GBR cheap

[Ruoska]

...but the whole point of this post is that he is looking for a budget trip.

And that is why I brought up the volunteering. I too was traveling on a tight budget, and the volunteering was absolutely the best way to get some really good diving done for the least amount of money possible.

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.

At least they still have info on it on their web site. And I did not have to wait that long, and they actually were quite helpfull and flexible.

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.

That is exactly my background - allthough 5m viz would be considered fantastic here. I had always dreamed of diving the GBR, and had seen countles pics and vids of the amazing marine environment, so my expectations were quite high - and thats why I was so disappointed. Everyone shoud dive the GBR once in their life, but all I'm saying that it really may not be what is expected.

The reefs close to Cairns were full of dead coral, and there were no big fish or huge schools. The only sharks I saw were whitetips, and the occasional turtles were so familiar with people that thy ate out of peoples hands. The viz was "crap". You can't blame it on the time of the year, since everything was so much better on my liveaboard trip: – viz was easily 40 meters, I saw a Minke whale underwater, Tuna and barracuda schools, dozens of sharks (whitetip, grey, hammerheads, wobbegongs, a whaler of some sort as far as I remember), mantas and so much more.

The day boats and one of the liveabords were dumping their waste on the Cairns reefs.

And I was on a dive site with two other day boats at the same time, and I'm quite sure that when we left, there were other three boats coming in for the afternoon dives. So 100-200 divers a day is not far from the truth.

I think that the reason for Cairns being the centre of diving the GBR is only due the fact, that the GBR is so close to Cairns, and Cairns is fairly accessible.

Diverdriver1: Check out the Mike Ball website for info on the volunteering. You need to have a work permit, but I was there with a student visa and got the work permit pretty easily. And they never asked for it. There might be other operators offering volunteer work as well, but I dont know about them.

I did the domestic volunteering which included chopping veggies, cleaning the cabins and serving food. I got to do three or four dive a day (only one Night dive though), if your a DM you can do dive deck duties and get to dive even more I think.

A lot of fun!

 

[diverdriver1]

Awesome! That looks perfect for me! I'll have to apply for it. Thanks for the info!

 

[Ruoska]

Awesome! That looks perfect for me! I'll have to apply for it. Thanks for the info!

Go for it!

I edited my previois post and added something.

 

[Ruoska]

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.

This is good advice.

I was studying in the University of Tasmania, and they had a really active dive club. We would go out to dive almost every weekend, hunting for lobsters, scallops and abalone (the best thing I have ever eaten, oh! how I miss the abalone!) – or just dive. It was very cheap, and they had kit for hire for a reasonable price. If it wasn't for the uni dive club, I couldn't have done so much diving in Tas as I did. And I made good friends as well!

As for the diving in OZ in general, I also dived quite a few times in the Sydney area as well (with commercial operators). I would rank the Ribbon Reefs / Coral sea diving as the best I did while in OZ, and the Cairns diving the worst. The temperate diving I did in Sydney and TAS (I consider the TAS winter temperatures of 12C temperate, not cold) was very good too – the seafood I got from TAS, the sea dragons, Macrocystis kelp forests, sometimes very clear waters (even clearer than Cairns) and what have you – fantastic!

So the suggestion to find some local diving is well worth looking into.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Yeah we have some awesome shore dives and amazing critters here

 

[bracko]

anyone got any suggestions on a serviced apartment on the cheap near the wharf?

restaurants are stupidly expensive up there, and I'm doing a few days of diving after my Mike Ball liveaboard.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Near the whaft is expensive. Few in town. Oasis resort (not the hotel Oasis). These ones at Cairns Discount Dive Trips - Accommodation - Hotels in Cairns but they are around $100 per night. Check out lastminute.com: hotels, holidays, flights, travel and entertainment at the last minute. or wotif.com as these places often have rooms for $85. Hard to get cheaper at moment as its peak season so they bump prices up a bit.

Couple good mega hostels like Gilligans and Global Palace that are a few blocks from the water front and have a range of rooms.

Good luck

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

 

[bracko]

$100 - $160 is fine... I'd prefer to pay more for self contained (or even a microwave and a half fridge) than $20 breakfast and $50 dinner.

cheers...

p.s. gilligans is not on my list... reports of bed bugs and noise i am young, but I'm not that young!