See The Great Barrier Reef?

Question

We are going to Cairns next year and one of my friends said that we should do the Barrier reef tour that is done in a glass bottom/side submarine, or some such water craft. Can anyone tell me about such tours of the reef? Do you have a web link to them if they do have one? And how soon do I need to make reservations for next January??

Answer 1

G'day -  The Great Barrier Reef just won a worldwide tourism this year and as mentioned there is many options of tours to see the reef.  However the main ones are Great Adventures http://www.greatadventures.com.au and Quicksilver http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com

Great Adventures leaves from the Pier right in the city, and Quick Silver has a bus that goes to Port Douglas and leaves from there.

Also for something different do the http://www.scubadoocairns.com  or http://www.seawalker.com.au/english_site...

A day trip out to Green island - Otherwise you can go out on the Outer Barrier Reef on their platform for lunch.  

Most 'tourism' operators will do pick ups from your accommodation.

As for booking - book the day before, it all depends on the weather, of course if you are in the water it doesn't matter if it's raining or not, but visibility could change or be poor.  They do 'Reef Reports' on the radio  every morning very early.

See

Instead of four seasons, Cairns has a wet season and dry season.  During the summer months (December to February), Cairns experiences a high level of humidity and rainfall.  Rain usually occurs in the early mornings, late afternoons, or overnight.  

The temperature in Cairns averages at about 24 ° to 28 ° C (75 ° to 82 ° F) year round.  However, temperatures can reach 30 ° to 35 ° C (86° to 96° F) during the summer months.

Seawater temperatures vary from a minimum 23°C in July to a maximum of 28°C in February.

Sites of interest::

http://www.greatbarrierreefinfo.com

http://www.cairnsvisitorcentre.com/reef_...

Seasonal info on the GBR - http://www.divethereef.com/Guides/Season...

For Cairns info they recently launched their new website see http://www.cairns.com.au

Enjoy your time in Cairns !

Answer 2

I went on this tour - really good because it was small and they go to better parts of the reef where the super vessels can't go - like quicksilver, which is overpriced and full of japanese tourists.

http://seedownunder.com.au/destination/q...

You can make reservations now, but I just booked when i was there - i was there in january too.  If you go down to the jetty they have all the touts there and you can choose the one you want.  I went on the cheapest one ($90 4 years ago) and it was brilliant.  It's better to snorkel than go on a glass bottomed boat as the reef is my fave part of home!

Answer 3

http://www.cairns.aust.com/

Apparently there are over 600 different boat trips to the Barrier Reef they are not all from Cairns the reef stretches hundreds of kilometres . I wouldn't bother booking until you  are there as january is out of season. It is cyclone  and wet season then . so wait until you see what the weather is like and you will have so many choices, you can read the brochures and choose one when you are there. I have snorkled on the reef, my son several years ago worked on an old sailing ship that did day trips and he took me out. It was really superb. It was the sailing ship that was in the film dead calm starring Nicole Kidman. You may be able to bargain a little with the price if you are down on the wharf and get talking as not so many tourists around then. Good luck don't forget it will be hot and sticky so shorts only sun screen and sunglasses