1770 underwater adventures - day trips

Our three-tier family group of 8. This included 2'divers' and 6 snorkelers.We were travelling by train to the station Miriam Vale from Brisbane (and on to Port Douglas) so needed to stay close by. We settled on 1770 and rented The Big Blue house -SC and more than adequate and within walking distance of shops and cafes. (also a made-to-measure swimming costume shop).The local entrepreneur Whitey met us at the station, fixed up surfing, airport run, etc etc - Great chap. Will do anything he can to make your holiday fun.Local travel shop fixed up our trip out to reef and transport to the boat. Divers; be sure to take your Paddi certs with you - they will be checked. During the trip out to the reef I sat up at the bow and saw dolphins and flying fish. It was rough but but ship staff were very kind and helpful to those who suffered. One of our divers was a bit nervous but she was excellently guided at all times so had a fab time. Our snorkelling was superb, turtles and many many brilliantly coloured reef fish. There was a submersible and also a lower viewing platform so if not up to snorkelling then it would not be a wasted trip. Lady Musgrave Isle is a bit tame but is only a side-show. Lunch served on board was pretty good, inc in the price plus coffees/teas .Buoyancy aids, wetsuits, flippers all provided on the platform but take sun cream and hat. As a bonus:1770 has fascinating museum on Capt Cook - who landed there in 1770! The surf school on the beach there was lots of fun and all managed to stand on their boards for a few seconds at least. Go Play and enjoy.

A dive trip to the Great Barrier Reef should be a major highlight of a trip to Australia, but it definitely wasn't with this outfit. We were told that the boat would first go to Lady Musgrave Island to drop off some campers. We would be doing a wall dive there and then go to Fitzroy Reef, or Fairfax or Hoskyn Island for a second dive and there would probably be time for a third dive which we could pay for on the boat. The boat was to leave at 8:00am but because one of the crew members was late we didn't leave until about 8:45am. There were 6 campers, 4 certified divers and 16 snorkelers plus crew on board. After the campers were discharged we did our first dive, which was absoutely not a wall dive. We swam around in pretty shallow water, never getting below 11 meters and saw almost nothing but piles of broken dead coral and small fish. Even though we only got down to 11 meters, the dive leader had us do a safety stop for 3 minutes at 10 meters. The no decompression time for that depth is well over 100 minutes and we were only down about 40 minutes. After we got back on board, they set out lunch, which was barely adequate, and the boat moved maybe 50 meters and reset the anchor. But, instead of allowing the divers to dive again, we had to wait while nearly all the snorkelers did an introductory dive. We had to wait because there were not enough tanks or BCDs for everyone. They were in the water for at least 60 minutes before they told us we could go snorkeling. We came to dive and we paid to dive.. After the introductory dives were finished, the tanks had to be refilled before we could dive again. The scenery was better but we were rushed through it so the boat could get underway to return. Whistles and safety sausages were not provided as required by Queensland law, my certification card was never checked to verify that I was indeed certified although my wife's card was checked. After each dive or snorkel, you were required to sign that you were back on board, which is a good thing, but I wasn't asked to sign after the second dive until the boat was already underway. The food on board was really not adequate for the number of people and some members of the crew were downright rude. We were supposed to be back about 5:30 but didn't get back until after 6:30 and returned mostly in the dark with practically no running lights. If you're thinking of diving the Great Barrier Reef, go to Cairns and only go with a PADI 5-star operator. I wish we had taken the time to do just that.