Taka ribbon reef liveaboard?

[stspang]

I am planning a trip to Cairns in late March and see that there is now a ribbon reef liveaboard trip being offered aboard the Taka. Per the website at Divers Den the trip leaves early Thursday morning and returns Sunday. Looks like you get two days on the outer reefs and two days on the ribbon reefs. Cost appears reasonable. More than the outer reef trips, but much less than SoF and Mike Ball. Any thoughts on the operator or the boat? Anyone ever done a liveaboard on the Taka before?

 

[Damselfish]

We were on a 3 or 4 night trip on Taka in 2008 when they were doing pretty much this, before they started sitting on the "outer reef." The Ribbon Reefs were much better diving than the outer reefs. I would have much preferred SoF but we couldn't get on it or make the schedule work at the time. Taka was well maintained and competent but that's about all I could say for it. The crew other than the cruise director was kind of unfriendly, the food wasn't that great, and there was no service to speak of like you usually experience on more expensive liveaboards. (While service is nice I can live without it, but I wasn't happy about the food and atmosphere.) The itinerary had us incredibly rushed packing up our still wet gear in time to get kicked off the boat - they turned the boat around quickly. Maybe the food and atmosphere is different now, or not. But it's still not much time on the good reefs, and I suspect it will still be rushed. (I'm unclear if this is just the same boat running this itinerary sometimes, or a completely different boat?)

Stuff in Australia tends to be expensive but everything is still relative, you generally get what you pay for. If possible I'd book a longer better trip. If it was all I could spend or schedule, I'm not sure if I would do it or not. I probably wouldn't do it again.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

This is a different trip. Taka used to do full Cod Hole trips but motor up and back so were cheaper than Mike Ball and Spirit who flew one way. Flying means more time and less rush, but I think this alternative means limiting the travel to the schedule is much more manageable.

Same boat but it is not going as far up as Cod Hole. Just to Steve’s Bommie or around there, so you still get the better diving. Better than the Outer Ref stuff. Its a budget version, so if you find MB and SOF too costly it’s a great alternative.

You get what you pay for and it is cheaper option, but still very, very good alternative to the other 2 and gets booked fast.



See here for a few details as well

 

[bracko]

Stuff in Australia tends to be expensive but everything is still relative, you generally get what you pay for. If possible I'd book a longer better trip. If it was all I could spend or schedule, I'm not sure if I would do it or not. I probably wouldn't do it again.

A lot of Australians (me included, now) do not dive much in Australia because of the cost. adding up a 10 day holiday in Malaysia (Sipadan) compared to the same time in Australia I paid half the price to fly to one of the worlds best diving sites, ditto for Komodo.

 

[Damselfish]

A lot of Australians (me included, now) do not dive much in Australia because of the cost. adding up a 10 day holiday in Malaysia (Sipadan) compared to the same time in Australia I paid half the price to fly to one of the worlds best diving sites, ditto for Komodo.

relative within the same country/region, of course.

(My husband happened to be there on business anyway but yeah, it might have been cheaper to do a separate dive trip someplace better even without his plane ticket being paid for.)