Hi from NC! GBR suggestions!

[codename:DIVE]

Hi Lauren

If you can only dive one day I definitely recommend the Yongala with Yongala dive. I live in Cairns and drive 5 hours regularly to do it.
I love NC diving, have been out with Olympus a couple of times, fantastic!

Happy diving

 

[codename:DIVE]

Oh, and October can be some of our best weather here, so fingers crossed for you

 

[clownfishsydney]

Airlie Beach (Whitsunday Islands) suffered badly from Cyclone Debbie back in March 2017. It totally destroyed all the previously good dive sites that the operators went to. They would have recovered somewhat from then, but I doubt that they are yet back to being good enough to satisfy me. In any case, the diving on the islands was not the greatest in the first place, very few Australians would go there to dive (I was on my yacht sailing the coast so dived off it).

Yongala is great but a long way from Airlie and as others have pointed out, it is a difficult dive. Only other options would be much further north at Cairns or south at the southern end of Fraser Island or out of Bundaberg or Hervey Bay to the wreck of ex-HMAS Tobruk.