great barrier Reef diving

[compozer]

During our land portion of our cruisetour,  we will be overnighting in Cairns and doing the Great Barrier Reef catamaran tour.   Any idea when the tour company will inform us of a dive excursion?    I hate to bring all my gear since this is the only diving I will be doing.    I was thinking of bring my mask, regs, computer and wetsuit.  Anyone familiar with this type of an excursion?   Do we do it from the catamaran and in the same location as the people snorkeling?  or does a small boat pick us up?              We will be there the end of October 2023.

 

Thanks you for any help.

[mahdnc]

On 2/28/2023 at 8:21 PM, compozer said:

During our land portion of our cruisetour,  we will be overnighting in Cairns and doing the Great Barrier Reef catamaran tour.   Any idea when the tour company will inform us of a dive excursion?    I hate to bring all my gear since this is the only diving I will be doing.    I was thinking of bring my mask, regs, computer and wetsuit.  Anyone familiar with this type of an excursion?   Do we do it from the catamaran and in the same location as the people snorkeling?  or does a small boat pick us up?              We will be there the end of October 2023.

 

Thanks you for any help.

 

I posted a review of our 2018 Great Barrier Reef cruise where we did diving on 4 different days including 2 days at Cairns where our ship overnighted.  Here is a link to it: link.  I hope you find it helpful.

 

Most of what I want to say in response to your post is in that photo review.  I don't know the specifics of your excursion.  However my best guess is that you (snorkelers and divers alike) will be put on a single boat that will take you to one of the large (and impressive) pontoons that are anchored in the outer reef area.  Those pontoons have capacity to handle a lot of people which is why I think you will be heading out there.  

 

[Reedfam]

We dove the GBR out or Port Douglas in June 2023. We were surprised that most of the people on the boat didn’t bring their own gear, maybe mask and snorkel. When we dive in Florida, almost anyone who isn’t new to the sport has their own gear or at least the basics. I asked our private guide about it and that’s the norm there. Most of the people are coming from a distance and don’t bring their gear. We had masks, fins, wetsuits and computers. In hindsight, we could have left the fins at home as they took up a lot of space.