GBR liveaboard recommendations for intermediate diver

[Frostafarian]

I wouldn't get hung up on "challenging" dives, or avoiding "beginner" dives (and divers.) Or even on diving the GBR. Concentrate on where the diving will be the best considering what you like to see, and your time constraints. It's worth investigating the ideas suggested by clownfishsydney, though it's not going to be especially warm water then.

Thanks, that makes sense and perhaps I am getting a little too hung up on classifications. I think after I worked myself up towards doing a Spirit of Freedom trip but then realized I couldn't make it work I started to worry too much about the levels.

Do you have any feedback on which of the two trip plans (short liveaboard out of Cairns/Port Douglas vs. road trip from Brisbane to Sydney) would provide the best diving during the end of September? Given that I have only had ~25 dives, I am probably still in that honeymoon phase where everything is cool. I can't say I have ever really had a bad dive before! But I do of course really enjoy seeing megafauna, any new species, and interesting coral formations

 

[MA]

I'll throw something else in, drive down to Byron and south west rocks. Or over to stradbroke island.

 

[WetPup]

I lived in Townsville. The Yongala can be a difficult dive. Generally it is not. A moderate to strong current is ok. Then there are times it is so strong it can rip you off the bow line when you're descending and you miss the wreck entirely. Generally it is pretty mild and you can swim up and down the wreck with minimal effort. You just have to be mindful that it isn't always so easy. The wreck is nearly an hour offshore in open seas at 28m depth. You do need to be comfortable at depth and in a current which may pick up mid-dive. Otherwise, Yongala is not that complicated as there is a strict no wreck penetration policy there.

 

[clownfishsydney]

For a diver with only 25 dives, the Yongala is, in my view, a too hard a dive for most divers of that experience level. If you think I do not know much about this, perhaps you should Google "Yongala" and "McFadyen". It has current more often than it does not from my experience and that of many very experienced divers I know. It is also (relatively) deep at 27 metres (100 feet). The weather can also make the site undiveable due to its distance from shore and a safe starting point.

As to diving out of Cairns, unless you go on a liveaboard, you will not get the best dive sites. The places I have suggested as an alternative have coral, tropical fish, big sharks, manta rays and more. The cost of these dives would be at a minimum, half the cost of the Cairns or even the Yongala (the Yongala is worth it though). You also save on the almost two days it will take to travel to and from Cairns.

Anyway, hope you have a great time.

 

[Dragonsrock]

I have dived everything that has been suggested here and if it was me, I would spend some time around brisbane. You have the HMAS Brisbane a little North, it a fun wreck to dive. Stradbroke island is very cool, Flatrock has great options and has great vis most of the time. Tweed Heads has an awesome dive at 9 mile, and Cook Island is a great back up dive. Pete at Tweed Seasports will help you out. Byron Bay is a wonderful dive, I like Sundive, really nice folks, but Julian Rocks is great. All of these dives are within 2.5 hrs of the Gold Coast, also a fun place to be!

I'm sure you will have fun no matter what you do, but having dived Cairns, the Coral Sea and Ribbons recently, I would take the trip around Brisbane/ Gold Coast everyday of the week!

Have fun.