GBR cheap

[diverdriver1]

Hi all,

First post here! I'm a student from the US studying at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. I'm not out here to dive, but am certified and would like to take advantage of my opportunity out here and dive the GBR. I've done quite a few shore dives off La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores in San Diego, but that is the extent of my diving experience. As I am a student, I'm not particularly rich, so I can't spend much money.

I'm looking for the best place to go dive the GBR, that's close to Brisbane. I don't want to drop $240 AUD on the flight to Cairns alone - I was hoping I could take the train somewhere closer like Rockhampton, and then stay at a cheap motel for a couple days and do some days trips. Also, will have a girl with me who wants to snorkel. Any suggestions on how we can do this cheap? Ideally around $500 AUD for travel to/from, motel, food, and diving/snorkeling per person. Is that possible? I don't have any of my gear with me.

 

[WetPup]

While I'm not up on suggestions as to where to dive on the cheap (most day dive trips I've seen are around the $150-200 mark for a 2 tank dive though - so you might want to rethink your budget - or do some diving around Brisbane so you don't have the travel expenses)...I'll just point out that it's actually cheaper to fly than it is to catch the train in Queensland. I also went to university in Qld and from experience know that flights on Jetstar and Virgin Blue are cheaper than Queensland Rail.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

The further north you go the closer to the Barrier Reef you get and aguably better diving. You can get cheaper flights to Cairns than $240. Look out for specials. Jetstar and Virgin often run $99 one way flights. Trains are more expensive, like Wetpup says - about $360 one way!

Busses are cheaper, or look at hostels to share fuel costs with other travellers going north.

To stay cheap use hostels. Plenty of them everywhere and very cheap.

If you do get up to Cairns we offfer discounts on the trips up here and there are plenty of good deals like 3 dives for the price of 2 etc, but it is around the $120 mark due to running boat costs. The only way to dive cheaper is to do shore dives (not available in Cairns). We also have a Facebook page which we use as a posting board for al last minute specials and deals going on, as well as Reef Repots so maybe check that out (do a search for Aquapro Dive Services if the link below doesnt work)

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Brisbane has some great diving and am sure there will be plenty of posts here advising some good spots. Go bit further north to the Sunshine Coast and dive the weck of the HMAS Brisbane etc

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

 

[bowlofpetunias]

There is some decent diving on the Solitary Islands as well... you may even see Mantas and turtles.. certainly lots of Anenomie fish at Anenomie Bay.. you can dive the Solitaries from Mullaway or from Coff's Harbour. Not sure of the stuff further north.. good luck finding what you are looking for..lots of great diving in the regions around you there.

 

[diverdriver1]

OK, looks like between the traveling and lodging and food costs that GBR is probably too expensive right now. I'll probably hit it in December before I leave if I have some money still, might do a little work between now and then to help make that happen.

In the meantime, any suggestions for the best local diving? No car, so ideally something I can get to easily on citytrain and a bus to keep costs down.

 

[Ruoska]

No comments on your Local diving, but I have to say that the day-trip diving out of Cairns is, well, crap. When I was there in 2006 I did several day trips from Cairns with different operators, and was really dissappointed. The dive sites are visited daily by 100-200 divers, so you can imagine the condition the reefs are in.

I then spent two weeks as a volunteer on the Spoilsport (Mike Ball liveaboard) that goes out to the coral sea for a week at a time, and man what a difference!

So I would skip all the day trips out of Cairns, and either save a lot of money, or do the volunteering thing in order to get some really good diving.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Live aboard trips are defiantly the way to go and those visiting the Coral Sea and Ribbon Reefs are the best, but the whole point of this post is that he is looking for a budget trip.

Volunteer work on the boats is usually a very long (month or more) wait, as every man and his dog try to go out. Mike Ball (as far as I know) haven’t had volunteer crew for ages.

As for the day trips put of Cairns being crap, well that’s just not true. Firstly it depends on what you are comparing it to.

If you are used to diving quarries or 5m viz beaches then all the sites here are fantastic. There are some sites that are not that great, but there are also some day trips that visit excellent sites. I would say Tusa or Silverswift have great sites.

Each operator has there own moorings and as for 100 -200 divers on a single site a day that’s just rubbish. There are some day trip operators that have pontoons out there e.g. Great Adventures, Reef Magic and Sunlover, that do have large numbers of guests going out, but the majority are not divers.

Also research by the James Cook University proved divers cause less than 2% of damage to the Reef.

For the last 20 years I have lived and worked here so know what I am talking about. Diverdriver1 -just look at past posts on this forum and make up your own mind. Everyone is free to offer an opinion, but remember it’s only an opinion. If all the diving off of Cairns as crap then why is it the centre of diving to the GBR? There are plenty of good dive sites and operators out there so do a bit of research, read this forum and ask loads of questions.

I also totally agree with bowlofpetunias. Coffs Harbour is great and I am sure if you ask as few of the local dive centres wherever you are, you will get a feel for what’s available.

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

 

[diverdriver1]

Whats the deal with volunteering? I hadn't heard about that. I finish school Nov. 20 and am here until Dec 15, so that sounds like it might be a possibility. I don't mind doing some work to get to see the cool stuff!

Oh and as I mentioned, I've only dove in San Diego. As mentioned, 5m visibility and no surge and not freezing your ass off in a 7mm is a damn good day. Not a hell of a lot to see, either. So I'm sure that anything will be cool for me to dive.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Oh and as I mentioned, I've only dove in San Diego. As mentioned, 5m visibility and no surge and not freezing your ass off in a 7mm is a damn good day. Not a hell of a lot to see, either. So I'm sure that anything will be cool for me to dive.

I enjoyed the dive at LaJolla Shores but I know what you mean surge but I found the sea pansies interesting!

I think you will find pretty well any dive you do in your region worth while with lots of life in comparison to what you have seen. I suggest you pop in to a local dive shop and chat with the people to see what is available. They will probably have some decent pics to show you at the shop. You may get to do some decent local dives and still save to get closer to the GBR.

IMHO people sometimes miss out on great local diving thinking the grass is so much greener. Save up, do what you can.. the GBR is something every diver should experience at least once in their lives but don't miss the local stuff.. be prepared to be amazed!

Sometimes hard to find buddies so you may find one through the dive shop who is willing to help with transport

 

[WetPup]

Actually, since you're a uni student...Have you tried checking out whether there's a student union affiliated dive club on campus? When I was at uni there was a very active student dive club with regular trips. Admittedly I wasn't at UQ, but there was a dive club where I did undergrad and one where I went to grad school, so I'd be surprised if there wasn't one at UQ.