September Dive trip to Australia: Advice & recommendations appreciated!
- Thread starter GR8FUL
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Yeah Scuba Pro is a great boat. Them and Ocean Quest are the best deals out of Cairns for 2 or 3 day trips,and if you cant afford Cod Hole/coral Sea trips these 2 so go to the Outer Reef sites. Both boats offer around 11 dives for a 3 day 2 night trip which inclides 2 night dives.
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Discount dive travel to the Barrier Reef and Coral Sea - live aboard and day trips.
Cairns Discount Scuba Diving Trips - Great Barrier Reef
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Discount dive travel to the Barrier Reef and Coral Sea - live aboard and day trips.
Cairns Discount Scuba Diving Trips - Great Barrier Reef
fredaroony
Contributor
I booked Ocean Quest with you guys for a Christmas Time 3 day trip. Hopefully the weather will be good 
Nice one! You wont be discapojted and feel free to drop us a line if you need any hel at all on any aspect of you rvisit. Only too happy tohelp.
Kev
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Discount dive travel to the Barrier Reef and Coral Sea - live aboard and day trips.
Cairns Discount Scuba Diving Trips - Great Barrier Reef
Kev
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Discount dive travel to the Barrier Reef and Coral Sea - live aboard and day trips.
Cairns Discount Scuba Diving Trips - Great Barrier Reef
uw_gnome
Registered
Hi guys,
Just wanted to let you know the differences in the dive destinations we are talking about. When we talk about Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, Spirit of Freedom or Taka we are talking about trips to the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. Spirit of Freedom and Taka still do a couple of dives closer to Cairns, while Mike Ball Dive Expeditions do all their dives north of Cooktown.
The Ribbon Reefs are a lot further north, on the land there is more natural vegetation and much less agriculture. They are also really close to the edge of the continental shelf. The combined effect of less agricultural run-off and fresh water from the depths of the continental shelf mean that you have great visibility, great species diversity and great diving. These areas area also a lot less accessible for divers which means that they are not heavily trafficked by divers.
The diving around Cairns varies A LOT in quality. There is a lot of nice coral and fish, not comparable to the Ribbon Reefs but still very nice, but there are also some dive sites which are not that great. On some reefs you can go to one good dive site in the morning and end up at a not so nice one in the afternoon, simply because the prevailing tides, weather, etc. dictate that is where the boat goes, and the boats are restricted to sites where there area moorings as anchoring is a huge no, no (thankfully). After heavy rainfalls the sites closer to land (the cays, Green Island, Hastings) are the first to get affected as visibility drops. The sites further away are the last to get affected and get affected the least (Norman and Saxon to name a couple). Of course there are lots of other factors here!
Everyone's expectations are different. I have seen people come back from dives with hammerheads and manta rays and say 'really, I expected more', likewise I have seen divers come back having spent 30 minutes with a batfish jumping for joy and saying how 'amazing' it is.
If you want a chance of manta rays, hammerheads, pygmy seahorses and the likes then an Opsrey Reef trip in the cooler winter months is good. If Ghost pipefish and small critters are your thing then the Ribbon Reefs in April and May are great.
If you want 'great' all year round the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey are sensational. Ribbon Reefs for diversity and Osprey Reef for 'big' (big drop-off's, big visibility, big currents and therefore large pelagics, big soft tree corals, big sharks, big fan corals...you get the idea).
If you really have budget concerns and are simply happy to blow bubbles, see coral & fish and enjoying the experience of liveaboard diving, eating, diving and seeing then 2-3 days out of Cairns is for you...they can be a lot of fun. I have seen schools of grey whaler sharks, trevally and ghost pipefish here too...they are just rarer and the overall quality of the diving is down a little. The boats also tend to pack people in tighter or in larger quantities. But then boats don't always run full
Happy diving and have great travels.
Just wanted to let you know the differences in the dive destinations we are talking about. When we talk about Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, Spirit of Freedom or Taka we are talking about trips to the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. Spirit of Freedom and Taka still do a couple of dives closer to Cairns, while Mike Ball Dive Expeditions do all their dives north of Cooktown.
The Ribbon Reefs are a lot further north, on the land there is more natural vegetation and much less agriculture. They are also really close to the edge of the continental shelf. The combined effect of less agricultural run-off and fresh water from the depths of the continental shelf mean that you have great visibility, great species diversity and great diving. These areas area also a lot less accessible for divers which means that they are not heavily trafficked by divers.
The diving around Cairns varies A LOT in quality. There is a lot of nice coral and fish, not comparable to the Ribbon Reefs but still very nice, but there are also some dive sites which are not that great. On some reefs you can go to one good dive site in the morning and end up at a not so nice one in the afternoon, simply because the prevailing tides, weather, etc. dictate that is where the boat goes, and the boats are restricted to sites where there area moorings as anchoring is a huge no, no (thankfully). After heavy rainfalls the sites closer to land (the cays, Green Island, Hastings) are the first to get affected as visibility drops. The sites further away are the last to get affected and get affected the least (Norman and Saxon to name a couple). Of course there are lots of other factors here!
Everyone's expectations are different. I have seen people come back from dives with hammerheads and manta rays and say 'really, I expected more', likewise I have seen divers come back having spent 30 minutes with a batfish jumping for joy and saying how 'amazing' it is.
If you want a chance of manta rays, hammerheads, pygmy seahorses and the likes then an Opsrey Reef trip in the cooler winter months is good. If Ghost pipefish and small critters are your thing then the Ribbon Reefs in April and May are great.
If you want 'great' all year round the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey are sensational. Ribbon Reefs for diversity and Osprey Reef for 'big' (big drop-off's, big visibility, big currents and therefore large pelagics, big soft tree corals, big sharks, big fan corals...you get the idea).
If you really have budget concerns and are simply happy to blow bubbles, see coral & fish and enjoying the experience of liveaboard diving, eating, diving and seeing then 2-3 days out of Cairns is for you...they can be a lot of fun. I have seen schools of grey whaler sharks, trevally and ghost pipefish here too...they are just rarer and the overall quality of the diving is down a little. The boats also tend to pack people in tighter or in larger quantities. But then boats don't always run full
Happy diving and have great travels.
uw_gnome
Registered
P.S. I have to say my pick of the crop is Spoilsport, with Mike Ball Dive Expeditions. I was blown away on my first trip with them...
one last question for anyone who has been on the ScubaPro, I have all of my own dive gear with me in Fiji but i'm not sure i want to bring it with me to Oz since i am going to be in 3 different cities in Australia over a 10 day period and i will only be diving those 3 days on the ScubaPro so i guess my real question is how is the gear for hire on the boat? should i bring my own? is it worth the hassle? thanks for any and all advice, much appreciated.
_Tyler S.
_Tyler S.
All of the live aboards up here will provide you with gear. Scubapro is no exception. Just bring your mask, fins, and regs. Thats all I take. Even leave your fins if you dont want to carry them. They have full foot fins and booties on baord. 5mm wet suit are the go too.
All the gear is top quality and included in the price, so if you really want to travel light leave it al at home! I just like to take my own mask and regs for comfort.
Kev
Discount dive travel to the Barrier Reef and Coral Sea - live aboard and day trips.
http://www.aquaprodive.com/Cairns_diving_trips.html
All the gear is top quality and included in the price, so if you really want to travel light leave it al at home! I just like to take my own mask and regs for comfort.
Kev
Discount dive travel to the Barrier Reef and Coral Sea - live aboard and day trips.
http://www.aquaprodive.com/Cairns_diving_trips.html
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