Diving GBR help needed on choosing location/outfit

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DellaS

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My husband and I, along with our 18-year-old daughter, are going to be in Australia in early April. We are staying in Sydney a few days at either end of our trip, but want to do some diving in the middle – 2-3 days diving with day trips to rainforest, etc. after before flying back to Sydney. We are all certified Recreational divers, but only get to dive a couple of times a year – mostly Caribbean islands, Mexico, Belize, etc. We mostly stick to shallow dives and aren't particularly interested in wreck diving - we are definitely amateurs! Daughter has had issues with pressurizing last couple of dives, so we want to have the option of letting her stay at the hotel pool or snorkel if problems persist. We were originally enchanted with Lizard Island, despite the price of the resort, but the $700pp transport is giving me pause. It seems as if Port Douglas would be a good base, but I'm unclear, even after reading threads, if that is a good choice. We are not at all fussy about needing to visit certain spots or any adventure diving (I've been to Belize 3 times and never made it to the Blue Hole!), and are perfectly content as long as we see a variety of fish, nice coral, maybe a turtle, etc.
Live-aboards don't seem to be a good option in case daughter can't dive, so it seems either basing in Port Douglas or on an island would be our best bet - so I'm looking for suggestions for either another island with a resort or an opinion regarding operators in Port Douglas (or maybe Palm Cove is better?) that are small-boat operators vs. the giant snorkel/scuba outfits.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
Great coral can be found at Heron island. There is accommodation on the island. http://diveadventures.com.au/pages/d...alia/heron.htm. I have dived this reef system but only from a 70foot yacht that no longer operates in the area. You can dive right off the beach on good coral. I have friends who work in the research station on Heron they have great photos. The University Of Queensland runs marine courses on the island - great diversity.

Heron is off Gladstone, so along way south of Cairns (see map linked below). I expect that you want to see the Rainforest up north?

You can fly to Gladstone from Sydney.
There is a boat to the island, takes about 2 hours, or there is a sea plane or helicopter.
Getting on the Cairns is not easy to fly... but you could take the train and see some of the country.
Tilt Train - Rail Australia
http://www.railaustralia.com.au/pdf/200901-Traveltrain-Holidays_Tilt-Train-Route_Brisbane-Cairns.pdf
 
Look Into lady Elliot island also! It's not luxury but it's beautiful. Fantastic diving and snorkelling. Turtles, mantas Rays etc...
 
I second MA's tip about Lady Elliot island. I visited there before I ever started diving, and even the snorkeling was sensational (turtles, reef sharks, mantas), so your daughter can find plenty to do even if she can't equalise. Note that this island did go through a category 5 cyclone a few days ago and I don't know what damage was done.

Regarding your comment about liveaboards, I went on a boat called the "Reef Encounter" out of Cairns. It's permanently out on the reef and they have a day boat to shuttle new passengers back and forth, so you can stay 1 night, 2, 3... whatever you like. Dawn dives, night dives, and everything in between. All the spots it goes to are shallow dives and also support snorkeling, so once again there is something for your daughter to do if she has issues diving. The actual dive sites are good but not spectacular (heaps of common tropical fish and reef sharks, but the coral is pretty battered and you're unlikely to see any "trophy" species like mantas, turtles, etc). I maybe wouldn't recommend it for experienced divers looking for the most amazing and pristine experience possible, but for anyone else it is still really good, and the boat itself is fantastic (water-level platform for easy entry/exit, private ensuite in all rooms, common dining room, comfy lounge area, even a hot tub if it's working).
 
If you are coming up to far north Queensland, Cairns is the main centre for the diving. Palm Cove does not have any dive outfits but is a really beautiful little get away place and most for the locals go there rather than Port Douglas (closer, less crowded etc). I will be up there tomorrow :)

Port Douglas has a couple of day trips like Poseidon which is a really nice easy going trip.

Cairns is about an hours drive south (64km) and has the most selection, I am assuming you want to do day trips rather than overnight.

If you wanted to get off the boat and go to a pontoon where you can dive, snorkel etc then look at Reef Magic.

Small boat with low numbers that visits some nice Inner Reef areas look at Day Tripper.

dedicated dive boats Tusa (probably the top one) or Silverswift (guides included) would be my pick.

Plenty of options for day trips though.
 
First time we came to Australia a few years back as novice divers we went to Lady Elliot - and it was awesome, in fact it hooked us to diving. A bit pricey, though we have returned there as the Mantas and life there are outstanding.

Since then have dived of Heron a few times, resort on island is bigger and better than Lady Elliot, and its easier to get to, but the several times we've been there - never really been impressed too much with the diving, it's not bad at all, it just isn't "wow" when we have dived there.

Also done a couple of liveaboards which Aquapro booked for me :) ... and Cairns + Diving a great location, though the best diving on the outer reef really needs to be from a liveaboard.

As long as the flights etc work, I doubt you'd be disappointed with any of the above.

Cheers
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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