I want to dive.. The great barrier reef

[Tigerman]

Its that time of year again.
The time when I need to plan where to have my vacation this year.
Some of the places I want to go tend to be far away places that tends to have quite different climate from Norway where I live and there is also the distance of the travel. Therefore, I tend to need to do some planning before I decide where and when to go.
This year Id love to check out Australia.
Given the time it takes to travel there, no-fly times and so on I figure 14 days would be a good place to start as far as timeframe goes.
The questions Im trying to find answers to next is as follows;
1. What time of the year is the diving good? Hows the months august/september/october? (May might be too short notice and june/july is unlikely to be suitable due to my work schedule).
2. Where should I fly to and dive from? Should I go for a liveaboard?
3. Since its not called the puny barrier reef, I assume the diving on it is quite varied both with regards to ammount and types of marine life. Im a bit more interested in the big stuff, so is there any particular sites thats better for this than others?
4. Hows the approximate price for diving and renting gear?

 

[Spimon]

1. If possibly try to avoid November - May, as that's stinger season (prob ok in full scuba gear, but I assume you'll also want to go for a swim or two without a wettie/boots/gloves/etc.).
Also it can be just too damn hot in Summer! I don't know about the diving conditions, but I'd guess winter is better diving anyway. August/September/October would be fine, but I'd be trying for as early as possible.

2. Probably have to fly into Brisbane and then trasfer to somewhere closer to the reef. Proserpine and then bus to Airlie Beach is a popular option, although anywhere between about Airlie Beach andn Port Douglas will have great diving.

3. I don't know. Never been there specifically for diving. When sailing the Whitsundays everywhere we stopped have great diving.

4. No idea what so ever.

 

[Tigerman]

Summer being now +/- 2-3 months?

 

[RasRitz]

Come to Townsville and check out The Yongala wreck. Although I am yet to dive it, there is said to be lots of really big marine life. Yongala Dive » Scuba diving on the S.S. Yongala Wreck, Australia
Go with these guys, they are an hour or so south of Townsville but it will only be about 45 minutes out to the wreck as opposed to 3 hours in somewhat to very rough seas if you leave from Townsville. If you have time, while in Townsville, check out these guys -Townsville Scuba Diving : Remote Area Dive : North Queensland First Aid They are the folks I dive with. They put on a pretty good weekend. Townsville is a quick flight up to Cairns/Port Douglass or a 4 hour drive. Lots of diving up that way too!!
Good Luck!! and Have fun
Chris

 

[wcl]

We just finished a Mike Ball liveaboard (out of Cairns), that was awesome!

The reef is a bit of a boat ride out, making liveaboard a good option. You can see more of the reef that is out further.

Port Douglas is an excellent place to get over jet lag for a few days beforehand ;-).

Cheers,
W

 

[RasRitz]

Check out www.diveoz.com.au - The Biggest Site for Australian Scuba Diving Info Their will be plenty of answers to your questions in there. There is a discussion forum to browse too.
Chris

 

[Tigerman]

We just finished a Mike Ball liveaboard (out of Cairns), that was awesome!

The reef is a bit of a boat ride out, making liveaboard a good option. You can see more of the reef that is out further.

Port Douglas is an excellent place to get over jet lag for a few days beforehand ;-).

Cheers,
W

Ahh yeah, the jet lag.. only one cure for that... Lokal beer!

 

[almitywife]

you could spend the entire 14 days in queensland and still not see everything. i suggest breaking up your trip a bit. a liveaboard on the GBR and then move down south to Byron Bay

hopefully SB'er Andrew Jones will be here soon - he is THE MAN in cairns that has super helpful info for travellers and has helped alot of SB'ers arrange their trips up there

cheers

 

[Tigerman]

Thanks for all the input so far, its definetly giving me ideas. Expencive ideas, I suspect

 

[almitywife]

i know FairyBasset dived on the Nimrod before chrissy - the problem i hear about it was super strict luggage restrictions so alot of people couldnt take their own gear

El Orans will be in Cairns in about 10 days, hopefully he will do a trip report when he comes back

in august, hubby & i will be staying at lady elliott island for my birthday :multi:

edit: oh, and where possible - avoid jetstar airline...... also known as deathstar, pornstar or crapstar by the locals. they are super strict on luggage and super poor on customer service.