We did a liveaboard (3 days, 2 nights) with Cairns Dive Center (CDC). I do NOT recommend them! Both of their boats, the daytrip boat Sunkist, and the liveaboard boat Kangaroo Explorer, are falling apart.
The air conditioning broke both nights (and it gets really hot in the cabins without it), there is rust everywhere, and cracks/damage all over the boat. The air vents look like they have not been cleaned in decades.
We went to only 3 dive sites on a 10-dive trip. That’s less than 25% of the dive sites they claimed we might visit. We never made it to Milln Reef, even though CDC has dive sites there that we could have visited. Conditions were fine for moving the boat – I blame the stinginess of the owners and laziness as the reasons why we did not get to see more reef locations.
One crewmember told us that the Kangaroo Explorer's engines had broke for an entire WEEK, leaving guests stranded at the East Timor dive site. Those guests received free guides, but I doubt any of them received refunds for such a terrible trip.
The crew is nice, but most of them are receiving free accomodation & diving in exchange for work (e.g. they're mostly volunteers) and so they have no power to change or improve anything. The manager at the shop, Peter Stokes, does not care, and nothing gets fixed on the boat.
To sum up: the owners do not care about the quality of your experience with CDC – they are out to make a buck. No money is being spent on keeping the boat in good shape; it never returns to harbor, and it is falling apart. The diving was mediocre at best. DO NOT BOOK with Cairns Dive Center, and make them improve their act or get out.
Cairns Dive Centre Reviews
We did a liveaboard (3 days, 2 nights) with Cairns Dive Center (CDC). I do NOT recommend them! Both of their boats, the daytrip boat Sunkist, and the liveaboard boat Kangaroo Explorer, are falling apart.
The air conditioning broke both nights (and it gets really hot in the cabins without it), there is rust everywhere, and cracks/damage all over the boat. The air vents look like they have not been cleaned in decades.
We went to only 3 dive sites on a 10-dive trip. That’s less than 25% of the dive sites they claimed we might visit. We never made it to Milln Reef, even though CDC has dive sites there that we could have visited. Conditions were fine for moving the boat – I blame the stinginess of the owners and laziness as the reasons why we did not get to see more reef locations.
One crewmember told us that the Kangaroo Explorer's engines had broke for an entire WEEK, leaving guests stranded at the East Timor dive site. Those guests received free guides, but I doubt any of them received refunds for such a terrible trip.
The crew is nice, but most of them are receiving free accomodation & diving in exchange for work (e.g. they're mostly volunteers) and so they have no power to change or improve anything. The manager at the shop, Peter Stokes, does not care, and nothing gets fixed on the boat.
To sum up: the owners do not care about the quality of your experience with CDC – they are out to make a buck. No money is being spent on keeping the boat in good shape; it never returns to harbor, and it is falling apart. The diving was mediocre at best. DO NOT BOOK with Cairns Dive Center, and make them improve their act or get out.