What Great Barrier Reef tour should you do?

The Great Barrier Reef is a “must do” activity if you come to Cairns region for a holiday. The Great Barrier Reef of the coast of Queensland is the largest living thing on Earth, and even visible from outer space. The 2,300km long ecosystem comprises thousands of reefs and hundreds of islands made of over 600 types of hard and soft coral. It's home to countless species of colourful fish, molluscs and starfish, plus turtles, dolphins and sharks.

There are many different boats that travel daily to the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns and Port Douglas. The options are wide and it can be quite confusing when you have to choose one tour to be your special trip to the famous and gorgeous Great Barrier Reef.

Take your time and try to understand what each tour operator offers and what you want to achieve on your day out to the Great Barrier Reef. You might be a diver so your focus would be finding a good diving boat, or you might not be confident in the water so you want a boat company who caters for non-swimmers or you would like to do bit of both, dive and also spend good time in the water snorkelling. Well, Cairns can provide all the tours mentioned above.

Also consider the number of people you feel comfortable travelling with. There are boats that carry as little as 20 people but other ones that can carry over 400 passengers. The ones carrying a higher number of people offer a big stable catamaran to travel to the reef so if you think you will get sea sick this might be a good option for you. Also because they have more passengers on board they usually offer more variety of water activities during the day, so great for families with kids. The boats carrying small numbers offer a more quiet and private tour, it can also be a very relaxing day as well.

We, from Tourism Cairns, have some recommendations that might help you choose the right tour for you and your family. If you are non-swimmer and you also worry about getting sea sick you should look at the platform options (pontoon). The pontoons offer passengers many different activities during the day such as glass bottom boat tours, semi-submersable tours, underwater observatory, Seawalker (helmet diving), Scooba-doo (underwater scooter), Sea-bob (underwater snorkelling jet), unlimited snorkelling, introductory and certified diving and much more (activities can differ from one platform to the other). This is a great tour for families with kids, or anyone seeking fun activities while exploring the reef. The platform also offer tables, chairs, change rooms, showers and sundeks so quite a comfortable place to be.

If you are a certified diver there are several boats departing Cairns daily that have their focus a bit more on diving the Great Barrier Reef. They take passengers to locations that is best for dives and they usually offer great and up to date diving equipment and technology. On Tourism Cairns website we show what each tour is ideal for. Keep an eye for the ones that says “Diving” only.

For visitors who want to focus more on snorkelling you might like the idea to travel on a small boat. They are usually sailing boats and they are a great and relaxing tour to do. If you are keen to try a dive they also offer an introductory dive for non certified divers. On Tourism Cairns Great Barrier Reef page we show the number of passengers each boat can carry. Set the”filter” at the top to show the Lowest Numbers.

Either option you choose we are sure you will have a fantastic time at the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns.

To help with your search for the most suitable Great Barrier Reef tour for you and your family, try Tourism Cairns “Tour Search” tool available online. It will help you to pick the best tours for you in Cairns.