Cod Hole Liveaboard Choice

[marcharry]

I have read the existing threads. Trying to decide whether to book Spirit of Freedom or Taka in march for 4 day/3 night. SOF is a fly-out - no big deal - we are there for the diving.

From those of you that are familiar with the different experiences - what do I get for the incremental $500/person (+30%) by booking the top tier SOF over the mid-tier Taka?

thanks

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

The main difference (apart from SOF being a little more luxurious vessel) is as you correctly mentioned the one way flight.

The advantage of this (and is also why Mike Ball offer the same thing) is less travel time between sites. This enables more time available for diving and less movement and motoring between sites.
Mike Ball offers open gate diving which means the boat stays on the dive sites for long times and you can basically dive for as long as you want whenever you want. SOF is similar but has set times for the dives, but enables longer times.

Because Taka has to sail more it gives less dive time. You can still get hour long dives on most sites, which is usually more than enough for one tank.

If you haven’t already looked at their itineraries, check out the pages on our site that also offers discounts on these trips, so it would be less than $500 difference. Be aware the prices for Taka go up on April 1st, and SOF goes up on July 1st this year.

Cairns Discount Dive Trips - Taka Diving - Australia
Cairns Discount Dive Trips - Spirit of Freedom - Diving Australia

Kevin
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Cairns Discount Dive Trips - Australia Diving - Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

 

[Codiak]

I really enjoyed Mike Ball's outfit last year. Addtionally, they accept and train SDI's solo driver cert onboard.

 

[OnTheSpot]

We really enjoyed the food and the service on Spirit of Freedom

The staff were very professional too.

 

[MA]

Food much better, along with some wine for dinner. Warm dry towels after every dive. Food. Sunlounges for snoozing in between dives. As well as the flight being quicker, its also a pretty amazing view of the reef - i know you're there to dive but seeing it from above gives some perspective. I found SOF more organised, always up early to get diving asap. Always had 5 dives a day. Taka i found it was 3-4. There are both good, but i will always pay the extra to go on SOF if its available. Enjoy!