Cairns or PD dive op recommendation?

[beninfl]

Hi,

I'm going to be in Cairns area in early April and was hoping for a OP recommendation. Specifically, I'm looking for:

1. Day trips without the cattle-boat feel (preferably a small speed boat?)
2. 1 night liveaboard to ribbon reef or cod hole

Also, if you have any recommended dive sites, that would be helpful as well.

Thanks!

 

[tracy_from_oz]

HI

For a day boat out of Cairns or Port I like the quicksilver swift series, some others dont. Dive & Snorkel Port Douglas and Cairns - Silver Series - Scuba Diving & Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef

To my knowledge there is no over night liveaboard to Cod Hole. Its a bit of a distance out. I think the shortest is 3 days with I believe Spirit of Freedom and thats flying one way.
I dont know an overnight to Ribbon Reefs either.
I think there is Taka and Prodive that do liveaboards from Cairns.

If you also do a search on the web site for Cairns, there should be answers there from past threads.

 

[bracko]

i don't believe there is an overnight to the cod hole....

Mike Ball and Spirit of Freedom fly you up to Lizard Island and you boat back down over 3 days. they are your best bet to see the cod hole.

the silver swifts are quite big boats aren't they? and they're a bit more than most... I usually dive with Tusa5 if i go for day trips, I'd love to know if there is a small (reasonably priced) fast day boat that only caters for divers!! ... yes it's a big boat but they're well organised and they make sure the divers are organised before the peasants (snorkelers) people are allowed near the dive deck

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Bracko is right there is not a 1 night trip to teh Ribbon Reefs because they are to far away. 3 nights is minimum.

Plenty of good 1 or 2 night over night trips out of Cairns See here for a few ideas and also info on the Ribbon Reefs Cairns Live Aboard Over Night Dive Trips To The Outer Barrier Reef, Cod Hole And Coral Sea.

I also agree with Tracy_from_oz that teh Silver series from either palce are very good. also out of Cairns look at Tusa dive as they are running 3 dives for the price of 2. Below is link to both Cairns and Port Douglas day trips.

Cairns Day Diving Trips to the Great Barrier Reef


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cairns Discount Dive And Snorkel Trips. Live Aboard And Day Trips To The Great Barrier Reef

 

[pjones]

I just came back from Cairns about 2 weeks ago. I went out with Prodive but wasn't too impressed with their lack of professionalism from their staff or the looks of their reefs. The visibility was about 15-20 feet but that was shortly after the storm hit (within a few days). Still got to see plenty of fish, turtles, sharks, etc.. But it looked like a fair amount of damage had been done to their reefs. They do a fair amount of training from their boats so I can imagine they have a lot of new divers crashing about. On the morning of day 2 they awoken us just as we were starting to moving to another site when all of a sudden the boat came to a grinding halt. We had hit the reef... The boat crew were in the water checking for damage but they made no mention of the results (or even the incident) to us guests on board as if they thought we wouldn't have noticed the metal haul of the ship grinding to a halt on the great barrier reef or the feeling of suddenly being pushed to the front of the boat. They just seemed to pretend it never happened. So all in all I would suggest another company before suggesting Prodive to anyone but to be fair they do have many other crew there and other boat captains so your experiences may differ (on the boat) from mine but I doubt the quality of their reefs will change.

I went out on the Aristocat from Port Douglas (one hours drive north from Cairns) a couple days later and had much better dive sites, professional staff and the vis was better too. We went out for a day trip with them to the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs (3 dives at 3 different sites). The boat got us out there in slightly over an hour and was a VERY smooth ride. They are primarily a snorkelling boat but they get the divers off the boat before the snorkelers get on deck so they aren't buzzing around us while we get our gear in order. We found out after that they provide guided dives only but this turned out to be for the best as the reef was in much better condition. The guide was a blast, he asked what we wanted to see and made sure he took us to spots that included those items and was sure to be pointing them out as we went along at a leisurely pace. It was really a lot more relaxed than then I thought a guided dive would be and I got a lot closer to the large fish than I would have since I'm not too familiar with what will eat me in those waters

Oh, Aristocat managed to avoid all the reefs out there too so we weren't left wondering if we should be getting our life jackets on or not... Thats got to count for something

Aristocat

 

[Erwindebruijn]

Port Douglas is quite a good spot to stay at if you wanna dive around there, personally I considered it a better place then Cairns. From Port Douglas you can go diving with Aristocat which is a dive operator I can really recommend! The service was fabulous, their employees are all really friendly, they know the reef really well and nothign was damaged when I was there about a month ago. There's not much I can add to the above story of Pjones about Aristocat, except for the lunch they served. 1 word: Wow!
Make sure to check them out

-Erwin

 

[bracko]

the two towns are different and cater for different styles of tourists.

Cairns is more for singles, younger people and people who like to go and have a few drinks. it's bigger and there are more restaurant choices. there is no beach at cairns, you need to drive (or probably there is a bus) about 15min to the northern beaches.

PD is much smaller, quieter, and there are only 2 or 3 pubs and maybe 15 restaurant choices (someone else to confirm the eatery numbers?) there are less operator boats going out as well (not sure if that's a good or bad thing?!?!) you will hate PD if you are a group of guys and/or girls who are up there for a few days and want to go out to dinner then have a few drinks and a dance. that option just isn't really there. however there is a few things to do out of the town as well.