Searching for the right dive operator out of Cairns

[harkdh]

Hi, this will be my first trip to Cairns and I am trying to research which dive operator I should go with. The options are seemingly endless so I really could use some help narrowing it down to a select few. It appears that day trips are typically cattle boats with lots of inexperienced diver/snorklers and less desirable dive locations. Is this the case? Overnight trips seem to go out to the outer reefs and you get a couple extra dives in, is this true? Can anyone recommend an operator where there will only be divers on board (day trip or overnight). Maybe a max of 10 divers would suit me fine but it seems all the boats carry many more divers than that. I really don't want to be in that type of environment, nor do I need a lot of catering to. Just a reliable boat and captain that will get us to some awesome dive spots... and BACk of course. How about dive locations... which are the must sees out of Cairns (or Port Douglas) that I should make it a point to see.

Thanks a bunch,
Dan

 

[slipslop]

Snorkelers and inexperienced divers are entitled to enjoy the GBR as well as all you butch gung ho divers. i dont see why being on a boat with some of these people aboard would spoil your diving.

 

[drbill]

Snorkelers and inexperienced divers are entitled to enjoy the GBR as well as all you butch gung ho divers. i dont see why being on a boat with some of these people aboard would spoil your diving.

Yes, snorkelers are entitled to enjoy the GBR also. However I've found in almost every situation where large numbers of snorkelers were mixed with SCUBA divers that the snorkelers do interfere significantly with the divers unless segregated into a separate area.

Snorkelers generally are somewhat inexperienced and do not know protocol re: diving. I've had them swim down to where I was filming and kick sand up, I've had them bump into me, I've had them group at the exit point and not yield to divers with heavy equipment trying to exit, I've had them "raft" in groups that make it difficult for SCUBA divers to move through an area.

Perfectly fine for them to enjoy the water as well, but there should be separate areas for both... or better instruction for the snorkelers so they understand.

 

[RTodd]

Hi, this will be my first trip to Cairns and I am trying to research which dive operator I should go with. The options are seemingly endless so I really could use some help narrowing it down to a select few. It appears that day trips are typically cattle boats with lots of inexperienced diver/snorklers and less desirable dive locations. Is this the case? Overnight trips seem to go out to the outer reefs and you get a couple extra dives in, is this true? Can anyone recommend an operator where there will only be divers on board (day trip or overnight). Maybe a max of 10 divers would suit me fine but it seems all the boats carry many more divers than that. I really don't want to be in that type of environment, nor do I need a lot of catering to. Just a reliable boat and captain that will get us to some awesome dive spots... and BACk of course. How about dive locations... which are the must sees out of Cairns (or Port Douglas) that I should make it a point to see.

Thanks a bunch,
Dan

I live in Cairns part of the year. Snorkelling on the GBR - some of the best in the world. Diving - pretty lame for the tropics. All of the day boats specialize in snorkelers and discover scuba. Tusa dive has the "smaller" boats in Cairns and is a little more diving focused but still caters to very inexperienced divers. Diving out of Cairns is simply coral bommies with a sand bottom of 40-60 feet. Out of Port Douglas, Poseidon and Aristocat will take you to the Agincourt reef systems. Slightly better reef but not a huge difference. Some of the other operaters in Port Douglas will go to this area as well. Port Douglas is "higher end" than Cairns so boats cost more. All of these operaters will use 63 cu ft tanks to limit your bottom times. The Port Douglas operations try to squeeze in 3 dives so limit bottom times to 40 minutes. Tusa is about your only option for nitrox. (I think it comes out to A$15-20 per tank). You can get nitrox from one of the dive stores in Port Douglas but the hassle and costs makes it not worth it.

Liveaboard options for the nicer boats are Mike Ball's and Tusa's Spirit of Freedom. Both do trips to Osprey Reef. Osprey is in the middle of the Coral Sea and not part of the GBR. It at least offers wall diving and more big fish, sharks, etc. This has the opportunity for some nice pelagics but the reef itself doesn't stack up well to say the East End of Grand Cayman or a lot of the stuff in Cozumel. I wouldn't bother with a liveaboard that only does Cod Hole. This is part of the GBR north of Cooktown and is again just a step up from Agincourt but still not knock your socks off stuff. Mike Ball's is what you would expect from a liveaboard anywhere in the world and is generally well run with standard 80 cu. ft tanks and nitrox pretty standard. I have never used Tusa's boat because the Mike Ball schedule allows me to do a 4 night/ 3 day trip over the weekend with just one day off work whereas Tusa would require two days off work. However, it is supposed to be a good boat too.

To be fair, the diving sure isn't bad and beats most of what is available in the US. It is just that for the travel time if your pimary focus is diving there are lots more options. Also, it is very costly A$150-200 just to get on the day boats and slightly more to actually dive even if brining all of your own equipment. The operators are very good at providing good boat food and other amenities that snorkelers would appreciate. However, as far as running a diving boat they probably rank lower than just about anywhere I have been in the world.

 

[Louie]

Hi, this will be my first trip to Cairns and I am trying to research which dive operator I should go with. The options are seemingly endless so I really could use some help narrowing it down to a select few. It appears that day trips are typically cattle boats with lots of inexperienced diver/snorklers and less desirable dive locations. Is this the case? Overnight trips seem to go out to the outer reefs and you get a couple extra dives in, is this true? Can anyone recommend an operator where there will only be divers on board (day trip or overnight). Maybe a max of 10 divers would suit me fine but it seems all the boats carry many more divers than that. I really don't want to be in that type of environment, nor do I need a lot of catering to. Just a reliable boat and captain that will get us to some awesome dive spots... and BACk of course. How about dive locations... which are the must sees out of Cairns (or Port Douglas) that I should make it a point to see.

Thanks a bunch,
Dan

You are absolutely right on the cattle boats full of inexperienced snorkellers with absolutely no knowledge of how to behave on boats. As an instructor, I know snorkellers and try-divers can get in the way.

My advice is to do a liveaboard out faraway from the daytrips. For dive enthusiasts, a dayboat full of gumbies would be a terrible disappointment. Look at Taka (four and three day liveaboards), Mike Ball or one of the many other longer trips. Some have standby rates so you may be able to save money diving as well.


Have fun

 

[Bubble Junky]

As Louie said, check out Taka.

 

[Andrew Jones]

Tusa Dive does carry the smallest numbers to the Reef out of Cairns. 28 passengers maximum. Generally half dive half snorkel. Cost 4 Trip with 2 cert dives / gear and guided is $220 plus $7 fuel levy.

The issue with diving here in Cairns is weather. April rained and 30kt winds EVERY day.
It has eased off over the last week to stunning sunshine and 10knots with 40metres of visability.

The great reef sites out of Cairns offer little in the way of protection, so Tusa for example will normally have to hide in the ordinary locations with 20 other boats if you have no flexibility for dates.

The liveaboards except for the Cod Hole and Coral Sea all go to same place as Day Boats.

I dont know why so many people on this site pretend to offer good quality knowledge when their experience is so little. Here is a list of operators for liveaboards of which I have done all many, many times.

Mike Ball Dive Cod Hole Standby Monday Trip $845... Spirit of Freedom Coral Sea Standby Thurs Trip $1095....Taka Dive Tuesday Cod Hole Standby $695.....Nimrod Explorer Cod Hole Standby Saturday $500 plus Gear.....Undersea Explorer Minke Exped
$1900

Cairns Liveaboards

CDC Explorer 3/2 night $400 Special June
Prodive 3/2 night $450 Standby
Reef Encounter 3/2 $500

forget deep sea divers den- average boat and sites

more info- www.scubadive.com.au

Kind Regards A.J

 

[RTodd]

The issue with diving here in Cairns is weather. April rained and 30kt winds EVERY day.
It has eased off over the last week to stunning sunshine and 10knots with 40metres of visability.

The great reef sites out of Cairns offer little in the way of protection, so Tusa for example will normally have to hide in the ordinary locations with 20 other boats if you have no flexibility for dates.

I dont know why so many people on this site pretend to offer good quality knowledge when their experience is so little. Here is a list of operators for liveaboards of which I have done all many, many times.

You are a travel agent right? This is nice marketing speak but isn't entirely true. The issue is these boats are filled with divers too inexperienced to deal with the conditions if they actually dropped them on the outer reefs. (The fact that you quoted the price with gear hire is telling of the typical experience level.) It has to be good enough to water ski before any of these operators will take you to a decent site. I would be happy for you to prove me wrong and list a day boat operator that does actually cater to divers as opposed to snorkellers. I will try them out and report back. But, I have tried a fair number of them already. I travel regularly but spend more than half my time in Cairns. While I do reguarly do day trip weekend dives, for real diving I travel.