All, this is my first time posting. My husband and I are both certified, but inexperienced divers. We are headed to Cairns with our 1 year old and 3 year old (from Washington, DC, crazy, I know). We are looking for kid friendly boats where we can alternative diving while the other one watches the kids. We think day trips are best bc the livaboard seems hard with the two kids. Any advice? This might be our only trip to Australia for a long, long time so we want to maximize what we see. Thank you!
Cairns with two toddlers, looking for day trip dive recs...
- Thread starter LizDistrictofColumbia
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Most people in this situation would suggest one of the boats that go to a fixed pontoon. These boats tend to offer underwater viewing, a glass bottom boat etc. Reef Magic and Sunlovers from Cairns and I think the Silver series from Port Douglas are your options.
The huge downside is the fixed pontoons are what many of us call 'the cattle boats', lots of people and sadly lots of damage to the sites. Most cater primarily to snorkelers and discover scuba dives.
The trip to the reef is circa 90m. The transfer can be rough and I've seen many ill looking children on the back of the boats. Generally there are only two dives on a day tips and there are very few experienced divers on the trips. Instabuddy situations are not unexpected. Many dives will not be guided for certified divers. The focus does tend to be on day trips on the DSDs.
In short this is not going to be a way to maximise what you see. I suspect there may be some who disagree with me, but have you considered hiring a child minding service for the day? You and hubby could then do a smaller dive focused boat (Seastar from Cairns would be my suggestion or the Top Deck Experience with Reef Experience) and enjoy your dives and have a better experience. The large cattle boats are not the best way to experience the reef.
Your research will no doubt suggest Green Island - do not entertain this, it is not on the outer reef, the coral and fish have been impacted dramatically and everyone I've ever known who has visited has been very underwhelmed.
The huge downside is the fixed pontoons are what many of us call 'the cattle boats', lots of people and sadly lots of damage to the sites. Most cater primarily to snorkelers and discover scuba dives.
The trip to the reef is circa 90m. The transfer can be rough and I've seen many ill looking children on the back of the boats. Generally there are only two dives on a day tips and there are very few experienced divers on the trips. Instabuddy situations are not unexpected. Many dives will not be guided for certified divers. The focus does tend to be on day trips on the DSDs.
In short this is not going to be a way to maximise what you see. I suspect there may be some who disagree with me, but have you considered hiring a child minding service for the day? You and hubby could then do a smaller dive focused boat (Seastar from Cairns would be my suggestion or the Top Deck Experience with Reef Experience) and enjoy your dives and have a better experience. The large cattle boats are not the best way to experience the reef.
Your research will no doubt suggest Green Island - do not entertain this, it is not on the outer reef, the coral and fish have been impacted dramatically and everyone I've ever known who has visited has been very underwhelmed.
lermontov
Contributor
you probably find most of the big boats cater fro 30-40 divers at a time they offer 2 dives and you can get a 3rd for an extra fee ( about $30 if I remember correctly) they are pretty smooth and efficient and its not too bad - the diving is reasonable - not as good as other tropical destinations but worth a dive - if you have time to kill you can get last minute deals at reduced cost - but bear in mind if theres no places then you ll miss out - the staff are all pretty helpful I shouldnt imagine youd have too much difficulty hiring a minder just while you dive
Id recommend you do 2 days if youve come this far - then you might be able to stagger the dives between you both ie one person do 2 dives the other 1 then the next day swap around
drive to port douglas (nice spot to spend a few days)and get a boat from there the reef is more bleached south of port douglas
Similar threads
