Marriard
Contributor
Ok, very, very quick report since it is 1am here 
Myself and Squishy did two 3-4 day liveaboards in Australia and boy did we get some contrast...
Firstly, the ProDive boat out of Townsville would need 4 months of repair work just to make it a piece of s**t. Fortunetly we can put up with almost anything if the diving is good - and the diving IS good. The Yongala was once again everything it has always been....
We saw one of these - Shovelnose Ray, Giant Guitrafish, Shark Ray - whatever you want to call it, we saw it
The reefs out beyond Townsville are in excellent shape and unfortunately if you want to dive them ProDive is your only choice. They are now the only liveaboard in the area (MikeBall is gone) and this is the only current way to get to these outer reefs. For us it was worth putting up with the boat for the diving, but certainly not for everyone.
Details of the horrors on the boat to be provided at a later date... Needless to say massively unstable, sea sick people everywhere, minimal facilities, air conditioning issues and water everywhere is just a start....
After escaping from Townsville's Pro Dive we drove up to Cairns, to get on the Taka Liveaboard for a trip out to the standard liveaboard Cairns reefs (so places like Cod Hole, Steve's Bommie, etc). This diving was not quite as good as the Townsville diving, but was still very, very good.
The Taka boat was awesome. At only 2 1/2 years old, this was like a 5-star hotel and a massive contrast to the other boat. Full details again later, but the biggest saloon/lounge area I have ever seen in a liveaboard, fantastic dive deck, great food, very comfortable and roomy... And extremely stable. The boat rocked for about 20 seconds once during the whole trip - that was about it. Highly, highly recommended and probably the best designed liveaboard in the world today.
It was a great time! 21 dives and lots of cool stuff. I haven't looked at many images closely yet (only the Yongala ones), but looks like some real winners in this batch....
Enjoy,
M
Myself and Squishy did two 3-4 day liveaboards in Australia and boy did we get some contrast...
Firstly, the ProDive boat out of Townsville would need 4 months of repair work just to make it a piece of s**t. Fortunetly we can put up with almost anything if the diving is good - and the diving IS good. The Yongala was once again everything it has always been....
We saw one of these - Shovelnose Ray, Giant Guitrafish, Shark Ray - whatever you want to call it, we saw it
The reefs out beyond Townsville are in excellent shape and unfortunately if you want to dive them ProDive is your only choice. They are now the only liveaboard in the area (MikeBall is gone) and this is the only current way to get to these outer reefs. For us it was worth putting up with the boat for the diving, but certainly not for everyone.
Details of the horrors on the boat to be provided at a later date... Needless to say massively unstable, sea sick people everywhere, minimal facilities, air conditioning issues and water everywhere is just a start....
After escaping from Townsville's Pro Dive we drove up to Cairns, to get on the Taka Liveaboard for a trip out to the standard liveaboard Cairns reefs (so places like Cod Hole, Steve's Bommie, etc). This diving was not quite as good as the Townsville diving, but was still very, very good.
The Taka boat was awesome. At only 2 1/2 years old, this was like a 5-star hotel and a massive contrast to the other boat. Full details again later, but the biggest saloon/lounge area I have ever seen in a liveaboard, fantastic dive deck, great food, very comfortable and roomy... And extremely stable. The boat rocked for about 20 seconds once during the whole trip - that was about it. Highly, highly recommended and probably the best designed liveaboard in the world today.
It was a great time! 21 dives and lots of cool stuff. I haven't looked at many images closely yet (only the Yongala ones), but looks like some real winners in this batch....
Enjoy,
M
