Help with cairns and Sydney diving

[jas]

Hi!
I am lucky enough to tag along on my boyfriends business trip. I have gotten a lot of help off the site already, maybe you can help me further.

Unfortunately, the timing of the Taka won't work for me. I am looking at the Ocean quest or scuba pro. Is the ocean quest more divers and less snorkelers then the scuba pro?
I will be flying in from Sydney, it looks like I will have to stay overnight, as the flights are not early enough in the morning. Any recommendations for an inexpensive safe hotel or other accommodations?
I am also hoping to do two days of diving in Sydney, while the boyfriend is working, recommendations?
p.s. Thank you for clearing up Pro dive and aqua dive being different companies on the previous site. It should have been clear to me, but I got some how, on pro dive site.
Thank you for your help.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Not much difference between Scuapro and Ocean Quest really. Both cater for students snorkelers and certified divers.

OQ takes about 48 people and Scubapro 32, but is a slightly smaller vessel.

The main difference is that OQ stays on the Reef and moves around form site to site and used Sea Quest as a daily transfer vesel to take passengers out and retun each day. So you firat 2 dives / snorkels are off of SQ before you trasfer over after lunch.
Scubapro (there are actually 3 Scubapros) leaves and returns with the same passengers 3 days later.

OQ is probably a higher standard of accomodation with more apres dive lounge areas, but from a diving / snorkeling point of view very little to chose between them.

Scubapro only offers 3 day 2 night, whilst OQ you can do 2 days 3 days 4 days etc.

Accomodation in Cairns is abundant and easy to find. Best bet is to look at places like wotif.com lastminte.com for the best deals.

 

[takefive]

Sydney diving, I would highly recommend Abyss Scuba. They are super friendly and do excellent shore dives and boat dives that give you a good taste of how good Sydney diving can be.
Shore dives are free and guided, only need to pay for your gear.
You can book online as well to get a slightly cheaper rate.