Hey folks,
So I have some airline miles to spend, and was looking at what I could do to maximize them, get good bang for the buck.
I was looking and I think I might have enough to get myself and the wife to Cairns and back in 2018 - feb/march/april time frame for 2 weeks, or at least a week and a half. I figure if I can get the flight for free it's only stupid expensive to go and dive, instead of insanely stupid expensive.
So I wanted to ask the crowd of folks who have been to GBR or the Coral Sea - having been - what would you tell me?
Was thinking about taking the 7 day liveaboard which goes towards the north (either Mike Ball or Spririt of Freedom (I think thats what its called).
The thing about giving advice is that it's all relative to what someone's preferences and previous experiences are. In the effort of getting better advice, here's a little about the wife and I:
The wife and I have been diving for about 10 years a few hundred dives concentrated around 1-2 trips per year - Cozumel, belize, roatan, bonaire, curacao - and we love it, but we feel like we've seen all the same stuff in various concentrations (for the record for consistency of experience Cozumel in February and March has been the winner. Other than some windy days that call off diving, we consistently see the most and largest fish there compared to the other places posted). We are hoping to see new things:
What we like in our diving: Fish, lots of them, large (bigger than a breadbasket). Coral formations. Sponges, colors
What we can take or leave, don't care either way - swim thrus, wrecks - they are only interesting if there are fish on/around them.
What we don't like: Cold water. Like colder than say 76 degrees (yeah, i knew I'm a wuss.) Conditions so challenging that you spend more time working on survival than enjoying the dive. Also, dive groups so large and tightly packed that you feel like you are constantly fighting a fin in the face.
We don't require vast amounts of luxury. We prefer the tshirt crowd to the polo crowd. Our taste in food is simple - we enjoy nice meals, but don't require them. We are not heavy drinkers.
We do require the ability to retreat to privacy when we've had our fill of a group. We are an early to bed early to rise couple. There aren't many occasions that call for staying up past 11pm, and most call for going to bed by 10.
Basically we like to dive, nap in the sun, read in the shade, rinse and repeat.
We aren't anti social, but we usually run into at least one person on the dive boat that we never need to speak to again, and at least one person that we wish we could take home and share meal and drink with ever weekend.
Something like blackbeards seems like a poor idea for us - given our desire to retreat to private sanctuary on occasion (never done them, but read the reviews, it doesn't sound like it's for everyone).
I'm also down for other destination suggestions. My only qualifier is that I'd like to use the airline miles to subsidize part of the trip, and the chance to see things that we haven't seen in the locations above. The miles are with American Airlines, which I find to be quite restrict on use in the APAC region (seriously - can't get to Thailand, Philippines, or Indonesia no matter how many miles you have...United may kick your ass off a flight, but I found I could do more with my miles when I flew them).
Would love to hear your thoughts/advice - yes - do GBR and Coral sea? Which boat and why? Do the 7 day, no don't do the 7 day?
Go someplace else?
thanks guys - appreciate any input.
Ray
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