Reef Adventures Great Barrier Reef Tour (From Cairns): An Honest Review.

Check-In & Departure.

• Meet-up Location: The Pier Shopping Centre, Cairns
• Arrival: 30 minutes before departure, check in inside The Pier Shopping Centre
• Parking: $2.20 per hour at the Southern Esplanade car park; Shangri-La Hotel offers capped all-day parking.
• Facilities: Toilets very close by.

Pros.

• The Reef Adventures is a really nice shop front within the Pier Shopping Centre and is easy to find.
• Check-in was super quick and easy.
• The staff are really friendly & welcoming.
• I liked that it was the air-conditioned centre, and not just meeting at the boat, because Cairns’ weather is horrible.
• It is also a booking centre, where you can look at other tours and things to do in Cairns.
• There’s proper seating just outside (but still within the centre), so you can relax while you wait. Toilets, too, for regular needs and testing out stinger suits.
• It’s within short walking distance of many hotels, ranging from budget to luxury, and is right next to a large, open car park and undercover parking under the Shangri-la.
• It’s conveniently located near the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon, Reef Eye Ferris Wheel and many restaurants, perfect for visiting before or after the tour.

Cons.

• N/A

Reef Adventures Boat & Journey.

• Capacity: 27 people on board
• Levels: 1 with canopy
• Seating: Nylon mesh (assumed)
• Platform: Stairs
• Facilities: Toilet
• Features: Soft rain windows
• Duration: approx. 50 minutes each way

Pros.

• Nice, modern, and stylish boat with edgy branding and eye-popping colours.
• The boat inside is nice.
• The journey out was smooth and very scenic. Cairns is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains, and it was a nice view of the city from the water.
• I also loved seeing Green Island and Fitzroy Island.

• Little panelling around the boat. There’s a nice open viewing area at the back as well, so you get panoramic views from most places you can stand around the boat.

• The water was nice and calm. We were heading straight towards a rain cloud, which ended up catching up with us on the second reef.
• It’s low to the water, so it has less sway, which could potentially be beneficial for people who are more prone to seasickness.
• You are allowed to roam, which is great.
• I love that they played music for some nice ambience, so the air wasn’t stale and chatter.
• Seats are comfortable.
• The engine wasn’t loud or obnoxious. It wasn’t even really noticeable.
• A toilet on board is always great.
• I like that it had a more youthful, adventurous vibe rather than a family one. It felt like it was more targeted towards young to mid adults rather than families.
• The crew saw a dolphin on the way out (I didn’t, but it was still cool)

Cons.

• There are no tables, which is a little awkward for having lunch. There are no cup holders or flat surfaces to put your stuff on, so it’s a bit of a balancing act. I had my drink and my packed lunch, which was awkward to balance, and having a drink made it even trickier.
• It was cold at lunch between snorkel sites, even though it was February (the hottest month), due to the overcast, rainy weather.

Breaking Patches Reef.

Breaking Patches is the first of the two stops that the Reef Adventures Full Day Tour visits. It is a standalone site located on the outer reef along Cairns’ coral coastline. It takes about 50 minutes to reach.

Pros.

• Massive coral formations are densely packed with different corals of many shapes and sizes. Huge coral diversity with beautiful colours. There was lots of coral variation, colour variation, and lots of soft coral.
• Lots of coral diversity—some shallow stuff, some deeper stuff. Most of it was nothing too deep; you could easily duck dive down and see it closer (highly recommend), but if you didn’t duck dive, there was still lots to see.

• So many fish and marine life species. Some of them included:
  • Foxface fish
  • 6 band angelfish
  • Blueface angelfish
  • Clams
  • 6 bar wrasse
  • Red and black anemone fish
  • Steephead parrotfish
  • Bridled parrotfish
  • Harlequin sweetlips
  • Caribbean reef squid

• The water wasn’t a cold shock to the system.
• The snorkelling pace for both tours was perfect.
• The guides were really good at pointing out stuff and then coming to the surface and telling us what it was.  I saw a lot more things I might have otherwise missed, which made this full-day trip my favourite guided snorkel tour.
• We were out there for a long time (1.5 hours, I think), which I loved as it meant we got to explore a large part of it and increase the chances of seeing the big ticket marine animals!
• Getting in and out of the boat was easy.
• The guides were helpful, and they held our flippers while we were getting out.

Cons.

• Unfortunately, no turtles, sharks or rays that day, but hopefully you see them.
• Some people might find it too long.

Michelmans Cay.

Michelmans Cay is a pristine wilderness island about 41km north-east of Cairns and just south of Breaking Patches. It is a protected bird sanctuary, home to a substantial number of local and migratory birds. We didn’t go to the island itself.

Pros.

• The view of the island, the thousands of birds on it or flying around it, and the gorgeous azure blue waters felt like paradise!
• My favourite of the two sites! I like that this reef was a bit different. Sections had a sandy bottom, giving more opportunity to see stingrays lying on the seabed. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any.)
• The coral was even more spectacular.
  • Along with being super diverse and densely-packed, there were several places with huge clusters of the same formations.
  • There’s one place where there’s a whole heap of soft coral dancing around hard coral, and it’s very trippy because it creates the illusion that they appear to move inversely.
  • There were more individual pillar formations, and I loved that they looked like floating gardens.
  • One of my favourite hard corals were the branching corals, where the algae had turned it into an electric blue or bright purple that made them stand out from everything else.
  • I also loved the ones that looked like crystals.

• Thrilled to see so many different marine animals. Including some I’ve never seen before! (***New)
  • Some of the fish and marine animals I saw (and you may see too!):
    • Sea turtle
    • Sea jelly
    • Barefoot Mata parrotfish
    • 6 band angelfish
    • Steephead parrotfish
    • Blue sea star
    • Black sea cucumbers
    • Pineapple sea cucumber
    • Giraffe sea cucumber ***
    • Numerous clams
    • Dash & dot goatfish ***
    • Red-breasted Maori wrasse ***
    • Atlantic Triton??? (Conefish) ***
    • Tailfin batfish
    • Common coral trout

• Even though having lunch on the boat was cold, jumping back into the water, even after being out for an hour, was nice and warm!
• It also never felt cold, even though it was raining most of the time.
• For some people, the rain might be a con. I liked it cuz it made it different and more adventurous. It wasn’t heavy, so it wasn’t affecting the visibility more than it was earlier on this overcast day.

Cons.

• We don’t actually get to go to the island.

Lunch.

The Reef Adventures crew provides a pre-packed lunch between the reef stops. I believe it’s the same for everybody. They start handing them out to the front passengers from the esky and get everyone to pass them around until everyone has a box. While doing that, they will ask if anyone has any allergies or dietary requirements and will give them a similar, slightly adjusted box.

My lunchbox contained:

• Salad roll. (Vegan)
• A Granny Smith apple
• A yellow peach (I believe)
• Muffin (contains nuts) – Not 100% sure which flavour

After visiting both reefs, they also go around with a fruit platter.

Drinks aren’t included. $3 each. (You can also get these anytime, not just at lunch.)

Pros.

• The box was clearly marked.
• The lunch box is well-stocked and filling. I couldn’t eat it all and saved the muffin for another day.
• The apple and peach were beautiful and crunchy, just how I like them.
• I really enjoyed the muffin (when I had it the next day).
• The drinks were really nice and cold.
• Loved the fruit platter, and that they came around a few times if we wanted more. Appreciated that some had the rind still attached for less germier eating.

Cons.

• The salad roll is OK. The bread was a little stale.
• There are no tables anywhere or cup holders in the chairs, so it does make it a bit difficult to balance everything on your knees and on the seat behind you. There were also no spare seats where we were sitting at the front to help. However, there were some spare seats at the back on that day, so that’s something you can take advantage of.
• They don’t accept cash or have card scanners to pay onboard, so you will have to remember to pay for your drinks back at the shopfront in the Pier Shopping Centre when you get back, which is slightly inconvenient.
• As this was after a reef snorkel and I was wet, I was cold and shivering, even in February, the hottest month, and while wearing the stinger suit, which provides an additional layer. (My wearable towel would have actually been really useful on this tour. However, they are too bulky to travel with. Maybe bring a jacket.)