GReat Barrier Reef Liveaboard Recommendations

[Firediver]

Hi All..

I am looking on planning a trip with a group of 10-15 divers for 2007... I am doing alittle research now. I am wonderinf what Liveaboard company would be recommended for diving the great barrier reef, coral reef, ribbon reef, cod hole.. etc.. Mostly looking to dive the great barrier. Would be looking for air and nitrox fills.. whether nitrox is available on board or could get at a stop over?? All your help would be greatly appreciated.

Marjorie

 

[Darnold9999]

I would poke around the DiveOZ site. I found it to be a great resource planning my trip.

http://www.diveoz.com.au/

Taka is supposed to be the best, but they were full when I was there so I booked Mike Ball. The boat is a bit old, but had a great trip and was very comfortable. The crew was excellent, the food good, the diving was spectacular. Have heard that the Coral Sea trip is better and would like to get back. Did the Cod Hole trip, which is a 4 night fly dive trip. Fly to Lizard Island and dive on the way back to Cairns, Nitrox on board do not know what they fill as I was on air.

 

[Firediver]

Thank you.. I have been looking at TAKA..

 

[Vagabonding]

I really enjoyed volunteering on the dive deck of Mike Ball's Coral Sea trip. The divers were mostly Americans and Japanese. Deck was run very smoothly and catered to both the well seasoned and relatively new diver.

Typical Aussie and NZ crew -- friendly and always out for a laugh, but very professional when it came to safety and getting everyone settled/attended too. I learned a lot from the group.

Diving was spectacular -- of course. They moved the boat often (at least 3x a day, depending on the area) so you weren't constantly diving the same reef/spot.

Food was great and from looking in on the cabins, they looked pretty standard/comfortable for a liveaboard.

I talked to someone who did a shorter liveaboard with Taka and they enjoyed that as well.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Darnold9999]

OK now I'm just jealous, would really like to do the Coral Sea trip, but looked into costs when I got back and my budget just will not handle it right now.

 

[caymaniac]

You might try and looking at a Quicksilver boat, "Diversity". We booked on-line through Pro-Dive. We were very happy with the boat and our trip. We went to the Coral Sea _ Osprey, and then in to Cod Hole and GBR then down to Steve's Bommie as well as other Ribbons reefs. 6 divers, 5 crew on the 70 foot cat. The Coral Sea was very calm.

 

[Fionab]

I would recommed Undersea Explorer from Port Douglas. I was on her in 2002 and had a fantastic time, it isn't your standard liveaboard as there is normally a Marine Biologist onboard doing some research. We did a shark and nautilus week and went out to Osprey reef for a shark attract. We did some shark identification but you didn't have to if you didn't want, after each dive you could join the crew checking the photos and the marine biologist would give little chats if you were interested.

Not the grandest boat but definitely well worth checking out for something different.

 

[slipslop]

i was aboard taka in march last year, we did the northern reefs, cod hole and osprey reef. great crew, new boat and the food was great too. its a 4 day 5 night trip (not 5 days as advertised). the diving was not as good as i had hoped but it was a week after a cyclone had gone through and the sea was a bit rough and the visdibility on some reefs was poor. i did enjoy the cod feed at cod hole and the shark feed at osprey.

 

[boulderjohn]

I had a great time on the Nimrod Explorer a couple of years ago.

 

[pigletfish]

I would only recommend the Nimrod Explorer if you are experienced, confident divers who are OK with having no guided dives. There is only 1 DM in the water on each dive (with 18 divers) and often you don't even see him while you're down there.

You don't say when you're going in 2007 -- we went out to Osprey Reef (via the Ribbon Reefs) in late March/early April last year and the conditions were pretty rough. Lots of current on the dives and the boat was rocking A LOT the entire week, so there was quite a bit of seasickness. I don't think we timed our trip for the best time of year, so just something else to keep in mind.

Have fun planning!