Best Month(s) to cruise Australia/NZ for Scuba

We are in the early planning stages for an Australia/NZ cruise. We will probably go with Princess. All 4 of us are scuba divers and will want to dive at least once during the trip. If possible we will extend our vacation to do some 'non-cruise' sightseeing. Since we want to hit the water want would be the best months to look at for water temp/visibility/marine life?

Assuming you want to dive the Great Barrier Reef, then mid year is the best time for that part of Australia. It's the dry season up north so lovely warm days, clear skies and calm seas. However, this makes it the less than ideal time to see southern Australia as its winter so Sydney, Melbourne and NZ will be cold and possibly rainy. A shoulder season around May or September might be your best bet, it won't be prefect in either location but you will avoid the bad weather in the south and the cyclone season in the north.

You may find this web site useful. We stick to the winter / dry season months but then for us it is a land holiday. If you are combining with a cruise you may find yourself limited to the downunder cruising season from Septemberish to late March - early April, when there is a larger fleet of ships to choose from. There are short cruises run in the winter months by Australian based ships. I would avoid November when the coral is spawning unless this is an event you would like to observe. From table talking to cruisers on our last Queensland - Pacific cruise it proved difficult to organise scuba trips during port calls as even Cairns is a tender port for most cruise ships as are all the other Queensland ports apart from Brisbane. I have friends who dive in Sydney but they stick to the warmer months, when the dive boats are more active.

WE did a Solstice cruise in the GBR area in early April. It was at the tail end of the typhoon season. A small typhoon passed by in late March but the seas were calm by the tme we got to Port Douglas where we did a snorkling trip out to the GBR. We used the Calypso company who does scuba on another boat. Our skipper said the chances of clear water and calm seas are better in early April and woudl rather deal with Typhoons then the alternate issues of coral spawning, etc.