Reef Encounter Liveaboard

[Davetulloch]

Hi, I've been reading the forums about liveaboards out of Cairns, and seen various comments / recommendations for various operators, but nothing about Reef Encounter. I am interested in going with Reef Encounter as their TripAdvisor ratings are really high. Does anyone have any views on this operator?

Also, I am not going to be able to get to the Ribbon Reefs / Coral Sea, etc as the liveaboards are full. Do any of the bog-standard liveaboards (ie ones that go to the standard outer reef locations like Thetford / Norman / Milne / Flynn) go to a particular location/reef that is better than what the others offer, in terms of spectacular coral / colours / fish numbers?

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Reef Encounter is a pretty well respected trip but the boat rather old. However that does not distract from the good dive sites.

The others to consider can be found here but Ocean Quest is probably the highest class accommodation and apres dive area with good selection of sites.

Scubapro differs slightly as it goes out and returns after 3 days with the same passengers rather then using transfer vessels out and back every day.

Kangaroo Explorer is the budget option with one less dove.

I would say Reef Encounter, OQ or Scubapro and you cant go wrong. All have unique sites and all very similar.