chunker

I'm looking into booking a trip to do some diving in the GBR from Cairns and also looking into sailing excursions in the Whitsundays.

Originally, was thinking of booking a 2 day one night dive trip from cairns and then booking a 3 day 3 night trip for the whitsundays...but just started thinking that if I'd combine the two (for ex. booking a 6 night sailing trip from the whitsundays to include diving), would I be able to get a taste of both GBR diving and whitsunday island hopping since the GBR essentially runs along the entire coast of queensland?

Appreciate your feedback and any experiences/recommnedations with reputable diving & sailing outfitters!!

AndrewDavid

We had a wonderful trip in April (3 days and nights) on the Solway Lass, a refurbished tall ship, cruising the Whitsundays. We found cleaer water there then further N on the reef itself. We are snorkellers, but they arranged introductory scuba du=ives for us.

AndrewDavid

tropo

Chunker, most people who visit Cairns, stay either in that city, or just north, at Palm Cove, Ellis Beach, Holloways, Port Douglas, ie. they usually stay on the mainland, which allows them to visit coastal attractions, and then they do diving trips to the barrier reef.
The barrier reef is not one continuous reef along the Qld Coast, but numerous reefs.
The Whitsunday Islands, are continental islands, ie. they were once attached to the mainland, and were drowned after the last ice age, to become islands close to mainland Australia. Most have what we call "fringing" reefs around them or in certain bays.
By staying on a Whitsunday Island, you can enjoy the island life, including sailing, etc, then take one of their offered diving tours to the barrier reef.
The barrier reef is closer to the mainland near Cairns, and further out, as you head south, but either way you should get in all the diving you want at either place.
I know my next suggestion is a bit off the beaten track...seeing you like diving, have you thought about staying on Heron Island in the Capricorn/Bunker Group Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Heron "is part of the barrier reef".
Also another island a bit further south is Lady Elliot Island, a divers paradise.

pat_woolford

Chunker - what time of the year? There is a climatic distinction between Whitsundays and Far North Qld (Cairns/Port Douglas), especially in winter.

chunker

Andrew - as a matter of fact, I was looking into that paricular boat for the whitsundays sail - I've noticed that there are just a number of boats taht sail those islands but this one keeps popping up. Is it highly recommended relative to any others you may looked into? and is the 3 day one enough or did it leave you craving for more?

Thanks everyone for your feedback. What I was thinking was that if I can satisfy the GBR diving by combining it into the Whitsundays, then when I'm up at cairns, I can concentrate purely on the mainland things such as exploring Cairns, the rain forest, Port Douglas etc... Just wanted to make sure that if I had gone diving in the whitsunday area that I would not miss out on anything to be had if I had gone out on an excursion from Cairns.

And my travel timeframe is end Oct to ealry nov so from reading other posts and the checking stats on weather.com - it seems it should be warm enough to go swimming in either whitsundays or cairns..statiscally speaking anyway

AndrewDavid

chunker, I looked at a few other boats, but liked Solway Lass the best. At the time it was the only one I could find for 3 days and nights. Itsa great looking boat. In better weather which I think you would have ( we sailed late April this year, I could have stayed on for a week.


my report of our cruise follows:

Enjoy! A/D

4 Days in the Whitsundays or how Quantas sent John?s suitcase to Perth rather than Proserpine because they both begin with ?P?


Very early in the morning we sped out to Hobart International Airport to catch our flight from there to Proserpine via Melbourne and Brisbane. With a window seat I got a birds eye view of a couple of million square kms of Australia: that incredible cocktail of blue water, beige outback, green forest, and lush canyons mixed with fruited plains.

With an hour to spend between flights in Melbourne, we got chair massages from some students on the concourse. In Brisbane we passed the time looking at opals and photographing ourselves in a booth out near the gate. We?d never seen this operation before. For A$6. you get 16 stickers of yourself projected against an Australian landmark and some slogan like ?Hopping along with the kangeroos? or ?G?day mate? to stick on your postcards. These were adored by our friends and we want to know how we can get the franchise to install these around our fruited plains and fields of grain. Seriously, we?ll use our profits to return to Oz! Who do we contact?

The flight from Brisbane to Proserpine took us out over the coast. Unfortunately that flight was the closest we got to Fraser Island on this trip. The big news in Proserpine was that John?s suitcase decided to go to Perth without him . And yes they really did blame it on the fact that Perth and Proserpine both begin with ?P?. What other opportunities like this exist on Qantas? network? Alice Springs/ Ayers Rock; Darwin/ Dunk Island; Melbourne /Mildura; the opportunities for vacationing suitcases are impressive.

Luckily we had converted to day packs for our sailing adventure. Airlie Beach is a real meat market and jumping off point for the Whitsunday Islands. We were sailing on the ?Solway Lass? a renovated 102 year old Tall Ship. After dumping our bags at the Southern Cross office off the Esplanade and arranging for a warm reception for John?s vacationing suitcase we filled up on thai food, stocked ourselves with sailor snacks (junk food) and caught the bus to the boat in a tropical downpour.

I had put out a query about this adventure on both Fodor?s and Thorn Tree as the only reference to this I had seen was in a 5 year old ?Let?s Go Student Guide to Australia? at our public library. While folks had seen her when she had been cruising Sydney Harbour, no one had embarked on the adventure we were contemplating. This is a lovely boat. We had a tiny double cabin w/ a/c and baths down the cabinway. even w/ a full complement of about 28 I never had to wait for a toilet or a shower (actually these were combined) w/ 2 each for boys and girls. And it really was boys and girls from our perspective as everyone on board except crew and captain was at least 25 years my junior.


We had a blast. The energy of the younger generation was infectious and except for a slight disadvantage at charades if the topic was ?song titles? we had a wonderful time mixing with a group of Austalian and European 20 somethings. Of course we were in bed about 10 and they were up til midnight. What we gained in sleep we also saved in comparative bar tabs. The food was wholesome and plentiful, the bar was well stocked and the kitchen staff was willing to keep my ice packs (remember my run in with the cannon) in their freezer.

Our cruise through the Whitsundays was 3 days and 3 nights. We stopped at 2 beaches/ islands each day for snorkeling, swimming or beach walking. The snorkeling was superb w/ fringing coral and whole universities of colorful fish. We even had the opportunity to do an introductory scuba dive and hoist the sails. The islands are beautiful and we saw plenty of sea eagles. The view from the lookout above Whitehaven Beach is even more impressive than any of the dreamy photographs I had seen. We had a third each of full sun, overcast and rain everyday. The main deck was covered with canvas and was a great place to learn a little about each others? countries. The young europeans were shocked to learn the abysmal turn out for American elections (27% in our last local election; majority rule in America is really minority rule, but I guess that?s probably the kind of ?democracy? we?ll end up establishing in Iraq w/ Ausralian support unless you manage to bring in Mark Latham) and we were impressed by the heavy fine a young Australian woman had to pay for missing a local election. For about A$375. per person all inclusive except beer & wine and intro. scuba dive, the trip seemed good value to us and a whole lot of fun. The Whitsundays are magnificent and everyone should try to include them in their itineraries.


Next up: The great Flood at the Tully River or our Adventure at the Euramo Hotel.

ALF

I have dived on several GBR sites offshore from the Whitsundays, Townsville, and Cairns/Port Douglas. My general impression is that the quality of the dive sites (impressive fish, giant clams, colorful coral) improve as you go further north. Also, the reef is closer to the coast as you go further north, so the ride out is not as long. This is not to say, though, that diving on the GBR off the Whitsundays is not a great experience.

If your sole reason to go to Cairns is to dive on the GBR, you might want to consider saving time and money by diving off the Whitsundays. You can go out for the day, or go on a 2-3 day liveaboard cruise. We really liked the Oceania liveaboard (www.scubacentre.com.au/oceania.htm). We have also gone out for the day on the Fantasea catamaran to an anchored barge, called Reefworld (www.fantasea.com.au/gbr.htm). While there was a big crowd on the boat, virtually everyone were snorkelers, and only 6 of us dived.

tropo

Alf, have you dived on the Capricorn/Bunker reefs? They are reputed as having the "best visual" clarity for the whole of the barrier reef. You can fly out to two of the islands, ie. Heron Island or Lady Elliot Island. The latter mentioned island was featured on the Brisbane TV show, "Great South Eastern" and the reporter said, that Lady Elliot Island was knockout, and was the closest thing to nature, that he had every experienced.
The great barrier reef marine park authorities, with their new zoning and restrictions (not sure it its fair to the fishermand at this stage)will ensure the islands of the Capricorn/Bunker Group will stay "pristine" for a long time to come.
We consider ourselves lucky in Hervey Bay, to able to fly out to Lady Elliot Island in 35 minutes, stay in a cabin, with heaps of bird life all around, coral reefs as you step off the beach, turtles that still lay their eggs in the sand, and with the island being so low on the horizon, there is no vision of the mainland whatsoever. (Real beachcomber stuff - I guess it may not appeal to those who want nightlife, or 5 star hotel rooms)