Day Diving the GBR

[dolphin adventures]

Hi: I have to agree that the best diving is by liveaboard. There is a really great liveaboard that takes snorkelers also and is only 2 nights/3 days. It's a great new boat so it's pretty stable and you get in some great dives. It leaves from Cairns...so you can stay a couple of days in Cairns before or after, visit the rainforest, see some crocs, go white water rafting, go to Kuranda etc. Or there is a small cruise ship that does the outer reef and offers diving for divers while non-divers have great other activies to do in total comfort. It visits Lizard Island, (which is beautiful), and other great islands. I have done both of these. Email me and I can give you some more information and rates if you want. THanks, Mary Jane

I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to Australia in Apr / May 2006, and I want to get in at least a weeks worth of diving on the GBR.

What is the best location to base ourselves out of for day diving? I'd love to do a liveaboard, but I'll be travelling with my GF, who while making great strides snorkeling, really doesn't have the sea legs for it yet.

From my inititial research, it looked like Cairns was the best bet, but I've seen a post or two here that suggests the day diving isn't that good - which may well mean that it isn't that good compared to the liveaboard diving, but in the overall scope of things, it's still pretty terrific.

Thanks for your input.

D

 

[Roz Amos]

I second the recommendation about the Yongala and Townsville - don't think of it as a wreck, think of it as an artificial reef - there are ship features there but is much more about the marine life - is one of the best marine life dives I have ever done - everything sharkmasterbc said and more.

The reefs available as day trips out of Townsville seemed to me to be in much better condition than the ones out of Cairns. There is also a company - adrenaline dive I think - that does a 2 day 1 night trip - 6 dives - 4 reef, 2 Yongala - which will be much better value per dive than day trips, if you cannot spare more time for a liveaboard.