March 20, 2017 Tour

sanjuanbabe

Looking for others who will be on the March 20th tour. We are from Southern California and are arriving in Melbourne March 18th out of LAX on the 16th. Very excited!!!

schuchy

Hello, my husband and I are looking to book a small group tour possibly with Tauck and was just wondering how you came to choose Tauck over other small group tours ......would love to hear from you......

sanjuanbabe

We had used Tauck based on our travel agents recommendation for our trip to Africa and really loved them as a tour company. Excellent service, a nice mix of places to stay and opportunities to experience the culture and people in so many different ways. Also, we liked that they were not always hounding you with options/excursions that cost extra, like we had experienced with another tour company. Everything was included.

Texasmama

We are Alan and Michele from San Antonio. We will be joining you on this adventure. We leave also out of LA on the 16th!
This will be our third tour with Tauck and certainly the longest tour we have ever done.

sanjuanbabe

Will we be on the same flight then? Qantas Fl# 94 leaving LAX at 10:05 pm on March 16th?
Cindy & Mary Ellen (from Southern California)

ndvb

I am on this same trip and I think we must be on the same flight. Mine is American, but leaves at the same time out of LAX. I am a solo traveler on my seventh Tauck tour. I also look forward to touching down on my seventh continent. I arrive, as you do, on the 18th and will have some time to visit some places on my own. I'm not someone who has a problem with jet lag and will hit the ground running. I look forward to meet others on the trip.

Candiceok

We are Candice and Alan. We leave the 17th out of LAX. First Tauck tour. Very excited. Need all the tips we can get!

Texasmama

Well I was wrong about our departure date as we leave on the 17th on New Zealand Air out of LAX. Perhaps we will see you Candice. I too am trying to figure out the packing. It will be diverse weather and is a lot of days to travel. So I continue to look for tips too.

ndvb

I have a question to those that have gone on this trip. I am on the 20 March 2017 trip and, as some of you are, I am on the 16 March flight, arriving in Melbourne on 18 March. This will be my 7th trip with Tauck and lets me put my feet on all seven continents. My question concerns the visit to the Great Barrier Reef. I am getting certified to SCUBA dive the Reef and want to know, from others that have dived the Reef, what the water temperature was during late March/early April. Will I need to wear protective gear (wet suit) for the dive? I have looked on line for average water temperatures at that time and it seems to be around 84 degrees. For an hour dive, that seems to be warm enough to get away with a light shirt or dive skins, but I am not sure and want to hear from an experienced diver in this area and at this time.

I also need to know if I have to reserve this extra activity in advance or can I wait to do it when I arrive? I know there are a couple of companies that provide two dives on the free day at the Reef and would like to know if someone recommends a vendor for this activity.

I am eager to take this trip and look forward to seeing my fellow "Taucktorians" (I think Joyce invented the term) who will be joining me. I am just starting for organize some free time activity and will probably be back in with other questions. On my Antarctic trip a couple of other tour members and I hired a private guide to show us places around Buenos Aires that the Tauck tour did not go. It was inexpensive and very good. I might do the same thing for the pre-trip days in Melbourne or the free time in Sydney. If anyone has any suggestions for a guide I would like to entertain them. If anyone else or couples who are interested in joining me (I am a solo traveler) let me know.

British

You may know that Tauck uses the Quicksilver company for the Reef tour. We stayed in a different hotel but it involved a longish bus ride for us to Port Douglas to take the boat ride, 90 minutes to the Reef. You spend three and a half hours there. I would prebook your scuba dive before you go, you will arrive at 11-30 and depart at 3pm. I think my husband did scuba, I had an extra ride on the submersible while he was gone. I tried to learn in The PADI diving course in Malta years ago and did not like it but they taught me how to really make the best of snorkeling. Don't forget the restrictions on flying after diving if you decide to scuba the day after the Tauck trip to the Reef, you are due td fly after lunch the following day.
While in Melbourne, two days early, we explored several areas and a couple of museums, rode a tram and talked to locals on the tram, really nice people, we did not go to see those penguins! Can't recall what else we did, I'm mixing it hp with our separate tour of New Zealand to be honest.

SMT

We took this tour in October 2015. It is incredible!!! One of the few trips we have taken that we would actually consider doing again instead of going someplace new.

Regarding Scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Quicksilver is the company that provides the actual tour out to their platform on the reef. You sign up for Scuba during the trip out to the reef - which takes about 90 minutes. They were fussy about making sure you are properly qualified.

They provide wet suits on the platform for anyone either snorkeling or Scuba diving. More for protection and not really for water temperature. Snorkeling is done in a large roped off area. Scuba goes outside of this area.

They also have a "submersible" which takes you out around the platform for additional views of the reef.

ndvb

Thanks for the information on the SCUBA diving. I have just one question left (at least, for now). SMT, are the "protective suits" always a wet suit, or do they use "skins?" Since the water temps are in the mid 80s, skins will provide some protection from cuts, jelly fish, etc. Thanks. Oh...yep, one more question...what was the depth of your dive(s)? I have heard only 25 ft.

AlanS

ndvb wrote:

Thanks for the information on the SCUBA diving. I have just one question left (at least, for now). SMT, are the "protective suits" always a wet suit, or do they use "skins?" Since the water temps are in the mid 80s, skins will provide some protection from cuts, jelly fish, etc. Thanks. Oh...yep, one more question...what was the depth of your dive(s)? I have heard only 25 ft.

Nial- ask your lady friend what divers do to warm the water in a diving suit.

ndvb

AlanS, I already knew it, and she told me too. Besides, I have already done it....Been there; done that. But we both enjoyed the comment. I leave in two days. I don't look forward to the long flight and leaving the "lady friend" behind. There is an old story of a "Master Teacher" who promised his students that on the last day of class they could ask any question they wanted and he would give the correct answer. One young man, who didn't like this teacher, decided to ask a question he couldn't answer. He showed up in class with a dove in his hand. He put the bird behind his back and asked the professor, "Sir, is the bird alive or dead?" Knowing that if he said the bird was alive, the professor realized the boy would kill the bird and show it to the class. Also, if the professor said the bird was dead, the student would pull the bird from behind his back and let it fly away. The professor thought long and hard and told the student, "The bird will be what you want it to be." Such is most things in life.....including my long flight and 23 days away from the new woman. Since I had this trip planned almost a year ago, it is sold out and I am doing it solo. Hopefully, this will be the last solo trip for me.