Sunlover Reef Cruises

It baffles me that the Outer Reef cruises sell for a range of prices ... from about AUD$80 to AUD$180. Some exclude fuel surcharge and the government environment levy.

You need to check carefully the inclusions and quality of locations but it isn't easy. It didn't matter to me as I was only paying NZD$1 being an add-on to my hotel purchase.

Some operators take you out to the reef but Sunlover have a pontoon with lots of facilities ... I guess there's a lot of infrastructure cost and also the rights to have the area.

Here are my likes and dislikes:

Pros:

* Staff are lovely. Always happy and on hand to help; standing around with sickbags and napkins when it gets rough.

* If you're new to diving, a bit of a chicken and want a comfy intro, this is a good place. You don't have to worry about the different entry techniques as they have a platform where you walk yourself underwater.

Cons:

* Moore Reef isn't great. Lots of damaged coral. The best fishes are the ones you see from the platform and the big Napoleon fish when you enter. I don't know what's a good location though.

* The underwater photos they take for you can be very good but expensive. Choose carefully as it easy to pick a photo of someone else from those miniature proofs (or know that they're out of focus). They're very good about it if you choose a wrong photo by mistake or if the photo turn our blurred.

* Their dive tanks are smaller than what we're used to. Our first dive was only about 28 minutes (I was told, but I reckon it was about 22). The second was 35 minutes with bigger tanks. I normally last about 40+ minutes being a big consumer of air.

* Lunch is so-so.

Note: All opinions made are not relative to other operators in Cairns. I have no way of knowing what the others are like.