.)
