decompression:
I'm looking at 2 weeks in Australia next year with my wife, 1 for land tours and 1 for diving. So general questions first....
- Best time of year to go considering weather, vis, life and cost (I do prefer less busy season)
- live aboard/dive shop/accomodation recommendations
- rental gear or bring my own
- good reference books?
- insider tips?
Any help is appreciated........
1. Both times I've gone in October/November. That's Spring for them, so it's warm but not ridiculously hot. I haven't visited any other time of year so I can't comment otherwise. Crowds seemed pretty reasonable at that time of year.
2. First time I used TUSA Dive and had a good time despite many posts about it being a "cattle boat." They do cater to a lot of Japanese tourists (as does the most of the Cairns tourism industry) and TUSA does have different boats for primarily Japanese tourists, and one for "everybody else." If you get stuck on a mostly Japanese speaking boat, unless you're fluent in that language you won't have a lot of people to talk to.
Second time I used both the SilverSonic and SilverSwift boats. Supposedly a better company, especially the SilverSonic which goes to Agincourt Reef which is supposedly a better dive than most of the Cairns day boats. Still enjoyable but I didn't get that "wow" factor I did with the first time around TUSA. The dives were only so-so as well.
I haven't used a liveaboard yet, and may next time. Keep in mind though that liveaboard means just that, if you're unhappy or bored with what the boat has to offer for post-dive activities, or worse feeling ill, you're stuck for the duration, that's why I've been a bit leery about using them.
The biggest advantage of a liveaboard for the GBR is that they can go further out to the nicer reefs. On the day boats, it's already a two hour ride each way to reefs that have been pretty heavily used and abused.
3. If you have relatively high end gear you may want to "bring your own." It may be different with some boats, but on the boats I've used, as well as others I've read about, the equipment is relatively low-end.
4. I've gotten my info from this site as well as diveoz.com.au
5. Some people say you get better deals when you wait until you get to Cairns. However you also risk the boat of your choice being sold out as well.
Port Douglas, about an hour's drive to the north, is much slower paced than Cairns but also more expensive for lodging. If you're into nightlife, or are on a tight budget, Cairns definitely is more desirable.
The day boats that go to the northern reefs like Agincourt tend to leave out of Port Douglas, but some like SilverSonic offer transportation from Cairns.
