HELP!!!! Need help finding a day trip dive in Cairns

[Lineman1]

We are taking our Honeymoon in Australia ... We have just recently got OW certified through Naui and have done about 6 spring dives and 1 salt (ocean) and we are wanting to dive when we get in Cairns Oct 7th 2008. We really don't want to get on a cattle dive with 20 or more people.. We have been trying to find something smaller but all the smaller boats are more than one day.. We will be traveling through Australia so we don't have time to do more than a one day dive.. Does anyone have any Advise.. or Suggestions on where to look for a smaller day dive?? HELP we are desprite

 

[drbill]

When I was there in 2001, I did a four day liveaboard on the outer reef. However, the operator I went with (Deep Sea Diver's Den) had speedboats that took divers out to the mother ship and back, and as I remember it these allowed folks to just dive for the day and return.

 

[TishaDee]

I was there during their winter in 2006 and there were numerous dive operators doing day trips so you will have NO problem finding one. In fact, I would recommend that you wait to book it until you get there. You can just walk up and down the waterfront and there will be a plethora of shops and hotels with signs advertising the days best prices. We stayed at the Bellview right on the waterfront and would highly recommend it for size, cleanliness and price, but it's not the ideal honeymooner kinda place. If you're not one for foot work you can let your hotel's front desk handle it for you once there and you will still get better pricing then if you booked it in advance from the states. Australia is different from the US in that way and my husband and I learned this lesson the hard way, after a lot of careful planning and advance booking, we learned that at we could have saved loads on everything we did, if we waited to book everything until we were there. I know this defy's most of our travel training as Americans goes, but the entire continent of Australia is geared towards travellers as it's a right of passage into adulthood there. Travel & Adventure agencies are like 7/11's there and are literally at every single street corner just waiting to undersell their competition across the way.

BTW we did a week long liveaboard with the "Kangaroo Explorer" and I will say that they were the most professional dive operator I've ever dove with. Their transportation boat (the boat that took us out to the liveaboard 30 miles offshore) did day snorkel trips too, now that I'm thinking about it.

Hope that helps..

 

[Damselfish]

Yeah you won't have a problem finding a boat, but I don't know if there are any smaller day boats. Thing is, even to what they call the "outer reef" from Cairns is a bit of a trip. Given distance, fuel, possible conditions, and the fact it seems they can fill the big cattle boats, I'm not sure the economics etc. of a small boat make sense. You may have to suck it up and go on a larger boat if the day dive is your only option, or modify your schedule to fit in a short liveaboard.

We did a short liveaboard and dove both the area Diver's Den does day trips, and much more remote reefs. The remote reefs we did were like 20 times better than the day trip area. (Which you will still enjoy especially since you're new, but although you will have technically dove the GBR you won't really have seen what the GBR is famous for.)