Diving near Hervey Bay?

[jacqie]

Hi! First time poster here. Husband and I are planning a trip to Australia next August. We're going to do a US flight, stop over in Fiji for just a couple of days and may do a dive or two there but unfortunately we won't be able to get off the main island in the time we have, so probably shark dive in Beqa and maybe one other dive.

I'm interested in swimming with whales in Australia and am narrowing in on Hervey Bay Dive Center as a good possibility. We're also interested in doing some diving. We've never been to Australia before and want to do some diving, but aren't sure about distances. From Hervey Bay or the vicinity, is it possible to get to the southern GBR either by liveaboard or day trip dive? I've read a bit about Lady Elliott and Heron Island, but it seems like you have to stay on those islands to be able to dive them? Is there another good option, or do we need to head further north to Cairns and take a liveaboard from there?

Ningaloo also looks neat, but it's obviously all the way on the other side of the country and we are focusing on Queensland (for diving and whale swim), South Australia (Kangaroo Island) and Victoria (Great Ocean Road). There's always more that we want to do than time to do it!

Thanks for any suggestions. I've lurked on the boards for a while but haven't yet posted- I've gotten a lot of help from here!

 

[lermontov]

if your going to hervey bay then theres 2 must dives - the HMAS tobruk is a great purpose sunk wreck with fantastic fish life and Wolf Rock - grey nurse shark breeding ground - its a bit of a ride out but worth the effort and of course theres whale watching - also hmas brisbane off the holiday resort area of Mooloolaba is a good dive all 3 dives sites are reasonably close to each other

beqa lagoon is very contrived

The GBR is better the further north you go

Dive the Tobruk » Hervey Bay Dive Centre

Dive Sites | Wolf Rock Dive

 

[diver257a]

Hi jacqie

I live in South Australia (SA). With respect to Kangaroo Island (known here as KI), while there are some nice dive sites on its coastline, I would not recommend it as a dive location for two reasons. Firstly, there are no diving-related services on KI apart from a cylinder-filling station at the hardware store in the main town of Kingscote. You may see reference online to a dive shop located in Kingscote but this has been closed about four years ago. You will need to organise everything yourself if you want to dive on the KI coastline. Secondly, the main mode of travel to and from KI is a ferry which is expensive, and you will need a motor vehicle get about. You can fly to KI, but you will still need a motor vehicle. If you search for "Kangaroo Island" on this website, you will find some more information.

August is a winter month in the Southern hemisphere which means diving activities in SA are limited by colder water and stronger winds. Based on the content of your post, I would suggest the following. Day trips to either Edithburgh and Rapid Bay which can be arranged with a number of Adelaide-based dive shops and independent instructors. Also, there are three white shark cage diving operations departing from Port Lincoln.

 

[Glenndini]

At least one of the operators that dives the ex-HMAS Tobruk also visits Lady Musgrave Island on day trips. Lady Musgrave is similar to Heron and Lady Elliot and located between those two islands.
This one operates out of Bundaberg not far from Hervey Bay.

LADY MUSGRAVE EXPERIENCE | LADY MUSGRAVE ISLAND

Further north of course is the Yongala wreck out of Townsville (long boat ride) or Alva Beach (closer but less amenities). Highly recommended dive site.

Yongala Dive

Plenty of choice of day trips (can be crowded boats) overnight and live aboards out of Cairns. I always prefer Mike Ball Cairns Liveaboard Scuba Diving - Great Barrier Reef, Osprey Reef, Coral Sea.
They have a choice of awesome 3,4 or 5 night liveaboard trips. (current itineraries affected by pandemic restrictions)

You're right though. Australia is big. Plenty of visitors think they'll just flit between dive locations without realising the distances involved. I would recommend you to concentrate on only one or two areas otherwise you'll spend much of your trip in transit.

Queensland is best! (biased opinion).

 

[clownfishsydney]

I have dived Lady Musgrave Island quite a few times, nice but not somewhere I would want to dive as an overseas visitor wanting GBR experience. Heron Island is far better, but as you stated, need to stay there. I have not dived Lady Elliott. As others have said, SS Yongala is brilliant and one of the best dives in the world.

 

[jacqie]

if your going to hervey bay then theres 2 must dives - the HMAS tobruk is a great purpose sunk wreck with fantastic fish life and Wolf Rock - grey nurse shark breeding ground - its a bit of a ride out but worth the effort and of course theres whale watching - also hmas brisbane off the holiday resort area of Mooloolaba is a good dive all 3 dives sites are reasonably close to each other

beqa lagoon is very contrived

The GBR is better the further north you go

Dive the Tobruk » Hervey Bay Dive Centre

Dive Sites | Wolf Rock Dive

Thanks! This is very helpful. I'm aware on that Beqa dive but husband very much wants to do it.

 

[jacqie]

Hi jacqie

I live in South Australia (SA). With respect to Kangaroo Island (known here as KI), while there are some nice dive sites on its coastline, I would not recommend it as a dive location for two reasons. Firstly, there are no diving-related services on KI apart from a cylinder-filling station at the hardware store in the main town of Kingscote. You may see reference online to a dive shop located in Kingscote but this has been closed about four years ago. You will need to organise everything yourself if you want to dive on the KI coastline. Secondly, the main mode of travel to and from KI is a ferry which is expensive, and you will need a motor vehicle get about. You can fly to KI, but you will still need a motor vehicle. If you search for "Kangaroo Island" on this website, you will find some more information.

August is a winter month in the Southern hemisphere which means diving activities in SA are limited by colder water and stronger winds. Based on the content of your post, I would suggest the following. Day trips to either Edithburgh and Rapid Bay which can be arranged with a number of Adelaide-based dive shops and independent instructors. Also, there are three white shark cage diving operations departing from Port Lincoln.

I probably wasn't clear here- we aren't looking to dive in SA- just want to check out some of the natural beauty there.

 

[jacqie]

What's the opinion on Flinders Reef? It looks really convenient to Brisbane and I wonder if we could find a place to stay that could be a jumping off point for both Flinders and Wolf Rock (saw some really cool video on that once I went looking). I've heard that Yongala is just amazing. I am guessing that we'd have to shift up to Townsville or the vicinity to dive it? I think we do want to check out Hervey Bay/Tobruk and maybe either Lady Musgrave or Heron Island for one dive base, and then it's a choice between being more convenient to Brisbane (Wolf Rock, Flinders) or going further north for a base to dive Yongala and vicinity. Always assuming that the things I mentioned above really are close enough together to do together. We're from Colorado in the mountain West so we're used to driving two or three hours to get anywhere, but more than that starts to become inconvenient.

 

[JohnN]

Consider going North. Volivoli and Wana

Hi! First time poster here. Husband and I are planning a trip to Australia next August. We're going to do a US flight, stop over in Fiji for just a couple of days and may do a dive or two there but unfortunately we won't be able to get off the main island in the time we have, so probably shark dive in Beqa and maybe one other dive.

I'm interested in swimming with whales in Australia and am narrowing in on Hervey Bay Dive Center as a good possibility. We're also interested in doing some diving. We've never been to Australia before and want to do some diving, but aren't sure about distances. From Hervey Bay or the vicinity, is it possible to get to the southern GBR either by liveaboard or day trip dive? I've read a bit about Lady Elliott and Heron Island, but it seems like you have to stay on those islands to be able to dive them? Is there another good option, or do we need to head further north to Cairns and take a liveaboard from there?

Ningaloo also looks neat, but it's obviously all the way on the other side of the country and we are focusing on Queensland (for diving and whale swim), South Australia (Kangaroo Island) and Victoria (Great Ocean Road). There's always more that we want to do than time to do it!

Thanks for any suggestions. I've lurked on the boards for a while but haven't yet posted- I've gotten a lot of help from here!

Consider going to the North end of the big island. Volivoli and Wananau both offer trips to the Bligh (as in Mutiny on the Bounty) Straits. I've dived with Wananu and they are a first-rate operation, and have heard equally good things about Volivoli. To say the Bligh straits are spectacular doesn't begin to capture how amazing they are. The only downside is that trips there are weather dependent. The alternate sites are quite good, they just can't compare.

 

[jacqie]

Consider going North. Volivoli and Wana

Consider going to the North end of the big island. Volivoli and Wananau both offer trips to the Bligh (as in Mutiny on the Bounty) Straits. I've dived with Wananu and they are a first-rate operation, and have heard equally good things about Volivoli. To say the Bligh straits are spectacular doesn't begin to capture how amazing they are. The only downside is that trips there are weather dependent. The alternate sites are quite good, they just can't compare.

We have more time than I thought on Fiji! We will absolutely go up north now. I think I saw that there was a big trip of members a few years ago that traveled there, to Volivoli I think.