Hello,
I hail from Peoria, but wish I could say I was from Oz. Wonderful place. I've been to most of the dive sites there around the entire Aussie coast. Diving the GBR was fair compared to other Aussie sights. Alot of the reef has been damaged by thousands of new divers. Most dive shops go to the same sights. But you definately want to dive the outer reef vs the inner reef.
You will find Cairns is travel agent central. It is actually cheaper to book at an agent than at the dive center. There seemed to be more diver centers than there actually were becuase all the travel agents offer different rates. I went around and talked to the dive shops before deciding. But it was cheaper to book the trip through an agent. So after talking to the shop, they sent me next door to book it at an agent to get the cheapest rate.
I ended up doing a liveaboard with Cairns Dive Center out of Cairns. My little brother did his OW on the boat and I tagged along. It was my first livaboard and it seemed crowded compared to the trips I'd taken with only 4-5 people. There were alot of new divers on the boat, but you will find that most everywhere out of Cairns. With the exception of the guy who led the night dive, who was terrible, I was happy with the staff. They seemed pretty typical for shops out of Cairns.
I also had a great expereince with Kelly Dive and Sail out of Airlie Beach. I did a 4 day livaboard that taylored to expereinced divers. They took us out to some of the less dived, more pristine sites. We were way out on the far side of the reef. I have to admit that even as an avid sailor, I got quite a bit seasick on this trip. But it was worth it as I got to see the reef at its best.
In Oz, I had my best dives out of small towns with shops that taylored to locals. Unfortunately, I didn't find many on the east coast as it is overrun by tourists.
If you have a chance, I highly reccommend the west coast, particularly the Ningaloo Reef out of Coral Bay.
Good Luck and enjoy Oz.
elanor
