OP
Turned out that we didn't use Silverswift at all. Given the almost ideal weather on the Great Barrier Reef (lots of wind and rain) 
we decided to go out on Calypso Reef Charters. According to Andrew Jones, that was the best boat available for the current weather.
Since the Calypso operates out of Port Douglas, we had to get a transfer from Cairns. Upon arrival we had to fill out the obligatory waiver. Some things were standard like being back on board with 50 bar, others I hadn't seen before in a waiver, like staying above 10 minutes of the NDL.
All tanks are aluminium, the size you get is dependent on your size. Skins are standard, warmer exposure suits are available too. Anti sea sickness medication and bio-degradable barf bags were handed out like candy.
The crew set up your gear, all you needed to do was check whether it was working properly (which it was).
The crew also gave a thorough boat/dive safety briefing, reiterating several items (like lost buddy procedure, max. depth and times) already mentioned in the waiver.
Dive sites:
[/rant]A photographer was present on the dive deck as well as during the the dive, doing a very good job. 
Some pix:
Glad to finally be diving again.
Just another safety measure besides the standard headcount.
Lots of big clams on Opal reef.
More pictures can be found here: ScubaBoard Gallery - Australia - March 2008.
we decided to go out on Calypso Reef Charters. According to Andrew Jones, that was the best boat available for the current weather.
Since the Calypso operates out of Port Douglas, we had to get a transfer from Cairns. Upon arrival we had to fill out the obligatory waiver. Some things were standard like being back on board with 50 bar, others I hadn't seen before in a waiver, like staying above 10 minutes of the NDL.
All tanks are aluminium, the size you get is dependent on your size. Skins are standard, warmer exposure suits are available too. Anti sea sickness medication and bio-degradable barf bags were handed out like candy.
The crew set up your gear, all you needed to do was check whether it was working properly (which it was).
The crew also gave a thorough boat/dive safety briefing, reiterating several items (like lost buddy procedure, max. depth and times) already mentioned in the waiver.
Dive sites:
- Opal reef - The Witch;
- Opal reef - Blue Boy;
- Opal reef - Bash Bomby.
- No dive site briefing;
- The BCD didn't have a rear dump valve, just the standard inflator. Very irritating if you don't want to go vertical to dump some air.
[/rant]A photographer was present on the dive deck as well as during the the dive, doing a very good job. Some pix:
Glad to finally be diving again.
Just another safety measure besides the standard headcount.
Lots of big clams on Opal reef.
More pictures can be found here: ScubaBoard Gallery - Australia - March 2008.
