Scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef from Port Douglas

I was craving scuba diving, it’s one of my favourite things to do (some crave chocolate, I crave adventure and diving) and it dawned on me that it had been a few months since my last expedition into the underwater world.  It turned out that a day trip out of Port Douglas to the Great Barrier Reef was just the type of adventure that could satisfy my craving. This was however a change to my initial plan which was to go to the reef from Cairns but the boat that I was booked on ended up having engine troubles and they transferred me to their other boat that departs from Port Douglas. This turned out to be a very positive change because I love the ocean road drive between Cairns and Port Douglas and I didn’t have to pay the transfer cost. Free tour!

The other positive is that I love Port Douglas, it’s only a small town but is scattered with cool little bars and restaurants and 4 mile beach is…………..long (and stunning).  We were dropped off at Marina Mirage where the boat departs from and after walking around the marina and admiring some of the beautiful vessels I handed over my tourstogo.com voucher and stepped aboard Quicksilver’s impressive boat, Silver Sonic.

After we were all on board we made for the reef on their speedtastic and modern catamaran and within an hour and a half we were moored up on the reef and were getting ready to dive. I enjoyed the trip out there too, it gave me time to read up on the marine life I had missed so much and sort out my dive gear which needed some attention. I forgot to mention that I have been diving for a long time, have worked on dive boats and my family have worked on the Great Barrier Reef for years so I have some sort of weird obsession with diving on the GBR.

I did 2 dives at different dive locations and loved every minute of it. The sun really bought out the colours of the reef and having the option of diving at different dive sites is always a good thing as it mixes up the marine life and coral you see. As usual I made sure to take my time and search out the small wonders that are so often missed when divers rush. On the dives I saw a turtle, bull ray, shark and a lot of the weird and wonderful tropical fish you would expect to see on the Great Barrier Reef.

They served up a delicious lunch and the friendly banter and the smiling faces of the crew made me not only miss the lifestyle of working in the dive industry but also realise the amazing lifestyle that this part of the world has to offer people of all ages. After lunch I decided not to do the last dive but went for a snorkel instead. As much as I love diving, going snorkelling often gives a different perspective and you can see a whole new side of the reef.

Soon after I hesitantly got out of the water, the crew cleared the deck, unhooked us from the mooring and we were on our way back to Port Douglas. The only gripe I have with the dive industry in general is that it’s harder to find a day trip that will let certified divers go off in buddy pairs together as opposed to being part of a big dive group. I enjoyed the diving but I know that the majority of day dive companies take divers on guided dives and we’re not able to head off in buddy pairs. Very understandable from a safety perspective but how times have changed. All in all it was a beautiful day out and it’s nice to see that the reef is still in good shape.

After stepping off the boat and saying goodbye to the crew, I took my partly sunburnt (needed more sunscreen) yet fully appreciative and satisfied self and settled into the seat for my transfer back to Cairns. I will certainly be doing that again sometime soon!

Diving on the Great Barrier Reef with Siversonic from Port Douglas