GBR Liveaboard Trip from Cairns - which one to choose?

[Schenkeli]

Hi everyone, my girlfriend (PADI OW, 15 dives) and me (PADI AOW, 30 dives) are going on a trip to Australia from Europe and want to combine it with a liveaboard diving trip. We have never done a liveaboard trip before so our expectations are not super-high - but at the same time we might not be back to Australia for a long time so we would like to see the really best places. And from what I've heard that's Lizard Island (especially Cod Hole) and Osprey Reef (North Point for the Shark experience). So our main questions are:

- Is it enough to go to the Cairns outer reef (Flynn, Millen, Thetford, Pellowe Reefs) or should we spent the extra money and time to go to Osprey Reef or Lizard Island (Ribbon Reefs)?
- If we go for the longer and more expensive trip there are several options: a) Osprey Reef and Bougainville Reef, b) Osprey Reef and Lizard Island but without Cod Hole or c) Lizard Island with Cod Hole. My feeling b) would be best because most diverse (Osprey Reef has the huge walls and sharks while Lizard Island / Ribbon Reefs is different because it is not in the middle of the ocean). What do you think?

The different operators are:
- Spoilsport / Mike Balls or Spirit of Freedom who are doing the longer more expensive trips - everybody seems to love them.
- ProDive to the Outer Reef in front of Cairns, half the price for almost the same amount of dives.
- RumRunner seems to be a real budget boat - our requirements are not high but this one looks more like a crowded teeny sailing trip.

Of course the longer trip to the more unique dive spots (Osprey, Cod Hole ..) is better - but is it also worth the money and time for divers who haven't seen everything yet anyway? We just love diversity - we don't want to do 10 reef dives in 3 days that are all almost the same. Sharks, Cod Fish, Big walls - Osprey and Lizard Island just sound like more diversity.

Thanks for all your help and advice.
Thomas

 

[btscott]

I will be on Mike Ball next week. I've been on Spirit of Freedom. I can say you can't go wrong with SOF and feel the same will be true of MB. As far as ProDive, for me, I would pass. It doesn't get far enough out and hear you dive on reefs with a lot of coral bleaching. I've also been with Deep Sea Divers Den (got my OW with them 25 years ago and met my wife) a few times and would think it would compare to ProDive. Boat from Cairns drops you off at boat moored out on the reef. If you have 7days, do either SOF or MB which would cover Osprey, Bougainville, Cod Hole, Steve's Bommies, etc...

 

[Dan]

I went to Cod Hole with Spoilsport in November 2016. Not bad.

 

[Glenndini]

My personal recommendation would be a Mike Ball trip that includes Osprey reef. I'm doing the Far North Coral Sea Exploratory in a couple of weeks and can't wait to go back to Bougainville and Osprey. Of course the longer trips take in the outer reefs as well as the barrier (ribbon) reefs so there is that option. The outer reefs would be my choice.

 

[Schenkeli]

I will be on Mike Ball next week. I've been on Spirit of Freedom. I can say you can't go wrong with SOF and feel the same will be true of MB. As far as ProDive, for me, I would pass. It doesn't get far enough out and hear you dive on reefs with a lot of coral bleaching. I've also been with Deep Sea Divers Den (got my OW with them 25 years ago and met my wife) a few times and would think it would compare to ProDive. Boat from Cairns drops you off at boat moored out on the reef. If you have 7days, do either SOF or MB which would cover Osprey, Bougainville, Cod Hole, Steve's Bommies, etc...

Hi Scott, thanks for your reply.
The aspect of prodives not getting that far out (corel bleaching, less big fish) is exactly what is holding me back from simply doing the cheaper trip. Deep Sea Divers Den is more a floating fixed hotel, isn't it? I like the idea of a boat going from reef to reef a lot more. And the flight up to Lizard Island is a Pro as well

We would have enough time for 7 days - but again I'm wondering: does it bring that much more diversity compare to the 4 day trips only doing half the way? I guess they are doing the routes in purpose to not combine e.g. Osprey Reef and Cod Hole in the same 4 days so divers have an incentive to go for the whole 7 days so they can earn more.

The thing is also: it is our first time doing a liveaboard trip and we are used to 2 or 3 dives a day. So going full diving with 4 to 5 dives a day for 5 or 6 consecutive days could just be too much ...

Do you know if SOF or MB are more prune to getting sea sick? Is MB the better choice if that is an issue since their boat is wider?

Also I read that MB has some kind of fancy Australian barbecue the last night? I'm not really into touristic dinner and live music events .. is it very cheesy?

Thanks so much for all your replies!

 

[Schenkeli]

I went to Cod Hole with Spoilsport in November 2016. Not bad.

"not bad" is exactly what we are looking for ;-)

 

[Schenkeli]

My personal recommendation would be a Mike Ball trip that includes Osprey reef. I'm doing the Far North Coral Sea Exploratory in a couple of weeks and can't wait to go back to Bougainville and Osprey. Of course the longer trips take in the outer reefs as well as the barrier (ribbon) reefs so there is that option. The outer reefs would be my choice.

Hi Glenndini, thanks for your response.

Why would you advice to do Osprey and Bougainville compared to Osprey and Lizard island / Ribbon Reefs? are Osprey and Bourgainville not similar(both being really outside of the GBR in the middle of the ocean) meaning that the Osprey and Ribbon Reefs combination gives more diversity?

 

[Dan]

"not bad" is exactly what we are looking for ;-)

I enjoyed the last night barbecue dinner with life music.

Low flying over GBR from Cairns to Lizard island is a cool experience.

Diving wise, you would see some big fish like the potato cod & whitetip reef shark. However, I saw some of the coral bleaching & rubbles there, sadly.

They’ll provide you a DM to guide you for the first time for free. Afterward, you would need to hire a guide, which I highly recommend if you are a newbie & this is your first liveaboard trip.

 

[Schenkeli]

They’ll provide you a DM to guide you for the first time for free. Afterward, you would need to hire a guide, which I highly recommend if you are a newbie & this is your first liveaboard trip.

That's a good point, I never thought about this. Do you know if that is the case on all liveaboard boats (SOF, MB, prodive)?
My better half will do the AOW as part of the trip -so for the first few dives we should be save

 

[Angelo Farina]

I was there in 2007. I, my wife (both CMAS instructors) and our 2 sons, which were 12 and 17, and were just OW certified.
We were with Pro Dive Cairns, for obvious reasons of cost (being in 4 to pay...). 3 days, 2 nights overboard, 11 dives, and AOW certification for both our sons included.
The organization of Pro Dive is rock solid, and quite safe. The diving sites were not really amazing, of the 11 dives just 1 (the first one of third day) was really nice.
The night dive was also "interesting", but not for the location (same location as previous afternoon dive), but because during dinner they did throw in the sea a lot of food, hence under the boat, just outside the cone of light, there were more than 20 sharks circling around in search of food.
I was not really scared, but our sons had to do an orientation excercise swimming out of the light cone for 50m, turning lef 90° with the compass, swim other 50m, turn left again, and finally returning under the boat for the last side of the square. During this they entered the "shark area"...
It was my first experience with these dive boats, and I must confess that we prefer "our way" of diving: juts one dive per day, and then do snorkeling or just relaxing all the day: it is holidays, that 11-dives-in-60-hours is not for me.
But I understand that going to Australia is difficult and expensive, and one wants to get the most from the short time available.
If I ever will come back again to Cairns, I will probably go with a different organization, making a longer trip (possibly one week) with no more than 2 dives per day.
Or do something different, such as renting a 4x4 car, make the offroad path to Cooktown, which is really nice and exciting, and then make some same-day diving excursions from there being lodged at the only decent hotel in Cooktown, which at the time was the Sovereign (now perhaps there are better ones)...