Short GBR Liveaboard Trip in June

[PK1]

I will be in Australia on business first week of June and would like to stay 2-3 days extra to do some diving. I'm an experienced diver (Advanced Open Water/Enriched Air w/ 130+ logged dives). I'm looking for either a 2-day/1 night or 3-day/2 night trip. I'm OK to go either out of Cairns or Port Douglas. Any advice or recommendations would be most appreciated. Also, can someone please advise on water temperature in June.

 

[WetPup]

Look up Deep Sea Divers Den for a couple of short liveaboard options. If you can manage it though, I'd recommend a 3-4 day trip to the Ribbon Reefs though so that you can dive the Cod Hole (see Taka, Spirit of Freedom, or Mike Ball for the best options). Definitely worth the extra time if you can manage it, and June is also part of the dwarf minke whale migration season, so getting out to Ribbon Reefs for that is an absolute once in a lifetime experience for those lucky enough to visit at that time of year. Water temps in June are around 24C out on Ribbon Reefs, and most people will dive in a 3-5mm full length wetsuit.

 

[PK1]

Look up Deep Sea Divers Den for a couple of short liveaboard options. If you can manage it though, I'd recommend a 3-4 day trip to the Ribbon Reefs though so that you can dive the Cod Hole (see Taka, Spirit of Freedom, or Mike Ball for the best options). .

Thanks for the reply. Do the ScubaPro boats out of Cairns go to the Ribbon Reefs?, and how are they in general?

 

[WetPup]

No. To the best of my current knowledge, only Taka, Spirit of Freedom, and Mike Ball go out to Ribbon Reefs.

I don't know how the ScubaPro boats are, never been out on them. Perhaps someone else can comment on that?

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

The best are Ocean Quest, Scubapro (Pro Dive) or Kangaroo Explorer that do the Outer Reefs only. OQ and KEX do 2 day 1 night as well as the 3 day 2 night. These all run daily.

To get to the Ribbon Reefs involves a lot of travel so the trips are longer and you would need to look at Mike Ball and Spirit of Freedom, but these are booked out now until July because of the Minke Whale season.

If you wanted to do a mix of Ribbon Reef and Outer Reef then Taka does a 3 day 3 night trip departing Tuesdays from June 1st.

This would be my pick for what you want to do.