I have some friends coming over to visit who are serious divers and about the only place they haven't dived is the Barrier Reef. They're asking me (with 10 dives to my name and none since I arrived in Oz ) when the best time to dive the reef is, anyone have any idea? Also can anyone recommend any dive charters? From my experience there's as many bad ones as good and I wouldn't want to send them to a bunch of cowboys.....
Thanks in advance
Martyn

Northern hemisphere summer - ie the dry season - but the only time when its not good is when a cyclone is lurking! Can't comment on charters, sorry

In the Barbie section there is an ongoing diving thread - do a search for it and try posting on there, it might get the attention of diving-people in Australia.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Tusa Dive in Cairns were pretty good. We dived in July out of Cairns and although it was a bit 'bumpy' getting there and back the diving was good and the viz was pretty good too (although have to admit, I still prefer the Red Sea) I dived it in a 3mm wetsuit and was warm enough considering it is 'winter' then

wouldnt come in the wet season. can be hit or miss with the cyclones and all. my nextdoor nieghbour owns a couple of charter boats which do 1 and 2 night trips.has a max of 10 on the boat at one time and gives you a bit of insight into the reef system.the coral spawning is supposed to be pretty cool. think thats around oct but i could be wrong. pe if you want there details.

Thanks all, some useful info to get me started. I'll head over to the barbie and have a look there too.
Cheers
Martyn

CHECK OUT CALYPSO DIVING OUT OF PORT DOUGLAS...JUST NORTH OF CAIRNS - SUPERB MODERN BOAT AND REALLY NICE PEEPS....WE WENT IN AUGUST WHICH WAS SUPERB!! www.calypsocharters.com.au

i WENT OUT WITH THREE DIFFERENT BOATS OUT OF PORT AND THESE WERE DEFINATELY THE BEST! AND GOING TO THE BEST REEF! IN FACT WE ARE EVEN NAMING OUR DAUGHTER AFTER ONE OF THE INSTRUCTORS!!

we went out in the wet season.... but got 3 glorious days of diving - couldn't have asked for better!

We went with ProDive Cairns. Have done a few courses trips with various ProDive franchises and have found all of them to be excellent. Highly recommend PDC as they have their own moorings on the GBR so you're not sharing with 1/2 a dozen other dive operators!!!

Hi Martyn

as others mentioned it is a good idea to avoid the wet season. Having done 2 trips with them I can recommend Prodive Cairns. Good vessels and service, own dive sites, excellent briefings, good food...

An excellent dive is the Yongala wreck from Townsville or Ayr. Unfortunately, there is no good liveabord going out there. Prodive Townsville offers a trip but their vessel satisfies only very basic needs (I was not sure if it would make all the way back) and the price they are asking for is a joke. There are day operators from Townsville or Ayr.

The Yongala is one of my fave dives ever. We went out from Ayr (can't remember who with, but they had a HUGE RIB), think it was in Nov/Dec time a couple of years ago. Trip out and back was a bit lumpy but the dive was amazing, so full of life.

I did a 4 day/3 night livaboard with Mike Ball. Would highly recommend them. I went out in January of last year. Due, to what I thought, bad vis I didn;t find it the best diving I had ever done but it was still superb.

I had originally looked to do day trips to the reef but this is impossible if you want to do some good diving. This is due to the fact that the main Barrier Reef is located many miles off shore. Out of reach of the day trip boats. Ribbon reef and the Coral sea can only be done through liveaboards.