GBR too expensive... alternatives?

After reading up on information on diving in the Great Barrier Reef, I realized that you need to go further north to get some good diving, and the operators that go out there are, well, very expensive at over AU$3,000 for a 5-day liveaboard. I'm sure it will be amazing but it's still hard to justify the cost when I can fly to other South Pacific islands.

Since I'll be taking a vacation with Auckland as my base for 4 weeks, I'm wondering if I can find equally impressive diving elsewhere, but without that price tag. I hear Vanuatu and Fiji has impressive diving also, but friendlier on the budget traveller. Can anyone offer advice regarding this matter? Is the GBR really a must see, or will I think of it as so-so after diving in the South Pacific, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc?

We also wanted to do the GBR trip but couldn't justify the price. We are heading up to Wananavu resort in Fiji to dive Bligh Water instead.

We have also dived from Ono Island in Fiji and that was good. No big stuff, but beatiful corals and lots of fish.

Vanuatu is great for diving. We've done 4 trips to Port Vila. Great corals and loads of fish, but no big fish action. Never done Santo (wrecks dont interest me) but the reefs up there are meant to be stunning and for wreck enthusiasts , the President Coolidge is a must dive

PNG is good diving, but the domestic flights can be a pain in the ass . Lots of cancellations and your ticket means nothing. Always a fight to get a seat. We stayed at Walindi resort and had a great week.

The Bilikiki from the Solomons is meant to be awesome. We were going to do it this year, but i'm refusing to go up there until they get the mass dolphin slaughter sorted out.

Port Vila in Vanuatu has excellent diving. Santo in Vanuatu has the SS President Coolidge. For AU$2000 you could have about 2 weeks at least ex-Auckland.

You could also look at Heron Island in Queensland which is on the GBR. Price would be less than AU$2000 for a week all inclusive ex Gladstone I would guess.

Wow... I'm glad I did the GBR back in 2001 when the US dollar was strong relative to the Aussie dollar. My four day liveaboard trip cost about $300 US back then, and I could have done a Coral Sea trip for about the same.

drbill:

Wow... I'm glad I did the GBR back in 2001 when the US dollar was strong relative to the Aussie dollar. My four day liveaboard trip cost about $300 US back then, and I could have done a Coral Sea trip for about the same.

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The inner reef is not too expensive, (but is also not too impressive by all accounts). It is the trip out to the Ribbon Reefs in the Coral Sea that now carries the hefty price tag. We have also dived at Heron Island, but quite frankly, I much preferred the diving around Port Vila in Vanuatu to Heron.

Have you done the Poor Knights? link A bit more accessible if you are based in Auckland and world renowned for its great diving. You can do day trips with companies like Dive Tutukaka to try it out before committing to a live aboard with Ocean Blue (sorry for other companies operating out of there, those were the first to come to mind but I am pretty sure there are still more) There are lots of other great diving opportunities to be had if you go north of Auckland. My favourite being Northland Dive but that is moving a bit further away from your live aboard proposal.

We spent three days in Byron Bay, and we had a ball. The marine reserve at Julian Rocks has a density and variety of life that just blew us away. After all the travel we have done and the places we have dived, I'd still like to go back there.

Tons of OZ divers seem to be coming to Bali for their dives... Price is one of the reasons.
If budget allows Komodo or Raja Ampat are nice. You can get 11 dats of diving for the budget you mention

I just dove with Spirit of Freedom on the GBR. I did the 7 day live-a-board for $3000 AUD. Many people chose the 4 day or 3 day for half the price or less. We dove all the way up from Cairns to Lizard Island and most people flew back to Cairns and others boarded that flew in from Cairns.
In retrospect I would do the same and only do a 4 day or 3 day as that was a lot of diving in 7 days and my ears were pooched by the end. It also rained for the second half of the trip (Jan 15) and we could not do Osprey Reef (shark feed) however we did do Cod Hole (Huge Potato Cod) and that was amazing.
Mike Ball is the only other diver operator that does live-a-boards on the GBR.

The other diving on the GBR are 1 day trips. Great Dives but these are sights that get dove a lot by many companies and they have a permanent platform structure out there. If you are hard core you will want the live-a-board experience. This is good for people presses for time and maybe just started diving and on a budget.

I also want to recommend the Yongala Wreck dive in AYR just south of Townsville. This dive is rated one of the top 10 best dives in the world. On this one dive you will see more life than anywhere on the GBR. Fabulous dive. My only recommendation is to get in and do the dive and get out. There is nothing in AYR other than this dive. YOu can also choose and operator that is in Townsville but 3 hour boat ride away.

The whit Sundays are amazing as well. Snorkelling is what most people do but there is a dive boat. This is not the GBR but one of my high lights.

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