I took Taka Dive liveaboard to the outer reefs, Cod Hole and Osprey Reef where the 'main' targets of our cruise. Unfortunately due to weather conditions skipper decided that was not a good idea to advance to Osprey. I thought it was a good call, I'm sure we where better off not spending two nights miserable in toilet (see, I'm getting softer with age). Too bad from the other hand, I was looking forward seeing some white/blacktip sharks. I did get few good shots off Potato Cod's, check them out in the Photo Gallery. I think I'm starting to get hold the the underwater photograps, well in a way that at least few of the look ok. Still practising though. Our onboard or resident videographer Gonzo was excellent in taking macro shots. I decided to tought it out and not buy his pictures at the end of the cruise. I need to learn an take my own

Taka leaves from Cairns harbour for either 5 or 4 day cruises. I'm not sure how you fit a 5 day and 4 day cruise in a week (only seven days, no?) and they always leave on Fridays and Tuesdays. Basically 5 'day' tour means three full days of diving (up to four dives) and two on the last day.

In summarum, a positive experience and I recommend Taka for divers on a budget. You do get your moneys worth. As I have not been to any other prominent reef explorer (Undersea Explorer mainly) I can't really compare. The only small complaints I have is that there where quite a few quests onboard and the diving operations seemed to take a long time, so perhaps splitting the groups a bit more could have made a better. Oh I don't know, perhaps not. The other was the O2 analyzer. I did the analyzing, but was a bit wierd in my mind. You had to use the BCD hose connection for the reading. Doing it few times a day, must have gotten the O2 sensor wet/salty. Then again, perhaps I'm just used to a bit of different kind. Most of the divers seemed to think that if the mix was ok in the morning, it was ok for the rest of the day.


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