Diving in Cairns

The Dive Sites of the Outer Barrier Reef

Starting at a distance of 50 km off shore and forming the further reaches of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, diving the Cairns Barrier Reef is to explore wall dives, swim throughs and endless fields of corals in clear blue waters, all accessed only by the Australian liveaboards that frequent this area.

This in turn attracts a multitude of marine life and interesting critters and turtles, white tip reef sharks and, in some areas even dolphins are nothing unusual.

Bommies interspersed with sandy gullies and staghorn thickets make up the landscape of the barrier reef and the Cairns dive sites feature excellent positions from where to observe life on the reef. Surprises from the blue are also common with schooling action an ever constant.

Highlights

What is sometimes called the Outer Barrier Reef is a must if you fancy doing some nice and easy, entry level diving in Cairns. This area includes the reefs on Milln, Flynn, Thetford, Hastings Norman and Saxon. All of the low budget liveaboards we recommend visit the Cairns Outer Barrier Reef.

Flynn Reef offers an abundance of diverse marine life with several resident turtles, one of which is huge. Excellent coral coverage of the reef features hard coral such as staghorn, table coral, plate coral and boulder coral heads. The reef also showcases a large variety of soft coral species.

Milln Reef also features resident turtles as well as white tip reef sharks that cruise the large bommies that rise up from the sand floor. Coral trout and peacock groupers regularly intersperse the turtle and shark scene. Good coverage of hard and soft corals ensure that Milln Reef attracts an abundance of marine life. Milln Reef is also favoured among dolphins, often seen around arriving or departing boats.

The Inner Barrier Reef of Cairns consists of shallow reefs accessible through shore dives from the islands or day trips. We do not offer this area since the quality of the diving is not as high as elsewhere in Cairns or on the Great Barrier Reef.

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How to Dive Cairns

Cairns is the starting point for diving the Great Barrier Reef. The finest diving, which can be truly world-class is found around Osprey Reef and the Ribbon Reefs. These are all found north of Cairns and, depending on your choice of itinerary may involve boarding or disembarking in Cairns or a stunning low level flight over the reef to or from Lizard Island. If you want to dive the best sites of the area then check out Osprey Reef and the Ribbon Reefs and the liveaboards that visit these areas.

If you choose to dive the entry level dive sites of the Cairns Barrier Reef, which are some distance from shore, this requires a substantial amount of travel time. Although day trips are possible, Dive The World recommends a short liveaboard to maximise your dive time on the Cairns Barrier Reef.

Various liveaboard options of different trip lengths are available for your Cairns dive adventure and with diving possible all year round, it's easy to work your schedule around a departure date and time that suits you.

Diving Season

As with the rest of the Great Barrier Reef, any time is a good time to dive in Cairns. The tropical weather ensures that the water temperature is always between 22 - 29°C.

Special times of the year on the Great Barrier Reef are from June - November when humpback whales are commonly spotted, and in October / November during coral spawning. This is in addition to the usual magical spectacle which characterises the reef all year round.

The Great Barrier Reef is blessed with perpetual great visibility and during September to November it goes from great to excellent.

The summer season sees a little more rain than the dry winter seasons, although rainfall is still moderate and showers generally occur in the early mornings and late afternoons.

Sea conditions are calm, except during the Australian winter months when they can become moderate.

Reef Summary

Good for: Underwater photography, wall diving, reef life and health
Not so good for: Non-diving activities
Depth: 5 - 30m
Visibility: 5 - 20m
Currents: Gentle
Surface conditions: Generally calm but can be choppy
Water temperature: 25 - 30°C
Experience level: Beginner - intermediate
Number of dive sites: 16
Distance: 60 km east of Cairns
Access: Australian Liveaboard
Recommended length of stay: 3 - 5 days

Dive Site Descriptions

More detailed information on the Cairns Barrier Reef dive sites:

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