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Reef Experience delivers a great value Cairns Great Barrier Reef day tour. In fact, it’s the only Cairns reef tour to include a certified or introductory dive in your ticket price, and the only boat to provide bacon and egg rolls for breakfast, with a BBQ lunch as well and glass of wine with cheese and crackers, on the way home. Departing Cairns at 8am, Reef Experience delivers a fast and smooth ride to the reef, where you will enjoy up to 5.5 hours swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving. Reef Experience has moorings at several different reef sites, and will visit 2 different locations during your day tour.
In addition to all of the great inclusions, Reef Experience offers some optional extra activities including a marine biologist guided snorkel tour, a second certified or introductory dive – with the option of a dive guide – souvenirs, additional snacks and beverages. They also offer a ‘Top Deck’ club upgrade, which includes your own personal valet and in water guide for the whole day, VIP seating and lunch served to your table.
Get a free underwater camera rental when you book tours through us valued at over $750, we’ll lend you a GoPro underwater camera to use for the duration of your tours. Numbers are limited and allocated on a first-come basis. Get in touch with us to claim this deal today.
Reef Experience is a Cairns dive and snorkel boat, providing Great Barrier Reef day tours. They have moorings at 5 different reefs – Breaking Patches, Hastings, Norman, Saxon and Jorgensen Patch – and pick the best 2 sites to maximise your Great Barrier Reef experience, on your day of travel. This great value day tour provides you with up to 5.5 hours at the reef, with unlimited snorkelling. Please note all of Reef Experience’s reef destinations are in the open ocean. As such, this Cairns reef tour is suited to people who are comfortable and confident swimmers, with reasonable fitness. People must be aged 12 years old and over, to participate in the complimentary introductory scuba dive.
Reef Experience visits 2 different reef sites each day, where you can enjoy unlimited snorkelling. All snorkel equipment – mask, snorkel, fins and lycra sunsuit (summer) and/or wetsuit (winter) – are included in the tour price. Water entry for snorkelers is via a platform and stairs, which are lowered into the water. All of Reef Experiences’ reef sites are chosen to maximise snorkelling conditions, with corals rising up to within a few meters of the surface. The crew will show you the best places to snorkel at each site and if you are nervous, the crew can assist you. There are also flotation devices and buoyancy vests available if needed. Please note that all of the Reef Experience snorkel sites are in the open ocean, which may have waves or current, pending conditions on your day of travel. As such, this tour is recommended for those people who are confident swimmers with a reasonable level of fitness.
If you wanted to increase your knowledge of what you are seeing during your snorkelling time at the reef, then Reef Experience provides a marine biologist guided snorkel tour. This is an optional extra activity, but a great opportunity to learn about the corals and Great Barrier Reef fish.
Reef Experience is the only Cairns reef tour operator to provide guests with the opportunity to enjoy 1 introductory scuba dive, included as a part of the tour price. There is no prior experience needed to participate in an introductory dive, but you must be aged 12 years old or more. All dive instruction, equipment and your dive instructor is covered in the tour price, and you will go no deeper than 12m. Please note certain health conditions can prevent you from trying scuba diving, this includes but is not limited to: asthma, epilepsy, chronic sinus conditions and ear problems, heart disease and sugar diabetes. It is not advised to try scuba diving if you are pregnant.
There is also the option to do a second introductory dive during your Reef Experience day tour. This is an additional cost to the tour price
Certified scuba divers get 1 free dive with Reef Experience. This is the only Cairns reef tour operator to provide this. You also have the opportunity to purchase an additional dive, at additional cost – where you can choose guided or unguided diving. If you are not travelling with your dive ‘buddy’, then the crew will allocate you one on the day of travel. Certified dives last around 40 minutes and dive depth will be no more than 18m. All reef sites are suitable for divers with Open Water certification and above. Water entry is giant stride from the side of the boat.
Please note, you will need to provide evidence of your certification to the Dive Crew. You are also required to complete a safety waiver, prior to dive (and snorkel) activities. The dive equipment and briefing, will be provided on the way to the reef.
Reef Experience is moored at the Cairns Marlin Marina. You check-in and board at the boat, from 7.30am for an 8am departure. You arrive back into Cairns at 4.30pm. Reef Experience provide an excellent array of food and snacks throughout your Cairns reef day tour with them, including a glass of wine and cheese and crackers on the way home. You should take a towel, sunglasses, hat, change of clothes and sunblock for the day, as well as cash or credit cards to make any additional beverage or souvenir purchases. Tea, coffee and cold water is supplied and included.
Check in at the Reef Experience catamaran, which is moored at A Finger, on Cairns’ Marlin Marina. Just look for the prominent signage.
Depart Cairns and commence the journey to the Great Barrier Reef. Along the way, you can enjoy a freshly cooked bacon and egg roll for breakfast and a marine biology presentation on the reef. Scuba diving and snorkel briefings are also provided, on the way to the reef.
Arrive at the first Great Barrier Reef site. In-water activities commence, including snorkelling, certified and introductory scuba diving.
While Reef Experience moves to its second reef destination for the day, you can enjoy a hot and cold buffet style lunch. Lunch can be eaten in the air conditioned interior, or on the exterior sun decks.
Arrive at the second Great Barrier Reef site for the day. In-water activities resume, including snorkelling, certified and introductory diving.
All guests back on board Reef Experience for a final head count. In-water activities have ended for the day. The boat begins its return journey to Cairns.
During your return journey to Cairns, you’ll enjoy a complimentary glass of wine and cheese and crackers. Additional beverages can be purchased at additional cost.
Reef Experience arrives back to Cairns.
Reef Experience Cairns reef tours have various moorings at 5 different reefs – Breaking Patches, Hastings, Norman, Saxon and Jorgensen Patch. They will pick the best 2 sites to maximise your Great Barrier Reef experience, on your day of travel. When you choose a Reef Experience Cairns reef tour, you have up to 5.5 hours at the reef.
The snorkelling on Reef Experience is good. The corals rise up to within a few metres of the surface and being outer reef sites, the underwater visibility is usually really good. You can expect to see hard and soft corals and an array of Great Barrier Reef fish when snorkelling with Reef Experience. You can enjoy unlimited snorkelling during your Reef Experience day tour, with all equipment provided and included in the day tour price. You have the option to go on a marine biologist led snorkel tour, to learn more about the reef, but this is in addition to the tour price.
Please note you will be snorkelling in the open ocean, so for your comfort, it is recommended that you have reasonable swimming ability and fitness. There are flotation devices available for your use.
Yes, Reef Experience are the only ones to provide and include 1 certified or introductory scuba dive in their Cairns reef tour price. This is excellent value for money. You also have the option to purchase an additional dive – (guided or unguided for certified divers) which is an additional cost.
Introductory divers must be aged 12 years old or more. Some health conditions will prevent you from diving, this includes but is not limited to, asthma, heart conditions, chronic ear or respiratory conditions and pregnancy. Certified divers will be required to show proof of certification.
You can do up to 2 certified or introductory dives on Reef Experience. All equipment and dive site briefings are provided on the boat.
Reef Experience has moorings on some excellent Cairns reef sites. As they are outer reef sites you can expect good underwater visibility. They visit 2 different sites each day, which are selected to maximizing your dive experience pending conditions (waves and current etc).
No, we don’t think the Reef Experience Cairns reef tours are suitable for non-swimmers. This is a dive / snorkel boat and tour – the only way to ‘see the reef’ on Reef Experience, is to get in the water and swim / snorkel / dive. For those who can swim, but are not confident in the open ocean, flotation and buoyancy devices are provided and included in the tour price.
Generally speaking, Cairns island or reef pontoon tours are best suited to non-swimmers, because they provide several ways to explore and learn more about the reef. Including glass bottom boat tours, semi submersible tours, underwater observatories, fish feeding demonstrations, sitting in the shallows and scenic helicopter flights.
Reef Experience is not currently running its glass bottom boat tours.
Because Reef Experience is already an all-inclusive value trip, distinct promo codes are virtually non-existent. However, you can squeeze even more value out of your trip by bundling. Pairing this reef trip with a Cairns Waterfall Tour is the most popular way to unlock a multi-day discount. Plus, if you are booking for a family or group (spending over $750), we include Free GoPro Hire, which is perfect for capturing the marine life and the waterfalls without buying expensive gear.
Yes, Reef Experience Cairns reef tours are suitable for kids who can swim with confidence in the open ocean. If you have younger children, or children who are not comfortable swimming at sea – where there may be waves and/or current, pending conditions at the time of travel – then we suggest a reef pontoon or island trip.
Yes, Reef Experience Cairns reef tours are family friendly, if your children are comfortable at swimming in the open ocean. If you have younger children, or children who are not comfortable swimming at sea – where there may be waves and/or current, pending conditions at the time of travel – then we suggest a reef pontoon or island trip.
Reef Experience provides an excellent range of meals throughout the day, from the bacon and egg rolls for breakfast, to the hot and cold buffet lunch and cheese and crackers, with a glass of wine on the way home. Tea, coffee and cold water are provided and included. Additional drinks (soft drinks etc) can be purchased on the boat, at additional cost.
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