Great Barrier Reef or Palau?

[kylealfriend]

I have 12 free days in Australia in early June. I was planning a trip to Cairns, and taking a liveaboard. Now I am considering going to Palau or Micronesia instead. I have never been diving in this part of the world, and looking for advice. All my diving experience is in about Caribbean island and Maui. Does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations! I would like to get as many dives as possible during the 12 days.

 

[stiebs]

I've dived both Palau and Cairns, and you'll find excellent diving at both locations. If you're going to be in Australia anyway (where will you before your diving days?), I would go for a liveaboard ex Cairns. I highly recommend Spirit of Freedom, but of course you'll have to check if your schedule lines up with theirs.

Cairns is easy to get to from almost anywhere in Oz. Palau not so much. I haven't looked closely recently, but you'll probably find yourself with quite a few transfers and an airfare that's getting up there.

 

[WetPup]

Early June you have the potential to maybe see the migrating minke whales on the GBR. It'd be early in the season for it, but it's certainly a possibility.

I've also done both the GBR and Palau - but like the poster above me said, getting to Palau from Australia is a bit of a hassle. It used to be convenient as there used to be a direct flight from Cairns to Guam with easy onwards connections to Palau. That Cairns-Guam flight has since been cancelled and it's now more of a hassle. You're basically going to be looking at 24 hours travel time each way. So your 12 days becomes less than 10 pretty quickly.

I don't know what to say - both are pretty good. But the minke whales would make me lean more towards Cairns at that time of year to be totally honest.

 

[drbill]

I've also dived and enjoyed both. Palau is my favorite destination but I also enjoyed diving on the outer GBR out of Cairns. Others have mentioned the travel difficulties from Australia to Palau. For me here in SoCal, both are about the same flight-wise.