Volunteer Hostie on Ocean Quest L.A.

[Kingscrab]

Hi King,

Guides are not included in the price.. they will arrange buddy groups before each dive and give you a briefing on the layout of the site, particular things to see etc.

You can hire a guide for $15 per person per dive if you want. A friend did hire one for a few dives and I don't think it made a substantial difference. A good guide might be able to find nudibranches and smaller stuff that a less trained eye might not.

My underwater navigation is terrible so I made a lot of surface swims back to the boat but I never missed anything significant without a guide.

Wow! Thank you. That's hugely helpful info. What are the currents like, etc? Anyway, I don't care as much about finding nudibranches as finding my way back to the boat.

$15 bucks for a guide though isn't too bad though. Can you group up with other buddy teams and pool for a guide? Did anyone try doing something like that?

- King

 

[LeeParrish]

Great! Vis was 20m on most dives if not more (I can't estimate it very well), water 23 to 25 degrees. The rental wetsuits they provide are mostly 5mm long-sleaved arms, short-sleaved legs which I found just fine even on five dives a day.

Saw tons of fish, plenty of sharks, a few turtles etc. Coral was better at some sites than others - they move around between a few sites spread over a couple of reefs. Typically 2-3 dives at a site before they move again.

Their web site is a bit misleading; they say 4 dives per day but it's actually 5 including the night dive. The schedule is;
6:30am first dive
7:30am breakfast
9:00am second dive
11:00am third dive
12:30pm lunch
3:30pm fourth dive
6:00pm dinner
7:00pm night dive
8:00pm desert

20m visibility isn't bad. And 23c to 25c is good temp, I'll bring my full 3mm that fits nicely and if that's not enough I can always layer on their 5mm. I usually don't get too cold anyway.

5 dives a day is great news! I was a little worried that there might be a little too much time sitting around at 4 dives a day if one of the 4 was a night dive. If they are doing 4 day dives plus a night dive that will keep it nice and busy.

 

[hmoffatt]

20m visibility isn't bad. And 23c to 25c is good temp, I'll bring my full 3mm that fits nicely and if that's not enough I can always layer on their 5mm. I usually don't get too cold anyway.

5 dives a day is great news! I was a little worried that there might be a little too much time sitting around at 4 dives a day if one of the 4 was a night dive. If they are doing 4 day dives plus a night dive that will keep it nice and busy.

There's not much time to sit around if you do all the dives. Between lunch and the 3:30pm dive they transfer passengers on and off the day boat... otherwise it's pretty busy.

I just did a 4day/3night stint last week. On the first day you go out on the day boat and do two dives, then transfer and do the 3:30pm and 7pm dives on the liveaboard. On your last day you get the 3 in the morning before you leave. In between 5 per day if you want to! So I did 17 in my 4 days.

Must add that I'm just a happy customer and not affiliated with them. I haven't done other liveaboards to compare it with. There are other operators in Cairns who may go to better sites (certainly sites that are much further out), they are quite a lot more expensive. I think Deep Sea Divers Den/OceanQuest is great value, I don't know if it's the best diving on the GBR though as I have nothing else to compare it to.

 

[hmoffatt]

Wow! Thank you. That's hugely helpful info. What are the currents like, etc? Anyway, I don't care as much about finding nudibranches as finding my way back to the boat.

$15 bucks for a guide though isn't too bad though. Can you group up with other buddy teams and pool for a guide? Did anyone try doing something like that?

They'll come and pick you up if you're too far away - they didn't seem to mind that at all. I'm too tough to admit I need a pickup though

And it is $15 per person, per dive for a guide.. unfortunately they will stick 4 people (maybe more?) with 1 guide which I think is too many personally.

 

[LeeParrish]

There's not much time to sit around if you do all the dives. Between lunch and the 3:30pm dive they transfer passengers on and off the day boat... otherwise it's pretty busy.

I just did a 4day/3night stint last week. On the first day you go out on the day boat and do two dives, then transfer and do the 3:30pm and 7pm dives on the liveaboard. On your last day you get the 3 in the morning before you leave. In between 5 per day if you want to! So I did 17 in my 4 days.

Must add that I'm just a happy customer and not affiliated with them. I haven't done other liveaboards to compare it with. There are other operators in Cairns who may go to better sites (certainly sites that are much further out), they are quite a lot more expensive. I think Deep Sea Divers Den/OceanQuest is great value, I don't know if it's the best diving on the GBR though as I have nothing else to compare it to.

I really appreciate all the information. I'm leaving for a business trip to Adelaide this Friday and then next Friday will be heading to Cairns to go diving. I'm a relatively new diver who is just happy to get time in the water. And while some of the trips up north look like they may have possibly better reef sites, they spend less time diving and more moving around, so I think this may work out well for me. I'm planning to go out for 5 days/4 nights though I'll have to snorkel the last day since I have any early morning flight heading back the next morning. And your right, the price certainly seems very good. Seems cheaper than even trying to stay in Cairns and take day boats.

Any tips on hotels in Cairns? I'll need one for my first night and last night. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just a place to get some sleep. Probably not a backpackers, I'm a bit too old for that kind of fun , but anything else that has a decent bed works fine for me.

 

[Kingscrab]

They'll come and pick you up if you're too far away - they didn't seem to mind that at all. I'm too tough to admit I need a pickup though

And it is $15 per person, per dive for a guide.. unfortunately they will stick 4 people (maybe more?) with 1 guide which I think is too many personally.

$15 per person! Okay, that is kind of steep, but whatever. I'm not too worried about it. I assume the currents aren't too bad? Are the dive sites pretty easy to get around? I'm happy to let someone come scoop me up if needed.

(Thanks for being SO helpful!)

 

[LeeParrish]

$15 per person!

I think thats $15 AUS, so depending on the daily exchange rate it's about $12 US if that helps any.

 

[Kingscrab]

I think thats $15 AUS, so depending on the daily exchange rate it's about $12 US if that helps any.

Yeah, I figured... No big deal I guess. As long as the guide is worth the extra cash!

 

[drbill]

The statements that they don't have very good beer sound like a plus to me... I don't mix my diving and my drinking (but I certainly enjoy doing both, but separately)

 

[hmoffatt]

The statements that they don't have very good beer sound like a plus to me... I don't mix my diving and my drinking (but I certainly enjoy doing both, but separately)

I have not seen much of a drinking culture on either of my trips with them, which is just fine. Their rule is no more diving that day after alcohol.