So you’ve made the decision. You want to learn to Scuba dive. CONGRATULATIONS! Now you just need to decide where… Thailand, Bali, Red Sea or maybe the Caribbean? There are loads of options out there, but the Great Barrier Reef tops my list every time. Here are 7 reasons why you should learn to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef!
1. You will be inspired to travel the world and dive.
Home to 2900 individual reefs, 1500 fish species, one third of the world’s soft corals, six (of seven) species of turtle not to mention sharks, rays, whales, dolphins and dugongs, you will get a taste of what is out there and I guarantee will be craving more.
2. They don’t call it “GREAT” for nothing!
The GBR is roughly the same size as Japan or Germany and so there are loads of different dive sites to accommodate beginners. You don’t need to worry about being thrown, literally, in the deep end.
3. Visibility.
Divers use this term a lot because they want to be able to SEE things. On the GBR the average visibility is 15-20 metres and on the frequent good days it will be 30 metres. That’s perfect for scuba students to see all the wonderful life out there.
4. Weather.
Which would you prefer warm waters and blue skies or cold and frosty? Water temperatures range from 24°C/75°F in winter to 29°C/85°F in summer while on land you can expect 20°C/80°F in July with mid 30°C/90°F in January and February.
5. Safety.
Not to sound like your mum, but safety matters when learning a sport like scuba. I’ve seen some very questionable dive shops in my travels around the world. In Australia you can rest assured that the quality of instructors is extremely high and that dive operators are following a strictly regulated code of practice.
6. They speak your language.
The GBR is very focused on tourism and set up to support travellers from all over the world. As well as English, Prodive in Cairns, runs courses in German and Japanese, while Deep Sea Divers Den also operates in Japanese, Mandarin and Korean.
7. Plenty to do on shore.
OK so this is land based, but you need somewhere to chill out after all those dives. Cairns and the Whitsundays have stunning beaches, great nightlife and restaurants and world heritage listed rainforests on the doorstep for you to explore. There’s plenty to keep you occupied between dives!
By We Are Travel Girls Contributor Jess Mizzi of ExpatGetaways.com
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Jennifer says
Wow! This looks so fun. I would love to scuba dive in the GBR some day. I’ve only been scuba diving in Hawaii. :)
We Are Travel Girls says
Hope you make it to dive there! How is Hawaii for diving?
Aria says
The main reason I love scuba diving is for the adventure, for going under water without knowing what you may see or find. The second reason is because the beautiful and unique underwater landscape. In the past years I’ve taken a lot of pictures of the marine life which I store on https://dive.site along with all my diving logs. It’s cool that I can also search new dive spots or even add my own.