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Dive Review of Lady Elliot Island Divers/Lady Elliot Island in
Australia/Southern GBR

Lady Elliot Island Divers/Lady Elliot Island, May, 2006,

by Beverly Coburn, CO, USA . Report 3073.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Our family of four including boys 8 and 10 spent a week on Lady Elliot Island, the southernmost island on the Great Barrier Reef. During this trip, we experienced the best snorkeling of our lives, easily accessible from shore and perfect with our children. We only did a few dives since the snorkeling was so superb and our kids could enjoy it with us. During both dives and snorkels, we encountered huge schools and swirling fish tornados of various barracuda and jack, white tip, black tip, and bronze whaler sharks, huge bull rays, leopard rays, and shovel-nosed rays, eels, and more turtles than we could count. The corals were spectacular;intact, colorful, and teeming with life. While diving and snorkeling were the highlights for us, the resort offered much more in the way of fun and education. Guided educational activities included star-gazing, historical walks, fish-feeding, reef-walking, flora and fauna, and more. Wayne Fox, the general manager of the resort presented entertaining and informative slide shows about the local sharks and turtles. David Ireland, the "original Crocodile Man" was there filming a documentary on manta rays, so he gave a lively presentation one night and entertained informally other evenings (think "coconut bowling" and "reef bingo.") The reef education center, mini-golf, ping pong, and extensive library of films, book, and puzzles, provided us with hours of fun above water.
There are numerous flights daily from the mainland, part of the package, and a treat in itself for the beauty of the scenery and the novelty of landing on a short, grassy strip. We found the food to be plentiful and satisfying, especially the seafood buffet. Accomodations were simple, clean and adequate, located right above the water line, overlooking the lagoon. The staff, who live on the island, were hard-working, knowledgable, personable, and alot of fun to be with. My older son got his "Bubble-Blowers" certificate in the pool with the kind and patient dive manager, Adam,and can't wait to return on his twelvth birthday to become certified (the perfect venue.) We highly recommend this resort to families or divers with snorkeling- only spouses. A side trip to Frazer Island (the largest sand island in the world and a World Heritage- listed site),can be easily arranged out of Hervey Bay, also a gateway to Lady Elliot.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Caymans, Turks& Caicos, Bonaire, Curacao, Culebra, Tobago, St.Croix, Cozumel, Guanaja, Roatan, Florida Keys, Channel Islands (California), San Diego and Laguna Beach, Coronado Islands and Baja Mexico, Fiji, Hawaii
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 78-82°F / 26-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 40-90 Ft/ 12-27 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Divers were grouped according to experience. Divers chose the sites. Divemasters didn't hover. Few divers and we generally tooled around after the divemaster who knew where the best things about each site were.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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