Great barrier reef

[jasmine]

Hi fellow divers!
We are planning a month in Australia in September this year, & plan to do some diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Has anyone been there/can they give us some tips as to the best places to head for? I'm Advanced Open Water but am a bit of a 'pussy' (i.e. timid!!http://www.ultimatereef.com/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif diver so don't want too much current or challenge - just loadsa fish and beautiful corals.

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[spottydog]

I'm heading there at the end of April. We've booked a Mike Ball Liveaboard from Cairns diving the Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs for 3 days (unfortunately that was all the time we have by the GBR). I was recommended not to do day trips from Cairns since the boats generally tend to be cattle boats with up to 200 snorkellers and 50 divers all getting in the water at the same time.

I have been told the best place to Dive is the Coral Sea but most boats are week long liveaboards for there.

I'll send you more information in May when we get back.

[jasmine]

Thanks for the tips Spottydog -
can't wait for you to go so you can get back and tell me all about it!
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[keith]

Jasmine,

Unfortunately I visited the GBR before I could dive but Cod Hole and the Ribbon Reefs were wonderful for snorkelling. The plating acros were huge , very crowded and absolutely stunning. We travelled the reef from Thursday Island to Cairns snorkelling all the way and the Ribbon Reefs were the ones to stick in my mind.

[Daz]

Jasmine
my very limited experience of the GBR was 3 days diving last Feb on Heron Island which is off the coast near Gladstone. It is a resort island ran by P&O where the diving on the reef is restricted to the guests staying there, so you dont get boatloads of snorkellers and diveboats visiting for the day.
I can't comment on it being better or worse than other parts of the GBR, but it was very proffesionally ran by a very freindly bunch. There are numerous dive sites my favourites being coral cascades, blue pools and the "world famous" Bommie, apparently one of mr cousteau's favourites.

I could go on but a look at the link will give better info.
http://www.heronisland.com

hope you have a great time *http://www.ultimatereef.com/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Well i've just had a look at the link myself and pee'd myself off, must save some pennies for a return visit.

Daz

[jasmine]

Thanks Daz - great link! It's going to be hard to get through the next six months...
Jas

[tuan]

One small tip about the GBR - do not use Cairns as a base! The boat ride from Cairns is more than 2hrs to get out the dive sites. Stay up north in Port Douglas - much closer. Or down south in one of the islands, such as Hamilton Islands.

[jasmine]

We don't have much choice now - we are booked for three weeks into somewhere called Trinity Beach which I understand is about 20 minutes north of Cairns - but I could be wrong cos I've never been there before!
Jas

[spottydog]

As promised here is some info about diving the GBR. We arrived back for Australia at the weekend.

Diving on the GBR was pretty good. We flew up to Lizard Island from Cairns (a 45 minute flight in a 10 seater plane 1000ft above the reef which was cool). At Lizard Island we joined the boat (Mike Ball's Super Sport) for 3 wonderful days diving.

The first dive was the Cod Hole & the potato cod feed. This was amazing. The fish were 5 to 6 foot long and the guy feeding them was wearing a chain mail glove.

The rest of the dives were very nice reef dives with a maximum depth of about 25m. The sites we visited included the Clam beds (with huge clams), Pixie Pinnacle and Wall, Steve's Bommie. The dives along the ribbon reefs depend upon the weather but we encountered very little current on any of the dives. In total you could do a maximum of 11 dives (although we only managed 3 a day, 9 in total).

Following the last dive we had a BBQ then steamed back to Cairns overnight arriving back about 6.30am (although we didn't leave the boat until 9am).

Mike Ball lived up to their name as 5 star liveaboards and the only thing we could slightly fault them on was a bit of a lack of vegetarian food.

I have also been recommended the Mike Ball week trip from Townsville and the pictures of their Papua New Guinea trip looked excellent.

Whilst you are in Cairns I would also recommend a ride on the SkyRail. It is a 5 mile cable car which goes over the rainforest.

If you need any further info let me know.

Anne

[jasmine]

Thanks Anne, do you have an e-mail or contact address for Mike Ball so that I can get some idea of what's available and prices?
Jas

[spottydog]

You can contact Mike ball via their website (http://www.mikeball.com). I found they generally got back to me overnight.

I actually booked with Emma at Crusader Travel (Website (http://www.crusadertravel.com)) since the prices seemed the same but I didn't have any currency risks.

The prices I was quoted for supersport (including a low level flight over the reef) were:

Cod Hole Adventure
1 - 5 May
Premium cabin with private ensuite bathroom - £544
Standard cabin share bathroom with one other standard - £493
Economy cabin share bathroom with one other economy - £452

Cod Hole & Ribbon Reef (this is the one we did)
28 Apr - 1 May
Premium - £499
Standard - £453
Economy - £416

The price differences are due to one being 4 night aboard the other being 3. We went for the premium cabin so we had ensuite facilities but there never seemed to be any problems with queues for the shower or loo. Mike Ball also do 4 share cabins in the hull but I don't have prices for those.

I don't know the prices for their Townsville trip (an hours flight from Cairns) since I unfortunately didn't have the time available to consider that trip.

HTH

Anne

[JonHolly]

I did a 5 day on Nimrod Explorer III in March, diving the cod hole and Ribbon Reefs in the coral sea. Fantastic includes a flight from cairns to Cooktown over the GBR. Will try and find the web site, but 18 dives in 4 days was pretty intense.

Jon B)

[jasmine]

Jon
Do you recall what the cost of this trip was?
I don't think I would be up to 18 dives in 4 days, but my other half would LOVE it!!
Jas

[spottydog]

Nimrod Explorers website is here (http://www.explorerventures.com)

HTH

[Fiddlercrab1]

Hi Jasmine,

Did this trip about 2 years ago and stayed in Trinity Beach. Booked on the Santa Maria (Nice Sail Boat) out of Cairns for 3 days diving. I chose this boat as it headed for one reef which didn't seem to be visited much. The crew were great but the diving on the reefs close to Cairns is nothing spectacular if you have dived healthy reefs before. The Santa Maria was lovely but extremely hot and uncomfortable - if you can I would recommend an air conditioned ship and head as far away from the Cairns House reef Thetford etc as possible - look into vessels that go to reefs that others hardly visit!

www.dive-australia.com

This website had some good info.

Cheers

David

[Reefworks]

Make sure you dive the Yongala (I think thats how you spell it), it still rates as my best dive ever, (several hundred logged dives). It is a long ride but worth it. I did 2 day dives and a night dive. The boat sank in the early 1900's and is now completely covered in coral. Loads of turtles, big fish etc.
On the night dive I came across a large group of HUGE bull rays (2m wing span), they were just hanging in the water a couple of meters above the wreck, in the torch light it was like swimming through UFO's, REALLy eirie. Five mins later and at the bow of the boat we looked down onto a group of 30+ black tip reef sharks. We thought we were a reasonable distance away until the tourch beam pics up part of a fin or body passing at a distance of only a few meters. Superb dive!!! Even beat being charged by Silky sharks in the Red Sea!
Dont miss out on this wreck dive, it is rated as one of the worlds best.

[jasmine]

Clayton

How long is a long ride???!!! (No pun intended)

Jasmine