Cairns (pronounced ‘Cannes’) is the major jumping off point for divers booking dive vacations on liveaboard diving boats to go scuba diving on the world’s largest living object, the Great Barrier Reef... Many non-divers and some casual divers with limited time or who are on a bus tour, use Cairns as the jump off point for short dive vacations or day trips. These day boats take a good part of the morning to get to the outer reef and that’s on a quick boat holding as many as 300 people (there is also a helicopter option)... after arriving at your dive reef site you will spend the rest of the day snorkelling or doing a couple of scuba dives before heading back to Cairns.
This day trip on a dive boat will give you a basic exposure to the Great Barrier Reef, but you normally visit only one scuba dive site... Many people also take a day boat to one of the islands on the inner reef just offshore from Cairns... While these day trips are both practical and enjoyable for those scuba divers or snorkellers with limited time, the inner coral reefs are not in the same league as dive vacations taken on liveaboard diving boats that visit the outer reefs in terms of pristine conditions and clarity of water.
A number of liveaboard diving boats operate out
of Cairns, departing on three day overnight dive vacations for
the Cod Hole and northern Great Barrier Reef…liveaboard boats
visiting the outer Great Barrier Reef do more or less the
same trip but spend an extra day going to and from the Coral Sea...
Many divers only book the three-day liveaboard diving trip due
to time limitations and their concern about rough seas on the open oceans
going to the Coral Sea... These Coral Sea dive vacations board
in the late afternoon and travel overnight, reaching the famous
Cod Hole in the morning. From there you move south finishing your
last day with one or two early morning dives on the inner reef.
Dive masters on these liveaboard boats give divers a lot of dive
freedom. With most dives organised to give you a bottom time of
50 minutes and a request that you come up with 50 bars or 750 psi
showing on your gauges... however you will not be barred from a
dive if you come up a bit short of this... however liveaboard diving
boats do have one rule that they are very serious about... no scuba
diver is permitted to bring anything back that comes from the reef!
Some of the scuba diving sites you can visit on dive vacations
to the Coral Sea...
Ribbon Reef... the Ribbon Reefs are a string of 10 coral reefs
stretching over 160 km (100 miles) to the north of Cairns. Awaiting
you are picturesque coral gardens and isolated ‘bommies’ crowned
in delicate corals, anemones and colourful reef fish... Most liveaboard
diving boats visit the Cod Hole which lies at the top of the Ribbon
Reefs and is home to a family of resident potato cod (groper).
These diver friendly fish will amaze you with their sheer size
and apparent eagerness to pose for the camera.
Cod Hole... famous for its family of resident potato cod (groper).
Each of these large fish can weigh up to 100 kg (220 lbs) and are
accustomed to posing for divers cameras... Clearly the renown of
the cod is a truly international one and a signature dive on the
same scale as the pygmy seahorses of Manado or the whale sharks
of Ningaloo Reef... many divers rate this dive as their best Australia
scuba diving experience and the highlight of their dive vacation.
The maximum depth of this dive is 30 metres (100 feet) to a sandy ledge. You
will make your way around some coral ridges and bommies to a coral
wall that goes up to within four feet of the surface... Larger
fish you will see here include camouflage cod, trigger fish, maori
wrasse, coral trout, jacks and snapper... and the coral here is
in pristine condition... You will be able to watch the dive masters
feed the 100 kg (220 lbs) cod (what we call cod in Australia, Americans
call groupers); you will be asked to lie still while the dive master
does a controlled individual feeding of approx. 1 kg (2 lbs.)...
the reasoning being that by limiting the level of feeding to only
1kg, the cod will still have to hunt on their own and not be dependent
on the divers for food.
Challenger Bay... this is a beautiful scuba dive that starts at
about 18 metres (60 ft) and works its way up around a few coral
bommies until you reach a full wall of coral that goes straight
up until it stops about four feet under the surface. Each piece
of coral is beautifully laid out, one next to the other... expect to see barracuda as well as white tipped reef sharks.
Steve’s Bommie... located between the ninth and tenth Ribbon
Reef... this is a large coral bommie starting at about 30 metres
(100 ft) in the shape of a cone that reaches about 3 metres (10
ft) from the surface... To dive here it will appear as if your
liveaboard dive vessel stops in the middle of the open ocean between
the visible Ribbon Reefs... Next to Steve’s bommie you will
find a memorial plaque to Steve himself who is said to have dived
this particular place often before he died. Depending on who you
talk to, his death was either a motorcycle or free scuba dive accident.
Temple of Doom... this is more of a plateau type coral structure
starting at 30 metre (100 ft) and making its way to a flat area
about 3 metres (10 ft) under water... After diving it will take
about 45 minutes to circle the reef at a depth of between 12-18
metres... This scuba dive site will appear to have more fish life
than some of the other sites you will visit on your dive vacation
because of the very slow current that passes, releasing the needed
nutrients. And as a revisit of the movie, you really will ‘find
Nemo’ here... Look in the middle of the plateau in about
3 metres (10 ft) of water and you will find an anemone about one
and a half times the size of a basketball with the small centre
open about 300 mm (12 inches) protecting three small, very cute,
clown fish... You have seen films and pictures of clown fish swimming
in and out of their protective environment but here you see it
up close and personal.
Clam Garden... as the name states, this place
is known for the large clams famous in this part of the reef...
You will find clams
ranging in size from 1-2 metres with different colours on the inside.
The variegated colouring is attributed to a type of algae that
grows under the skin. What is special about the scuba diving on
this
reef is its diversity... Navigate around the bommies in the area
and eventually you will make it to one of the most colourful and
spectacular, sun drenched coral walls you will ever see.
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