Outer GBR from Cairns?

[rmholbrookjr]

I've got 3 days from March 8-11 at the end of a business trip, and have been looking at liveaboards out of Cairns, specifically OceanQuest. Just found out no Nitrox on boat, which in my experience usually means a boat tailored to beginners. Spent enough time already crawling around fished out reefs, and don't want to spend a couple thousand $ on a disappointing trip.

Any input on the "outer reef" trips that run out of Cairns would be great, and on the various operators. Doesn't look like I can get up to the Ribbons or Code hole on my itinerary, unfortunately - but still researching.

Thanks!

 

[bracko]

don't expect to be blown away by the day reef's. I've only been on Tusa which is a large boat and catered to mainly snorklers (but did take care of the divers that were there well) and offered nitrox if you pre booked from memory.

the day reef's are a bit of a let down. mostly new divers and DSD's go there and the reef damage is apparent. It's the only place in the world where I've been between dives and spotted a black tip while snorkelling, told the people around me there was a small friendly reef shark below and they all screamed and made a bee line for the boat.

If you're dive count is accurate I'm assuming you'll have travelled to some pretty fantastic reef structures. It's worth going for the day if you're in the area, but you are right in that the ribbon reef's and cod hole are the place to be, as well as osprey, obviously.

 

[rmholbrookjr]

thanks bracko - that's what I expected, still trying to find a way to get further north. been diving for almost 40 years and have been to fiji, hawaii, indo, caribbean, mexico, africa, med, and lots of california. seen amazing things but have not been to Aus. shame my travel partner/client only has three days from Sat/Tues on this trip, and it would be bad biz for me to leave him out and stay longer.

 

[bracko]

If he likes drinking and hanging out with backpackers, then I dare say you can leave him in Cairns as long as you want

it's certainly not a waste of money to do it once, and the crew even on the mega snorkelling boat I was on did their best to keep the advanced divers happy, I've been on it twice and 2 of the dives they dropped us out a fair way off to another site for a nice 3 x pinnical dive back to the boat which wasn't appropriate for snorklers the tips of each of them were at about 5m.... that was a pretty good dive actually and quite typical of what you'll see up north. sharks, naudi's, triggers, angel fish, I think a frog fish from memory as well... so it's not as if the reef is dead, you just need to get away from the DSD sites.

 

[Damselfish]

I had the same situation, wedging diving onto the end of a business trip and lots of trouble lining up the schedules (needing to get back home fairly soon for yet another business trip...) But we were at least able to get up to Cod Hole and the more northerly ribbon reefs for a few days on a liveaboard. That liveaboard finished up in the "Outer Reef" area. There was a huge difference and I was pretty unimpressed with those last dives, and with your dive history you might be too. Cod Hole itself didn't really do much for me either. So yeah, definitely worth continuing to try and work things so you can get to the better stuff. Is it worth whatever time/money to do the day boat areas, if you're there anyway? - I'm on the fence about that. At least you'll be diving, and probably you'll still see some good critters, but IMO you'll have dove the GBR in name only.

 

[mattoau]

Have a look at Blue dive. They offer short overnight trips out of Port Douglas, and cater for very small groups which should be better for your experience level than OQ.

 

[MA]

I've been thinking about options given your experience. Will you already be in cairns? Is that why you are targeting there?

if so, what could be more worthwhile is a long car trip down to ayr nt far past townsville and dive the yongala for two days. It's got to be one of the best dive sites in aust. Just note boats going out are weather dependent. I dived it recently again and aside from all the other amazing creatures I had a monster marble ray sit on my head.


if you're in another town there could be other better options than outer reefs. Eg there's another post here about someone organising a liveaboard out if Brisbane which I think is the same weekend.

otherwise if you are in cairns and don't want to he down to yongala do your best to get the northern ribbon reefs in. I personally wouldn't bother with the day trips or standard day trips out of cairns.

 

[bracko]

I've not dived out of Port Douglas but it might be worth sifting through some threads here to find people who have and see if there's a difference. Port Douglas is 1hr north and quite a pretty drive. Some operators may even have early morning buses out of Cairns.

 

[saholz]

Have a look at Blue dive. They offer short overnight trips out of Port Douglas, and cater for very small groups which should be better for your experience level than OQ.

I just came back from a two day overnight trip to the Reef with Blue Dive. Great people, comfortable boat (Reef Connections), and small groups. Also, really good food. I just posted a review on Trip Advisor here: Overnight trip on Reef Connections to the Barrier Reef - Review of Blue Dive Port Douglas - Day Boat Diving, Port Douglas, Australia - TripAdvisor

Note that Australia is very strict about medical histories and requires pre-dive physicals and a physician's clearance to dive if you have any medical history, conditions, or are taking meds.

 

[ccxx]

May I suggest Deep Sea Divers Den (ie OceanQuest) for your liveaboard? We booked for 3 days and
2 nights last month but were blown out by Cyclone Dylan. DSDD promptly refunded our money and their customer service is excellent and they DO offer Nitrox on OceanQuest (read the brochure on their website). If I ever get back to Cairns, they are the ones I'm diving with...no second thoughts.