MY Spoilsport; Liveaboard diving in Australia; 9.4 out of 10 and is rated 'Superb'; from £292, $356, €333/day. Customer Review:
“Doesn’t get much better……The diving was organised to a very professional standard. Nitrox was available (though an extra charge) and 15 litre tanks also available (again extra). Every dive was preceeded by a detailed briefing and a guide was available, though you could dive with a buddy if preferred. 4 or 5 dives a day were offered. Luckily we were blessed with great weather and easy dives. Probably the best dive was a shark feed – 40/50 reef sharks + giant cod all in a feeding frenzy. The food on board was excellent – all tastes and diets catered for. The cabins were very comfy – good bunks, adequate storage and functional bathroom. On the last night we had a party – some guests were professional musicians so we had a good show….& all the crew got everyone up dancing. I was a liveaboard virgin but now a total convert.” Recommended for: Organisation of diving, the crew, comfort of boat.
MY Ocean Quest; Liveaboard diving in Australia; 9 out of 10 and is rated 'Superb'; from £152, $185, €173/day. Customer Review:
“Wonderful Experience with Ocean Quest on GBR. Liveaboard provides a much more relaxed and enjoyable dive experience than day trip boats – well worth the extra cost. We got to experience the GBR with great guides and then share our experiences with the other guests over a meal or a beer in the bar. The diversity at GBR is just awesome and getting to experience sea turtles, cuttlefish, sharks, unicorn fish and all the other colorful and unique species we encountered.” Recommended for: Warm showers when you wanted/needed, a bed to rest on .. and the crew.
MY Spirit of Freedom; Liveaboard diving in Australia; 9.3 out of 10 and is rated 'Superb'; from £241, $294, €275/day. Customer Review:
“A childhood dream realised. Impressively well run ship with enthusiastic, switched on crew. Little things like warm towels, kit taken care of, delicious food, made it a fantastic liveaboard. Highly highly recommend. Don’t miss out on the night dive!” Recommended for: Fantastic diving, comfortable ship, proficient crew.
MY Pro Dive Cairns; Liveaboard diving in Australia; 9.2 out of 10 and is rated 'Superb'; from £176, $215, €201/day. Customer Review:
“You will feel like a pro in notime! Seeing the “mushroom” coral; seeing Brian the 150 y.o. turtle; at 6am after struggling to wake up and putting on a cold stinger suit that feeling when you are finally in the water; the growth of confidence!” Recommended for: Lots of diving, meeting new friends, chilling on the upper deck.
Shore Thing Catamaran; Liveaboard diving in Australia; 9.9 out of 10 and is rated 'Exceptional'; from £339, $414, €386/day. Customer Review:
“Awesome three days in Coral Bay! The variety of coral is breathtaking. So great to see a reef that is still thriving. Lots of big fish like sharks, rays, and groupers, but the wobegongs, cuttlefish, and octopus were my favorites. Several spots had interesting pass-throughs and giant coral configurations. On board everything was well set-up and the staff were excellent all round. Food was wonderful, including fresh baked bread! Recommended for: The diving/snorkeling was amazing and the food was awesome. The staff were super friendly, knowledgeable, and professional.
Australia liveaboard diving is about diving the less dived outer-reef of the Great Barrier Reef or the west coast Rowley Shoals, which is only accessible by liveaboard. Choose a highly rated Australia liveaboard to dive amazing coral reefs with vibrant marine life, turtles, sharks and minke whales.
Liveaboard diving in Australia is one of the top places for many divers to dive, with the Great Barrier Reef being on many scuba diver’s bucket list of dives. If you’re a scuba diver and you visit Australia, the trip wouldn’t be complete without a scuba diving trip.
Australia has over 34,000 kilometres (21,126 miles) of coastline to explore, with water temperatures that go from tropical conditions in Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, to the cold waters of the southern ocean where you find great white sharks lurking beneath the waves.
But it is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Queensland that is the place most visited and dived by scuba divers from around the world.
Whilst you can dive the Great Barrier Reef on a day-boat, one of the best ways to truly appreciate the World’s largest reef system is from a Cairns based dive liveaboard. It is from one of these Cairns liveaboards where you can scuba dive the outer reef. The outer reef of the GBR is much less crowded than the inner reef, and is where you’ll find unspoilt coral and a huge variety marine life.
Australia dive cruises from Cairns offer itineraries to those parts of the Great Barrier Reef located in the Coral Sea. It is here in the Coral Sea where you get to enjoy visibility of 40 metres (131 feet).
Not only will you experience huge numbers of marine life when you dive the outer reef, but you can also dive one of the world’s best wreck dives the SS Yongala.
Australia Offers Other Dive Locations by Liveaboard
In addition to diving the Great Barrier Reef, Australia has Western Australia diving on offer too. Off the west coast of Australia is where you’ll find Rowley Shoals, which can only be dived from an Australian liveaboard. You need to book early on the Rowley Shoals liveaboards to avoid disappointment, as they are extremely popular, where you get to dive remote dives site of Mermaid and Clerke Reefs.
Table of Australia Liveaboards
This list of Australia liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating will be at the top of the list. To filter this table for the features that are important for your Australia liveaboard trip, select from the list of filters below.
Note: The above “Price Per Day” was correct at the time of producing this article, as was the exchange rate used to convert the GBP cost to US Dollars and Euros. For an up-to-date cost for your chosen liveaboard, please visit the “Book” link above.
Australia Liveaboard Dive Sites
The Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the World’s largest coral reef system and the largest living organism. The Great Barrier Reef stretches for 2,300 kilometres (1,430 miles) and covers an area of approximately 344,468 square kilometres (133,000 square miles). The reef system is made up of more than 2,900 reefs and includes 900 islands.
Popular Great Barrier Reef dive sites include Osprey Reef, Ribbon Reef, Milln Reef, Flynn Reef, Cod Hole, Lizard Island, Bougainville Reef, North Horn and the SS Yongala wreck, many of which are only accessible via a liveaboard tour, all of which depart from the port of Cairns.
Osprey Reef Diving
Osprey Reef is found in the Coral Sea area of the Great Barrier Reef and can only be dived from an Australia liveaboard leaving from Cairns.
The diving includes small caverns and swim-throughs and you will normally see many of the shark species found on the Great Barrier Reef here. Osprey Reef also boasts 40 metre (1321 feet) visibility.
Ribbon Reef Diving
Ribbon Reef is located to the north of Cairns and is too remote for day boats and only accessible by Australia liveaboard. Ribbon Reef is made up of 10 separate reefs that stretch for 175 kilometres (109 miles).
Due to the remote location of the reefs of Ribbon Reef, the corals are in pristine condition.
Milln Reef Diving
Milln Reef is made up of three large coral pillars, which are also known as the Three Sisters. Milln Reef is very remote and only accessible by Australian liveaboards as it is roughly 60 kilometres (37 miles) offshore from Cairns.
Milln Reef is a great place for scuba diving or snorkelling and a great spot for seeing sea turtles. You will also find sharks, groupers, schools of bumphead parrotfish, rays, cuttlefish and clownfish.
Flynn Reef Diving
Flynn Reef is a great dive site for all levels of diver which includes both novice divers and advance divers. Flynn Reef can also only be dived by liveaboard as it is 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Cairns.
Flynn Reef is best known for it’s coral garden and includes expansive coral fields with an abundance of both hard and soft coral. The reef offers dive sites unlike any other and includes swim-throughs, overhangs, wall dives and of course a vast marine life collection.
The marine life found at Flynn Reef will include clownfish, batfish, cod fish, fusiliers, angelfish, triggerfish, turtles and whitetip reef sharks.
Cod Hole Diving
Cod Hole is one of the best-known dive sites of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and is located about 96 kilometres (60 miles) north of Cairns. Code Hole is made up of a string of long narrow Ribbon Reefs and is home to a group of very friendly potato cod.
These potato code can grow to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) and are very much accustomed to scuba divers, and as a result these giant fish approach quite closely. Cod Hole’s cod fish can even be hand fed at the site. Divers of any experience can dive Cod Hole who have at least an Open Water Dive certification. But you are best to have at least 10 dives under your belt before you dive there to maximum enjoyment of the site.
Also, if you are lucky and visit during the winter months you may even see a dwarf minke whale. These curious creatures have been known to linger around snorkelers and divers for hours.
Other inhabitants of Cod Hole include triggerfish, moray eels, giant flowery cod, humphead Maori wrasse, white-tip reef sharks, sweetlips, anemonefish (clown fish), red bass, green turtles, star fish, feather stars and puffer fish.
Western Australia Diving
Liveaboards of Western Australia leave from the town of Broome in the north of the state of Western Australia.
The diving there, which includes the unspoilt Clerke Reef and Mermaid Reef in the Rowley Shoals is spectacular.
Rowley Shoals Diving
Rowley Shoals are located about 250 kilometres (155 miles) off the coast of Australia. Rowley Shoals is made up of three large coral shelf atolls and can only be dived from an Australia liveaboard.
At Rowley Shoals you’ll find stunning coral gardens and over 650 species of fish. Various shark species, sailfish and humpback whales can also be seen too.
The dives sites at Rowley Shoals offer something for all divers and the diving is suitable for novice and experienced divers with a minimum of 10 to 20 logged dives.
Popular Rowley Shoals Liveaboards
MY Odyssey; Liveaboard diving in Australia; 8.6 out of 10 and is rated 'Fabulous'; from £270, $329, €308/day. Customer Review:
“Dream trip, exceptional diving experience. Abundance of marine life. Acquiring new dive buddies.” Recommended for: Pristine reef condition. Clear, warm water. Unplanned encounters with whales/dolphins.
I hope you enjoyed this page about Australia liveaboard diving
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof Gopro’s!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically about Australia liveaboard diving), please comment below with your questions.
There will also be many more articles about scuba diving (and snorkeling) for you to read and learn about these fabulous sports.
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