Australia GBR & Coral Sea

I am very interested in going to the GBR and Coral Sea, but I am put off by a number of stories I hear from fellow photographers about GBR dive operators being very inflexible and demanding high speed group diving. I have never been there myself.

Can anyone suggest any operators who are underwater photography friendly? I am looking to travel in December/January.

Group diving wouldn't both me so much for a diving magazine feature, but this is a natural history shoot - and therefore there is a need for a degree of understanding from the operation.

There is no real reason for it to be on the GBR, except that I think it would be appropriate.

Thanks in advance

Alex

For a liveaboard, try the guys at Undersea Explorer out of Port Douglas . I have only done one trip with them (their minke swimming/Ribbon reef trip), and they were excellent and very accommodating.

I'm planning to do their Far Northern trip in December, and they also do Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef (Coral Sea). In the summer they have a couple of trips to coincide with the coral spawning, one date for the Ribbon Reefs (GBR), another for Osprey. Don't forget the coral spawning event itself is significant in a few ways... as a natural history event in itself worth covering; its effect on water clarity for a few days or more depending on the weather; and the subsequent influx of filter-feeders. Oh, and it stinks too.

darren

And remember the GBR is 2000km long and there is so much diveristy in experience from one end to the other that maybe if you could be more specific about the sort of shots you are after, how much time you want to stay, etc I could help a little more.

darren

Last August my wife and I dove with Taka (live-aboard). They were very photography friendly, but then I was still using my point and shoot. We did not have to do the group diving if we didn't want to, but I don't think anyone was solo diving. You would have to inquire.

We mainly did ribbon reefs, cod hole as well as osprey reef.

The food and bunks were great and the crew was alot of fun and very good.

We had a great time, and would reccomed them, but that's been my only live-aboard experiance, so I don't have a good basis for comparison.

Have fun,

John

I have been diving with the TAKA DIVE for many years. Pretty sure they would accommodate your request's if it was sorted out before you finalised the booking. You probably would need to check availability as Dec / Jan is a busy time for the boats in thsi region.

Failing that it would be failrly simple to organise a less crowded - more flexible boat on a sole charter basis for a surprisingly reasonable cost. Heck you could spend the whole time out in the Coral Sea @ Osprey reef with just 8 or 10 divers if you had a fair budget.