First family trip to GBR

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kutsyy

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Sorry for yet another first trip question, but I would love to get some comments.

We are going to Australia in June. There will be two adults and 2 kids. I and my son who is 13 are divers (advance certified), my daughter is 11 (she wanted to do referral, but in Australia 12 is min age) and my wife doesn't dive (both my daughter and my wife are avid snorkelers and I do like to snorkel with them as well). We are flying to Cairn as a start of our trip.

I am trying to figure out what should we do. The options I see are: 3 days Cod Hole boat trip or a few single day trips from the different places on the coast, plus near shore snorkeling. Somebody recommended Kangaroo Explorer but I don't think it would make any sense at all.

Any recommendations for GBR exploring in snorkeling/diving mix group?

Also, my son is 13 but on the smaller side. Given tha12 is min age, would he has problem finding right size BCD?


Thanks,

Vadim
 
When I did a 3-day liveaboard trip years ago, my snorkeling wife went along, just to keep me company. She was in the water more than I was, and it remains by far the best snorkeling she has ever experienced.
 
Have you considered a stay on Lady Elliot or Heron Islands as an alternative to Cairns.
 
I did consider it. I am thinking about doing say 1 day dive from Cairns/Port Douglas and then drive South with a couple days at Lady Elliot or Heron Islands plus another dive somewhere along the way. I understand that it would not be as good as Liveaboard but may be a better choice for us. How off am I in my thinking?

What would be good places diving/snorkeling to stop on the way?

For our trip, we are flying in to
Cairns and flying back from Melbourne, on the way we want to be in Brisbane and Sydney but I didn't come up with all details yet.
 
If it's your intention to drive the whole way just be aware that even if you break it up Cairns to Melbourne is a BIG drive on pretty lousy roads, particularly with kids. You may be better off flying some of it.

There is decent diving/snorkelling from Brisbane (Flinders Reef or Stradbroke Island), good diving/snorkelling off Byron Bay (Julian Rocks) and Fish Rock north of Port Macquarie is generally regarded as awesome, though I haven't dived there yet. Coffs Harbour also offers diving but again, I haven't dived there myself so I don't know if it's any good. Nor do I know if either are any good for snorkellers.

The Yongala off Ayr is a brilliant dive, but it's too deep for snorkelling and may not suit your needs.
 
For the divers a liveaboard to the codhole would be the best. Most sites could be snorkelled over the top of the reef or pinnacle. It is an expensive option however.

Heron still has some nice diving, but in my opinion, not good as sites like Steves Bommie. It does have the advantage more options for the nondivers.

Travelling south, how long have you got for the trip?
 
Thanks for the places, I'll look them up.

No I am planning to drive all the way, I am not that crazy :) We will be in Australia for 3 weeks total, and places we want to see are GBR, Brisbane (for Lone Pine Sanctuary), Sydney and Melbourne (in order the see penguins in the wild), we may add . And I mean these as general areas (GBR would include a trip to Daintree as an example).

Thank you,

Vadim
 
Cod Hole is probably not the best sort of trip for snorkelers. It’s the best diving for sure but a lot of the sites are not great for snorkelers.

There are plenty of 3 (or 2) day
overnight trips and if you wanted to get a mix of both Ribbon Reef areas (this is the area that stretches far north and is arguably the best of the GBR and includes the Cod Hole) then look at Taka as is covers Outer and Ribbon Reef areas. This would be far more suitable for snorkelers.

Also consider that your daughter can still dive as an Introductory Diver, and if she logs the dives will still count at a late date for continuing education etc (the first dive can count towards her Open water course).

There are some great
day trips out of both Port Douglas and also Cairns too that cater well for families (see Reef Magic).
 
Can you recommend a few good trips?

As for my daughter, she already did a few intro dives, and I am sure she will do a few more, but here in California nobody counts warm water dives toward certification anyway :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I did recommend some above. I guess you need to decide if you want to do day or over night trips. The 2 day 1 night would allow your daughter to do intro dives as well (as would the 3 day trip).

Have a look at the links above. I would weigh up cost of hotel etc over a 2 day trip on something like Ocean Quest or even Kangaroo Explorer which is the budget trip, where you can get a quad share.

if not then Reef Magic is a good mix as it goes to a pontoon so you have a mix of snorkel, underwater observatory, snorkel and dive etc. If you want to go for a dedicated dive boat then look at Tusa.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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