Post-Cruise, SYD > Great Barrier Reef to Dive

Hello, Aussie Friends,

My DD, S-in-L, and GrandBaby disembark the Diamond Princess in Sydney on Tuesday 3 February and fly home SYD > LAX on Saturday evening, 7 February.

Patrick wants to dive the GBR but we only have from Tuesday until Saturday. Do you have any suggestions for:

1. Hotels in Cairns near the dive beaches?

2. Dive shoppes from which to rent suit & equipment?

3. Flight times?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

There are no beach dives in the Cairns area. You need to do a day trip at the very least out to the reef (about an hour + from the coast)

Look at blue Dive, Pro Dive and Tusa as operators.

Feb is not the the best time of year (in fact close to the the worst). I'm not sure I'd risk the flight (3 hours) BUT if this is what he really wants.

Another option may be to look at Lord Howe Island which also has diving ( not as good as the outer reed unless he manages to get to Balls Pyramid.) The weather is likely to be much better although you can still be affected by cyclones in terms of flight arrival and departure.

Flights from Sydney to Cairns on Feb. 3: Since you will be arriving by ship that day, you will probably want to schedule your flight to Cairns in the afternoon. (Your cruise line should be able to tell you when it is "safe" to schedule a flight).

Qantas has non-stop flights leaving at 13:10 and 20:15

Virgin Australia has non-stop flights leaving at 14:00 and 18:30

Flights from Cairns to Sydney on Feb. 7: Since you say you are leaving for LAX on the evening of February 7th, you will need to take a morning flight from Cairns. Just be sure you get back to Sydney with enough time to check in for your international flight.

Qantas has non-stop flights leaving Cairns at 9:10 and 11:50

Virgin Australia has non-stop flights leaving Cairns at 5:10 and 11:35

If you want to return to Sydney on Friday, there are any number of flights on both Qantas and Virgin Australia.

I'm sure your SIL already knows this, but he will have to wait at least 24 hours after diving before he can fly. So if you leave Cairns on Saturday morning, he will have to dive on Wednesday or Thursday. If you fly back to Sydney on Friday, he will likely only be able to dive on Wednesday.

Thanks for your ideas. I had forgotten about the 24-hour after-dive rest. It has been so many years since I have taken dive lessons. I was never able to clear my ears and, although a good swimmer, I am unable to dive deeply. :eek:

Also, I did not realize that the diving is so far from shore. When I was in Oz for 10 days, about 10 years ago, I flew from Sydney to Cairns for a couple of days and did the rainforest railway, a 4 AM balloon ride, and the aboriginal museum, not the diving.

If it were me, I would plan to return to Oz in the future for 2 weeks to try to do the whole island. In 10 days, I saw Sydney, Canberra, Blue Mountains, Ayers Rock & Alice Springs, as well as Darwin after a cyclone. I need to return to do the west, i.e., Perth and coast. ;)

I shall pass this along to Cici & Pat so they can decide. I appreciate your suggestions. :D

I'm glad my information was useful, DiPrincess.

BTW, you weren't being serious about planning to return to Australia "for 2 weeks to try to do the whole island", were you? I lived there for 3 years and even with 5 weeks a year of vacation and traveling over 1 weekend per month, I didn't come close to seeing "the whole island".

One can never do it All, just have fun trying. Although I have been to all the continents, I really have not seen much of the U.S.A. except for NOLA, Whidbey Island, and HI (thanks to the USNR). New Mexico and Virginia (thanks to the US Army), and Georgia (thanks to Lockheed). ;)

What Awaits: Thailand, African Safari, the Marqueses (Aranui 5) and back to AU, NZ, and Ireland again. :D

I figure I can do more of the U.S.A. after I get too old and crippled to walk because it is more accessible than Europe.

I certainly appreciate your thinking, Di Princess! :)

We've done a lot of worldwide travel thanks to the Department of State and we have a few more international places on our "bucket list" as well. We try to alternate international and domestic travel but last year we got to do both--the Black Hills of South Dakota and a Black Sea cruise. (We're glad we got to see Odessa and Sevastapol now that they're not included on those cruises.)

We've done the African safari and we lived in Thailand--you'll love them both!

We are considering the same trip from Sydney to Cairns but snorkeling rather than diving. It will be late February and I am concerned that if the weather is bad we will be wasting our time and money getting to Cairns.

Is there a better chance of decent weather and sea conditions from Airlie Beach?

We did an overnight dive/snorkel out of Cairns last February and had a great time. To me the weather was just like what I expect back home in NC in August: hot, muggy, with afternoon/evening rainstorms.

For us, with limited options on when we could travel, it was still well worth going, even if it wasn't the "best" time to go.

And hey, by going during rainy season, the Barron Falls were absolutely amazing!

We did an overnight dive/snorkel out of Cairns last February and had a great time. To me the weather was just like what I expect back home in NC in August: hot, muggy, with afternoon/evening rainstorms.

 

For us, with limited options on when we could travel, it was still well worth going, even if it wasn't the "best" time to go.

 

And hey, by going during rainy season, the Barron Falls were absolutely amazing!

We're doing what will basically be a NZ cruise next January. We are all divers and would like to stay in Australia a bit to go up and dive the barrier reef. What company did you use for your overnight? Did you do a night dive? That isn't really something I want to do, but I think my companions might want to.

We went with a company called Deep Sea Diver's Den http://diversden.com.au/ They did offer night dives (we weren't certified so we couldn't do those, I did a sunrise dive instead). They also offer guided snorkeling if there is a member of your party that doesn't want to dive.