Hello all,
I feel awful for even bringing this up, but I was scheduled to leave for a vacation in the Maldives January 7, but due to the tsunami the resort has been evacuated due to flooding with no set date for its reopening. Travel insurance will repay me and I'm making donations to a couple of relief organizations but now I find myself with money and time available. I'm trying to put together some sort of last-minute trip for me and my friend -- am I crazy to even consider trying for a Great Barrier Reef experience on this short notice? If so, any suggestions? I was thinking a few days in Sydney, then I'd have a week for GBR, maybe even a live-aboard for 3-5 days would be nice for us divers.
Elton

ecbowen, no, you're not crazy and under normal circumstances a liveaboard in January for GBR at last minute would be very feasible. But we don't know how many others will be looking for this due to recent tragic events in parts of SE Asia - its a bit similar to the aftermath of Bali bombings in October 2002, many tourists cancelled their on-going bookings there and elected to spend more time on GBR instead. Have a look at www.DivetheReef.com for liveaboard availability.

Thanks, Pat. I've lurked on this site for quite some time since we were initially planning a trip to Australia but time constraints killed that idea. You've always seemed particularly helpful, I should check to see if your place is available a day or two.
Elton

Hi Elton, We did a couple of trips to the reef off of Cairns in queensland.

The Lizard Island day Tour was by far the best.

Small groups excellent service and fabulous reef.

Barb.

Last minute trips to the GBR are very doable as there is so much variety and fortunately this is the lower season so even though there has been trouble overseas it should not impact too much on Australia.