What is the scene like in Cairns in mid June?

[kckid]

Crowded? Full boats? Hotels? etc... I'm trying to understand what the potential is to get a last minute / stand-by fare on the Coral Sea liveaboards.

Thanks for any information!

 

[MatWill]

our peak season is may-nov and its usually really busy.. in our off seasons.. including right now the boats are usually booked out 1 week in advance

since chrissy i have been on 5 trips and they were all booked out

same goes with all hotels and hostels.. there is alot them but if i were you i would book ahead

 

[kckid]

Thanks for providing some feedback, but after posting this I have come across a number of posts here that state otherwise during June. I will make it there with plenty of "flex" time. Only my son and I will be diving, not the rest of the family. We planned on doing some "together" diving / snorkeling, so that time could be at the beginning or the end of the time in Cairns. If there is an opening when we get there, we will jump on it... and then snorkel later. If not... we will snorkel first and then hit the liveaboard on the backend.

Your profile says that you live in Cairns. Sounds like there is a big disconnection between what you said and what others have said. Not that I'm doubting your input... just wondering why such a big gap.

Does anyone know the capacity size of the liveaboards (I know they are different from each other) and do they try to fill them to the max, even at discounted rates to do so?

Has anyone here gotten hosed by attempting to book once your in town?

Any hints of the best way to do it? When do the standby rates come into effect? One week before they depart, 2 days, etc? Does it get to be a fire sale the day before departing? Can you really believe them when they tell you "we only have 2 slots left" or are they trying to get you to bite? Is there any good way to determine how many real slots they have left? Do you have to show-up or can you contact them by phone? What about booking agencies are they worth contacting as a reference to "slots" or for shopping prices?

I know these are a ton of questions but I would appreicate any help.
Thanks!

 

[caymaniac]

I was in Cairns 2 yrs ago and 4 yrs ago in the end of June. Sunny and 80F. There were some open spots for liveaboard with Mike Ball and Taka and Spirit of Freedom. I did not want to chance it so I pre-booked but the savings would have been substantial. Try to as far north as possible, take a liveaboard out of Port Douglas, stay north of Lizard Island, go for Osprey if possible.

 

[kckid]

I'll have to do some research, but are there many companies heading out of Port Douglas today? If anyone can comment of the load factor (full boats) in June for Port Douglas operators, please let me know.
Thanks!

 

[nereas]

Is there a difference in vis at the Coral Sea comparing December with June?

 

[kckid]

Nereas,
From what I understand that is their dry season (winter... i.e. June) has better vis, though colder water (78 degrees).

 

[MatWill]

there is a good chance you will get a boat in our peak season, i kind of meant if you were traveling here for a few weeks and you really wanted to dive i would book ahead.. i would hate to think you came all that way and missed out on seeing the best of the gbr because it was booked solid for the short time you were here.

this site is proberly the best for comparing pretty much all of the boats around Cairns (including Port Douglas)
http://www.divingcairns.com.au/home.html

the best dive sites are the ones you can visit yourself..... but for commercial dive sites i would recommend ribben reefs as the most 'southern' reefs to visit

taka does a good ribbin/cod hole/osprey trip but any of the dive boats are very professional and will take you to the best of the commercial sites (remember the GBR is a wonder of the world and is heavily regulated in reguards to its use, 95% of visitors can only visit 5% of the reef)

if you like a good shark feed go to osprey! osprey is an awesome dive (1km drop off, 10-15m reef, lots of pelagics and good vis.. just an awesome site)

december is pretty much the end of our good dive season.. just before the wet hits.. very warm water and decent vis, june is the middle of our 'winter' 15 deg c at night 25-27 deg during the day! most Cairns locals are covered in layers of jumpers.. and the tourists are walking around in shorts and t shirts!

water is a little colder but its always awesome to dive, (you might go to a 3-5mm wettie during winter and i usually wear nothing during summer)

remember we have a wet season and a mild season, but it rains year round, (we are in the tropics) sometimes you will get 6 months of sunshine though and you wont even notice its raining at night, other times it might rain during the day. During the wet season, (now) it rains non stop for weeks when its not raining its overcast and humid. the runoff and heavy weather stirs up sediment on the exposed sandy reefs dropping vis to 5>m, however during winter with the weather being milder and more stable the vis on all the reefs is excellent (A locals tip... best time to go to the reef is when the planes are landing over the city, means the northerlies are blowing.. after a few days of this the reefs are dead flat and vis goes for miles!)


also if you get a chance i would try to visit townsville (3 hours south of Cairns by car) and get on a boat to visit the Yongala, considered by many to be one of the best wreck dives in the world!

 

[kckid]

I checked out that site yesterday and it has good detailed information on boats, operators, liveaboard tours, etc... I'm still trying to find a good map of the GBR that shows all the spots (reef names) that people can visit. Anyone know of a good map that shows this information? Is there a divingportdouglas site like the divingcairns site?

 

[MatWill]

that site shows all the operators and all the reefs, the good thing about that site is you can select a reef and it will list all the boats that go there, some go out of Cairns and some leave from Port Douglas, some leave from Cairns and do a pick up in Port Douglas, port is only a 30 min drive from Cairns,

that map doesnt show all the reefs in detail so i'll try to find another map.. but you get the idea with that 1