The great barrier reef

holymonk

holymonk

holymonk

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Anyone done this with any recommendations as to who to book with or any tips. I've never dived before but would be up for some introductory dives or simply snorkel. Thanks
 
If you want the best snorkeling trip I can highly recommend wavelength http://www.wavelength.com.au/ they were fantastic for us and as a dedicated snorkel company they give you the best treatment as other operators give priority to divers. They operate out if port Douglas which is a great base, are super professional and have great quality gear.
 
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A few years ago I went with my family to see the Great Barrier Reef. We took a catamaran (tourist trip thing) out to a small island where you could relax on the beach or snorkel. I saw some amazing stuff; turtles, giant clams (man they're big!), loads of beautiful fish. Basically, it's amazing, so go!!
 
dirtychinchilla said:
A few years ago I went with my family to see the Great Barrier Reef. We took a catamaran (tourist trip thing) out to a small island where you could relax on the beach or snorkel. I saw some amazing stuff; turtles, giant clams (man they're big!), loads of beautiful fish. Basically, it's amazing, so go!!
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Was this out if port Douglas? Sounds like the same quicksilver trip we took which was fun but nothing like as good as the wavelength trip we felt more like cattle on a tourist trip and the snorkel gear was nothing like as good!
 
Supposed to be a bit rubbish now. Over the last few decades it's been severely damaged with bleaching from increased sea temperature, destruction from invasive starfish and too much fertiliser running off the land. I've spoken to several longstanding divers who say it's over rated and my parents recently went and said similar (compare to many other places).

That said, they recommended snorkelling over diving as they saw a lot more doing the former than the latter... Not sure quite how representative that is though.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Was this out if port Douglas? Sounds like the same quicksilver trip we took which was fun but nothing like as good as the wavelength trip we felt more like cattle on a tourist trip and the snorkel gear was nothing like as good!
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Erm it may well have been, it was quite a while ago. We were very much like cattle, but I still loved it. I would have liked more freedom though (and fewer people dressed as blue sperm).
 
I went about 6 years ago and did my first dives off Norman reef, I forget which company though

It was an amazing experience and even if people don't rate the diving as highly these days I think you will still enjoy the overall first diving experience , I'm certainly glad I did the diving over the snorkelling
 
Amp34 said:
Supposed to be a bit rubbish now. Over the last few decades it's been severely damaged with bleaching from increased sea temperature, destruction from invasive starfish and too much fertiliser running off the land. I've spoken to several longstanding divers who say it's over rated and my parents recently went and said similar (compare to many other places).

That said, they recommended snorkelling over diving as they saw a lot more doing the former than the latter... Not sure quite how representative that is though.
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I'd agree with that to a certain extent, I preferred the snorkelling in both Thailand and the Maldives but the barrier reef was still amazing we had a great day with wavelength. We saw a whale on the way out to the reef, several turtles, clown fish and some reef sharks along side all manner of coral and other fish. If you go on a smaller scale trip your likely to go to quieter harder to access better conditioned areas of the reef.
 
Can also thoroughly recommend wavelength! I went with them in 2008 from Port Douglas and it was one of the best days of my life so far.

They use a small boat that carries maybe 20 - 25 people so not only do you get a better, more personal experience but you get to go to better reefs that the larger boats can't reach - means less damaged reefs - better wildlife (giant turtles!) and less people to bump into.

Add to that the fact their staff include actual marine biologists who actually care about the reef and you'll be in for an incredible day out. They put on a great lunch and presentation too.

When I went out there at the start of August, it was hump back whale migrating season and we were lucky enough to be met by a family (Large male and female with a youngster) who all put on a show for us! literally 20m away from the boat they were jumping out of the water and splashing around and they swam directly under the boat a few times too.

Again, being a smaller boat, we were able to get right into the thick of the action without disturbing/scaring them, while a couple of the larger tour operators spotted the action but had to stay well back (200 - 300m) because they just couldn't risk getting any closer.

Here is their facebook page. They post pictures almost every day of what they see on their trips, if you're looking for inspiration.

I'll leave it there.. I just can't sing their praises enough!
 
i was dissapointed. trodden on in lots of places and discoloured. swimming with turtles was cool and watching japanese tourists throw up on the journey out was hilarious.

just do the whitsundays.
 
a1ex2001 said:
I'd agree with that to a certain extent, I preferred the snorkelling in both Thailand and the Maldives but the barrier reef was still amazing we had a great day with wavelength. We saw a whale on the way out to the reef, several turtles, clown fish and some reef sharks along side all manner of coral and other fish. If you go on a smaller scale trip your likely to go to quieter harder to access better conditioned areas of the reef.
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As said, I've never actually been but heard a lot of negative things, mostly from very experienced divers.:)
 
I have only ever done try dives but really enjoyed it (Red sea & the Med rather than Great barrier reef though).

If you've been snorkelling before it's well worth trying a short dive as you can get so much closer to everything that's going on. I'd say you're unlikely to be totally blown away unless you get a bit more into it and can go deeper / wreck diving as above but it's definitely worth doing.
 
Tusa dive out of cairns do day boats,
Deep sea Divers Den do liveaboards, that was probably my favourite trip due to all the differing sites.
For islands in the middle of the reef I'd have to recommend Heron island. It's a marine sanctuary and is completely surrounded by pristine reef.
 
The quicksilver trip mentioned above....
Although the cat itself is an awesome spectacle, the diving was terrible.
Herded like cattle to jump off the back into what could only be described as a "pen" with all the snorkellers near some floating feeding barge.
I saw an anchor and lots of sand but it was very poor diving IMO
 
i did a flight over the barrier reef.. which was awesome, but quite expensive.
I also got a boat or cat to one of the islands and went in a submersible.
 
I did it a few weeks back with Silver Swift.

It was a good experience, we did one dive and two lots of snorkelling. Saw some turtles and some big fishes and the dive team were very good. They showed a lot of patience while I was freaking out in the water as my stupid lungs wouldn't work the way my brain was telling them to. :D

I was quite underwhelmed with the reef though. I'm no expert but a lot of it looked dead as it was a dull brown colour and I'm sure I saw a documentary once that showed damaged parts of the reef that looked like that.

Personally I think they just have a bit of the reef earmarked for tourists and take folk there in case it gets damaged while protecting the other more diverse sections.

All that said, I'd still recommend the trip.
 
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