Pure Snorkelling Cairns Review

Pure Snorkelling Cairns Trip Review

Check in for the Pure Snorkelling Cairns trip is at the boat, which is moored at D Finger in Cairns’ Marlin Marina. It starts at 11.15am for a 12pm departure. Once you jump on board the boat, the crew completes some snorkel safety paperwork with you and provides you with a lycra sunsuit, mask, snorkel and fins. You can choose to sit downstairs, which is shaded, or upstairs on the sundeck. The boat is not air conditioned, but it’s a vey open air boat with ‘open sides’ letting in lots of breeze. The tour takes a maximum of 40 guests and was close to capacity on the day we travelled. The vibe was high as we left at 12pm and we were all excited to get this half day tour underway.

“From being greeted by the friendly skippers Alex and Byron at the Marina, to the crew and their briefings, and enthusiasm both in and out of the water, the vibe was high all day. While the Pure Snorkelling tour is new, the owners and crew are all very experienced, and it shows in the end product. Pure Snorkelling powers to the reef at around 24 knots and has a smooth ride, and while it’s a half day tour, it gives you just over 2 hours of snorkelling time, which is almost as much as you would get on some full day tours. How’s that possible? Fast boat, dedicated crew and snorkelers only – which means less briefings and no waiting for scuba divers. We’d never been to Briggs Reef before (and we’ve been on over 90 Cairns reef tours) and were super impressed with it as a snorkel site. Brilliant coral cover and diversity of marine life – bonus, first time we have ever seen a guitar shark on a Cairns reef trip. All in all, awesome tour.” – Julie Johnston 

Cairns Snorkelling At Briggs Reef, Great Barrier Reef

Briggs Reef is one of 15 locations that Pure Snorkelling can visit on any given day, and it’s the one we went to when we travelled. This was super exciting for us, as Briggs is one reef we have never explored on any of our previous Cairns reef trips. Their aptly named ‘Fish Bowl’ site is sensational for snorkelling, with the coral gardens rising up to within metres of the surface and coral walls, rich with marine life. You can choose to go guided or unguided when snorkelling, if it’s your first time to the reef then we strongly recommend guided. Why? The Pure Snorkeling crew includes Marine Naturalists, Marine Biologists and Master Reef Guides. These people know the reef (!) and when you go with them, they’ll make sure you don’t miss a thing – and you can ask questions about what you are seeing.

We went unguided, so we could get photos and videos. The coral gardens at Briggs Reef on Cairns’ outer Great Barrier Reef were extensive and stunning, showcasing a diverse array of hard and soft corals. As we explored the ‘Fish Bowl’ we found several simply massive giant clams, which were beautiful, lots of smaller colourful clams, and an array of fish including but not limited to, Clark’s anemonefish, titan triggerfish, puffer fish, baby squid, rabbitfish, parrotfish, butterflyfish, chromis, moon wrasse and dotted sweetlips. We were also pretty excited to see very large schools of yellow tailed barracuda streaming around the reef and under the boat. We’ve never seen these guys before! What we would have missed, if it weren’t for eagle eyed guides (and thanks for the shout out ladies – Michelle, KiKi and Grace) was a massive green sea turtle and a white-spotted guitar shark, which is something else we’ve never seen on a Cairns snorkel trip before (but they’ve seen him at this site a few times in the past). So we definitely rate Briggs Reef for snorkelling and Pure Snorkelling has exclusive access to this site. You can rest assured the skipper will always pick the best reef on the day of travel, to maximise your experience in the water, pending current and tides.

Pure Snorkelling Cairns, Half Day Snorkel Review

Pure Snorkelling is 1 of only 2 dedicated Cairns snorkel tours, both of which are half day tours. We’d also like to highlight and emphasise the fact that just because it’s only a half day tour, that does not mean you feel like there’s not enough time at the reef. As above, most Cairns reef tours take a combination of snorkellers, scuba divers and even non-swimmers (pontoon and island tours). This diversity of guests means that briefings take longer and the back deck, can sometimes be crowded with divers and snorkellers. This is not the case with Pure Snorkelling. One briefing for everyone and then it’s into the water. Also, most boats visit multiple reef sites during the day. Pure Snorkelling visits one, giving you maximum snorkel time, without ‘losing time’ for moving the boat around.

Do you ‘miss out’ on anything by not visiting multiple reef sites? Honestly, no. By spending your time at one site, you have time to explore it properly. We arrived at Briggs Reef and were into the water by 1.30pm and hopped out at 3.40pm, which is when it was time for all guests to return to the boat. So just over 2 hours of snorkel time, which is a lot – and you can get in and out of the water as much as you like. Once the in-water time has come to an end, the crew call everyone back to the boat, where a light afternoon tea awaits. There were scones with jam and cream, as well as a tropical fruit platter. Guests can help themselves to cold water, with soft drinks, beer, wine and cider all available for sale (at extra cost) from the bar. Please note you can not get alcoholic beverages until Pure Snorkelling starts its return journey to Cairns, as drinking and snorkelling do not mix. It was a smooth ride back to Cairns and we pulled into Marlin Marina at around 5pm.