OceanQuest Liveaboard

[ccxx]

I contacted Deep Sea Divers Den and they confirmed Ocean Quest has been chartered out for a year.
who knows, they may have the boat back by Feb of 2014 when I plan on being there. In the meantime,
I think I'll stick with them and TAKA. I watched a video of Kangaroo Explorer and the cabins seem cramped.
My husband is not a diver so I need some creature comfort for him. I'm worried that TAKA has only one
stateroom on the upper level. I guess my best bet is to book as soon as possible. I appreciate all the great info
I get from everyone on here. I don't like too many surprises when I travel. Now I'm torn as to whether to take my
own dive gear. I'm taking my own mask, snorkel, fins/booties and wetsuit but I'm trying to decide on whether
to take my own reg or not. I can use their BCD. The weight restrictions on the airlines play havoc with me, especially when I have
underwater camera equipment to lug around. Fortunately, I can let my husband carry some of my gear since he
travels light. That's why I plan everything so far ahead of time.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

OQ won't be back. Its a 3 year contract and Reef Encounter also left Cairns and went to join it.

The downturn in tourism and the lack of support meant that the operators can make more money by having it sit on the docks in WA used as a hotel.

My mate is the skipper and has doubled his wage. (but they pay a pittance in the tourism industry, so its not hard to do better!)

Its harsh and bad for us, but I can't blame them.

Taka is still a very good option and the Stateroom is beautiful.

Book 2 months in advance for over night boats over November - Feb as its peak season. Its the only way to guarantee the cabin you want.

Kangaroo Explorer is a more budget boat but don't discount Scubapro.

 

[ccxx]

On another note, Reef Explorer has also been chartered out for a year so they are not doing liveaboard trips now. Seems tourism is down right now.....

 

[ccxx]

Seems OceanQuest is on a 3 year lease so that's out of the question...same with Reef Encounter.
Back to Deep Sea Divers Den and TAKA. Push comes to shove, it'll be Kangaroo Explorer but....
I'm an experienced diver and Kangaroo Explorer seems to cater to the novice and newly certified diver....or non diver.
Whatever, the people at Deep Sea Divers Den told me just to let them know when and where and they'd take care of us.
At least I have the name of a real person there so that's half the battle when having to make arrangements over the internet.

 

[AussiePro]

I was on the Kangaroo Explorer liveaboard a couple of weekends ago. We had a great time onboard. The boat is pretty old but we knew that before going. The first reef we visited wasn't a very good dive site but I was there for underwater photography and still managed to find plenty of interesting subjects. The second reef was much nicer. Some really nice corals and the reef seemed very healthy. Also the staff were very friendly, much nicer than another operator we recently dove with. The food was really nice also.
The only thing I had a problem with was that they baby you quite a bit. For example, the first dive has to be guided. I wouldn't have minded too much except that there were four photographers in our guided group and the guide wanted to swim non-stop while we were all trying to take pictures. In the end he just got frustrated as he kept having to swim back for us.
Also on the night dive they limit you to 10m and 30 min.
Having said that, it seems that a lot of operators in Queensland now want to baby you. I just booked in to dive the HMAS Brisbane and was told once again that the first dive has to be guided no matter what your experience level is and you can't penetrate the wreck on your first dive.

 

[mattoau]

I hate the standard guided dive on the GBR. Basically follow a DM on a standard loop who is trying to show you as much as possible, whereas in reality actually shows you almost nothing.

I can see why the operators do this, the experience of many 'certified' divers leaves a lot to be desired. However they certainly don't cater for the experienced diver as much as they should.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

I hate the standard guided dive on the GBR. Basically follow a DM on a standard loop who is trying to show you as much as possible, whereas in reality actually shows you almost nothing.

I can see why the operators do this, the experience of many 'certified' divers leaves a lot to be desired. However they certainly don't cater for the experienced diver as much as they should.

There are some operators that do. Mike Ball allows for solo diving and on most of the Ribbon Reef trips (Spirit of Freedom for example) you can get long unaccompanied dives.

Trouble is you also get so many muppets that comeout here and either get lost, or have accidents. So the Code of Parctice binds you to be overly cautious.

At the end of the day its the divers safety being the main concern but getting that balance between allowing a certified diver to "do their own thing" and be protected from harm is hard I agree.

Also some of the budget over night boats (Kangaroo Explorer) have trainee DMs who just work off their course and have little interest or professionalism. Pity, but hey there are LOT of great operators and great guides out there too.

 

[mattoau]

I should have been more clear Kev, my gripe was solely to dives which must be guided. For example I've found many nudibranchs and pointed out these to my group. If there are other groups around I'll get the attention of my colleagues, who'll have a quick look for themselves, but very rarely show the critter to their group. The focus seems to be entirely on a few subjects that can always be found, with little effort made to discover different things.

Perhaps it's just me.

 

[Wantonmien]

Hi Aquapro & co,

You might recall I booked a trip through you about a year back, and enjoyed a trip on the OceanQuest - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/au...ef-cairns-oct-10-13-2011-some-words-pics.html and having just been thinking about another trip on it, sorry to hear it is no longer operating, but same seems to be the case elsewhere.

With thoughts of diving the GBR regularly, couple of months ago I accepted work in Gladstone, brought all my dive gear over and expected every weekend to be able to find a way out to the GBR, but alas, seems the availability of dive centres and dive boats within easy reach from Gladstone, is almost non existent, to the extent it might be a lot easier and cheaper if I bought my own boat and compressor !!

Here's what I have found within 2.5 hours North or South of Gladstone -

Yepoon (2 + hours Nth of Gladstone) - offers boat trips to Keppel island, but dive centre on it is closed.

Rockhampton (2 hours Nth of Gladstone) - used to have 3 dive centres, with trips to the reef - All 3 are closed.

Gladstone - Can catch the boat to Heron Island, to get more than one dive in it means an overnight stay on the island. Probably worth it, but as Dive centre that used to exist in Gladstone is closed, it is Heron island or nothing it seems ?

1770 - (2 hours South of Gladstone) - can catch the tourist boat to Lady Musgrave island and get 1 Reef wall & 1 Lagoon dive in, ok if you want an expensive day trip and mediocre dives !

Agnes Water - (2 hours South of Gladstone) - the dive centre that used to be there is closed.

On huge posters on the roads I see it proclaimed that Gladstone is "The Gateway to the Barrier Reef" - frankly the tourist authority should replace the adverts with "Used to be a Gateway to the GBR" !!

Bundaberg (2.5 hours South of Gladstone) has a dive centre, yes a real one that is open (think it's called "Aquascuba") who had some students out off the beach while I was there, so I never got to dive with them, but at least it is there.

If any divers are hiding out in Gladstone and can offer advice on how where and when self (and buddy) can get out to dive from Gladstone on the GBR easily every weekend, we'd love to know !

Cheers

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Thanks for the info Wantonmein, its great to know about options in some of the smaller places.

Cairns still has good options, but needs the visitors to keep competition and operators running. Without them they cannot run. Simple as that.

Lets hope no more close down and some of the smaller ones you mention above can keep their head above water.