Barrier Reef Diving

Queensland's tropical north remains one of the world's premier diving destinations. 
Based on the dual attractions of the Great Barrier Reef and neighbouring Coral Sea, good year-round diving, an abundance of colourful and exotic life forms and safety standards that are among the highest in the world, dive tourism has flourished.

Although less than one tenth of one per-cent of the Great Barrier Reef - the world's largest marine park - is ever dived on a regular basis, the Queensland government has still had the foresight to introduce controls and environmental levies (based on the 'user pays' system) to conserve this natural asset for future generations - measures intended to ensure that this exquisite area of natural beauty remains among the best managed and protected of the world's declining colonies of coral reefs. 

Despite - or, perhaps, because of! - this intervention, dive operations and resorts have continued to spring up along the entire length of the Queensland coast. This is particularly so north of the Tropic of Capricorn, from the Whitsundays to the Far North Queensland towns of Cairns and Port Douglas, where the outer edge of the 2,000km long Great Barrier Reef meets the Coral Sea.  

Picture: Giant Clam 

With less travelling time to these sentinel reefs, the heaviest concentration of dive facilities are located in this northern region. Although entry level diving courses are, for many operators, a bread-and-butter mainstay, the full spectrum of diving experiences are readily available. Besides offering advanced to instructor level training programmes that can be incorporated into a holiday schedule, leading facilities even include an extended live-aboard trip as a part of the course. These operators include Cairns-based Deep Sea Divers Den, Pro-Dive and Down Under Dive; Townsville-based Mike Ball Dive Expeditions; and Pro-Dive, Whitsundays, at Airlie Beach. 

While an enormous number of operators run day trips to the Reef, almost all of whom offer some sort of supervised underwater experience, from snorkelling to a 'Discover Scuba' dive, there have, until fairly recently, been surprisingly few dedicated day boats catering to the more demanding needs of experienced, certified divers. 

Today there are a range of purpose built vessels to choose from. They are almost without exception comfortable, well-appointed craft, crewed by service oriented professionals. Capable of fast speeds to the better, less crowded diving sites, they usually offer two dives a day - generally pitched towards the shallower end of the 12 to 30m range - that includes the use of all equipment, dive guides if required and a smorgasbord lunch at prices ranging from about AUD$120 to $190.  
Among the newer day boats out of Cairns and Port Douglas are Deep Sea Divers Den's 'SeaQuest', an advanced dive vessel that carries up to 35 divers travelling in air-conditioned comfort to the outer Barrier Reef in under 90mins; 'Scubaroo'; and at Cape Tribulation, in  the heart of the Daintree Rainforest, 'Rum Runner V'.

Well established in Cairns' one-day diving market, 'TUSA II' and 'TUSA III' specialise in diving day trips to seldom visited outer edge reefs like Flynn, Pellow, Thetford and Miln Reefs. During a day trip you have the chance to dive with manta rays, barracuda, white-tip reef sharks and if the season is right,  humpback whales and whale sharks

Picture: Whale Shark with open mouth

One of the very few Far North Queensland operators to readily embrace technical diving, TUSA also offers ANDI Nitrox and Rebreather training courses and, for those already certified, the choice of air, nitrox or rebreathers for their dives. 

The ultimate way to experience the best diving is to take an extended trip on one of the numerous live-aboard dive vessels that operate from the region. With a varied repertoire of diving, some concentrate on the Great Barrier Reef, others on the Coral Sea, a remote wilderness of deep oceanic waters whose isolated pinnacles, crested by reefs and atolls, rise up thousands of metres from the sea floor; while others combine highlights of the two.

Although private charters are available, the majority of live-aboards operate according to regularly scheduled itineraries, which vary between 3 and 12 or more days, with 4D/3N trips being the most common.

While very few budget-priced 'cattle-boats' still remain, the majority of Queensland's 'live-aboards' have paid heed to the demands of a more affluent breed of divers and the growing sensitivity to environmental issues.

Diving the far northern reefs to the tip of Cape York Peninsula, 'Reef Explorer' caters to the avid diver with time to experience underwater nature at its finest, while the Port Douglas-based 'Undersea Explorer' is leading the world in pioneering research oriented, recreational diving excursions to the Ribbon Reefs and Coral Sea. One of Cairns' best known live-aboards, the internationally renowned 'TAKA II' which specialises in trips to the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea (a unique area of plummeting walls, massive coral formations and large pelagics) has recently undergone an extensive refit, adding en-suite bathrooms to four of her cabins.

The latest addition to the Deep Sea Divers Den's fleet, the 28.6m 'OceanQuest', accommodates up to 38 passengers. As well as upper-deck, twin-share cabins with en-suites, it also has three- and four-share cabins appealing to the more budget conscious diver. With 14 permanent moorings on some of the more remarkable reefs, the diving is aimed at every level of experience and is nothing short of spectacular.

Further south, in Townsville, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions continues to win tourism accolades for three of Australia's best known live-aboard dive vessels: the luxurious 'SpoilSport', specialising in 7- and 8-day trips to the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef destinations; the Cairns-based 'SuperSport' that runs scheduled trips to the northern Ribbon Reefs and Cod Hole; and the 'Watersport', specialising in the shorter 3D/3N trip exploring the Central Reef area. For those more in tune with wrecks than with reefs, they also run a 3D/2N trip to dive the wreck of the 'Yongala'. 


The best known of all of Australia's accessible wrecks, the 365ft long 'SS Yongala' sank with the loss of all hands and passengers during a fierce cyclone in March, 1911. Resting in about 30m of water, with the upper decks and superstructure just 15m below the surface, the wreck has become home to every imaginable type of marine life. Penetration into the below-decks area, where there are constant reminders of the ship's tragic past, is comparatively easy. Among the stores and artefacts are the skeletons of those trapped below decks when the Yongala foundered.

Making rapid in-roads into Queensland's dive tourism market, the Whitsundays are, generally speaking, the best known and most developed of the Great Barrier Reef island groups. Named by Captain Cook, who sailed through the area on 3 July (Whit Sunday) 1770, many of the 70-plus islands that constitute the Whitsundays group, particularly those with resorts, have dive shops catering to all levels of diving. H2O Sportz, a PADI 5-Star dive facility on Hamilton Island, offers 5D/6N diving packages that include 6 nights' accommodation in a polynesian-style bure, three full days of diving on the Great Barrier Reef with use of all equipment at prices starting from AUD$1,200.

The nearby mainland towns of Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour operate an increasing number of fast and comfortable day boats servicing the growing demand for classical reef diving experiences.

Now one of the region's leading dive centres - Pro-Dive, Whitsunday's, at Airlie Beach - operates a 17m day-boat, 'Pro-Diver', as well as two live-aboards, on 3D/3N dive adventures to sites along the Great Barrier Reef's outer edge. At AUD$415 per certified diver, the price includes transfers, on-board accommodation, meals, 10 dives, divemaster services and a free 'Scuba tune-up' prior to the trip if required. The dive sites visited are excellent and although they tend towards the 'pretty' rather than the starkly dramatic, there are plenty of large pelagics, manta rays and even the occasional humpback whale to spice up those memorable log book entries.