Ocean Quest, Australie

Great way to spend a few days of vacation

Really great way to get back into diving after being away for a while. Great Barrier Reef is a highlight by itself

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Dive guides. Fellow divers. Locations.

Great experience and flexible

I really enjoyed my time onboard Ocean Quest. If I could’ve stayed an extra day I definitely would’ve! People come on and off the boat each day so it is flexible per timeframes. Yet the similar sites tend to be different dive to dive so no two dives are the same. 4 dives per day on full days and 2 dives per day on return day. Overall good value

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Dive sites were great. Organization. Cabins and bathrooms.

Late November 2024 Dive Trip

Was not sure what to expect on this trip, was a large boat with approximately 40+ guests of which most were scuba diving every day. I was never in a group diving bigger than 6 people which was excellent since that would be the max I'd want to go with. The organization of the dives was particularly impressive with numerous different levels, classes and snorkeling all efficiently organized for such a large number of divers. Everything was very timely on all activities including meals and incoming/outgoing transfers on the main boat. Would definitely go with this outfit again.

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The scuba diving was amazing and well organized for as many people diving.. Staff were helpful on all facets of activities and functions on the boat.. Several options for diving and snorkeling were available for each day..

Fantastic Scuba Experience

Ocean Quest is a very well managed ship. Diver’s Den is recognized in Australia as one of the top diver and dive instructor training programs. One student from Melbourne described it to me like this: “All the best dive instructors I have met got their training here.” That’s consistent with my experience too. The guides were fantastic. The food was delicious and abundant. I’m still raving about the English bacon they serve at breakfast. The boat is older but the staff is very diligent with maintenance. Every guest room includes a private bathroom with a shower too. We saw a huge variety of corals and fish and the staff were very helpful and knowledgeable about identifying them. I got stumped trying to identify a picture I took of a Juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse and they recognized it right away! We also saw and captured a photo of a Hammerhead Shark! The night dives were fantastic too. Diving another nearby reef off of the tender was also fun and exciting!

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Excellent Adherence to Safety Guidelines. Outstanding Guide Services. Really good meals.

Avoid unless it's your only option, then manage your expectations.

First time diving the Reef, so absolutely thrilled with the dives, but that's about as far as the 'positives' go. The Ocean Quest (OQ) wasn't bad, in order to get to the Ocean Quest, you *have* to spend your first half day diving with (I believe the name is) Aqua Quest (AQ), which is the sort of boat everyone want to avoid...100 passengers with wide range of skill levels but usually on the beginner side, the organization and instructions on the AQ was horrible. You plan say 3 nights on the OQ, so you have clothes and whatnot for 3+ days, but you get on the AQ and they have no one to help you with where to out your bags; I'm *not* saying physically placing your bags somewhere...I'm saying where on the AQ to store them; I asked 2 staff members and they said find any open space but mind you there are 100 people on the AQ. Completely asinine. Then of those 100 passengers, some are divers some are snorkelers, complete chaos separating the groups and then outfitting us. You always feel like a piece of cattle. After 2 dives, the AQ met the OQ and transferred us to the OQ and our overnight bags. The AQ was the single worst dive experience of my life but you have to  take the AQ in order to dive from the OQ. Once on the OQ it got better but wasn't great, not even close. Now, you're on board a boat with say 40 passengers, still a mess with that many divers. I never felt unsafe; they take a headcount like 5x a day once each morning and once after each dive. The daily schedule behooves the staff and/or operations, *not* the divers/snorkelers. Here's the daily schedule: Breakfast - 730am Dive Brief 1 - 815am Dive Brief 2 - 1015am Lunch - 1230pm Dive Brief 3 - 315pm Dinner - 6pm Dive Brief 4 - 630pm So, you can do the math, but the time between breakfast *starting* at 730am and the *starting* of the dive brief, you have VERY little time to eat, get changed, digest food, get to your dive briefing, and then to your dive station. The time between dive 1 and 2 is fine, but why is breakfast at 730...it could very easily be moved earlier to even 7am or even 630am to allow time to ease into your first dive, but nope, not on this boat =(. And then you have a really long break, basically 11am to 3:15pm with nothing to do but lunch, so what happens in that time you may ask? Well, the OQ meets up daily with the AQ to transfer passengers to and from; some new passengers get on and some passengers disembark which means you get back on the nightmare called the AQ. So, with the daily transfers the crew has to handle checkout procedures, transfers, check-ins...so the current passengers/cattle are subject to an otherwise occupied crew and left with nothing to do: no diving, asked to not clutter the transfer area, so the passengers are really just part of a system or operation. I really wasn't a fan of the operation, but given my time constraints and desire to dive the GBR, this was the best I could arrange, so it has a place and serves a purpose, but manage your expectations if you choose this outfit.

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Dove the Great Barrier Reef. Made new friends onboard. That's about it.

Superb crew

Short trip but got in 6 amazing dives. The crew teams were fabulous. Good food, nice cabin and super diving.

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Enthusiasm of crew. Swift procedures. Good dives.