Hiii !!

I have been traveling in australie for 7 month...For the great barrier reef do not worry all schools are fine  and good ! There is one you can find in the center of Cairns i do not remember the name but you can not miss it if you wal in perth it is a big center ! I have done a 3days trip with them and i had fantastic time !!

For the escursion really do the fraser island one !!! The longest one is the best !!! It s just fun fun and again fun that is the best excursion i have done in australia !!!

Whitsundays as well, if you have time, really do them... There are magic !!! 

And most important, enjoy your trip.... Australia is a magic place.... I Love it -)

If you have more questions, just send me a personal email !

See youuu

Steph

Hi,

I took a dive trip on a boat three years ago on a Port Douglas based boat, it was one week and the boat is called "undersea explorer". It was fantastic! The boat is a research vessel with marine biologists on board and with your trip you help financing their research and they use you for various tasks, like counting fish population. I took the trip in in early summer and it was whale season, so we were spotting, counting and identifying whales. It was an absolutely incredible experience and I can only recommend it. However, it is pretty expensive and you need to be certified diver. I wouldn't take a school in Cairns, there are more interesting smaller cities with more charme in the area.

Hope that helps!

Marc

Thanks to both of you - very helpful!

http://www.reefencounter.com.au/

I did my Padi Open water during a 3 day boat trip with reef encounter on a liveaboard, it was wonderful. You still have to study the theory part but it is much more fun learning in the ocean than in the pool. Plan for one night hotel before (early departure) and one day after (can't fly after diving for 1 day) in Cairns. You get to see incredible coral gardens and wonderful underwater living creatures.

Highly recommended.

Lailai

Mike Ball Dive Expeditions have top-end (luxury) katamarans and run 5 and 7 day live-aboards from Cairns, up through the agincourt reef and along the outer reef slope (best diving on the Australian reef). They finish at Lizard Island, which stands out as an outstanding dive site  within the reef. You fly back to Cairns from Lizard Island in a ten seater, flying no more than several hundred meters over the reef. They have excellent dive guides, and I would recommend contacting them to see if they will teach you during such a trip. However. this wouldn't really fit into to "taking it slowly".

Richard

Hi Richard, I saw there is a Geneva scuba dive group - do you have a recommendation if I could learn how to dive here before I go?

Mangrove - yep, there are several scuba schools in Geneva. I highly recommend ADN diving at 42 Rue de Lyon. There are others in Geneva and Versoix, but i'm not very familiar with them. Maybe you could contact Felix (you can find him listed as a Scuba Group member), as he works at ADN.

Please keep in mind that diving in Swiss lakes is completely different to diving on the Great Barrier Reef! Cold, dark and demanding (and i'm not talking about my wife).

I recommend you start your course in Geneva, but only do the theory section here. You can then carry over that part and do the dives on the reef. This way you'll avoid having to study whilst on holiday.

Cheers........