Diving at Moore Reef
July 23, 2009
Our Sunlover catamaran departed Cairns at 10am bound for Moore Reef. This trip was a NZD$1 add-on (normally worth AUD$180) to our Air New Zealand hotel purchase.
The 90 minute journey proved bumpy ... felt a bit sick but thing were better once we got to the reef. We tied up next to the company's pontoon which was like a big eating hall with platforms for snorkellers and divers.
We elected to do two dives and to be honest, the best part was the first five minutes of each ... they had a big Napoleon fish (and a few other types) trained to hang around the entry point for photo shoots. The rest of each dive was pretty sad with lots of damaged coral.
Create a free TravBuddy account or login to leave comments, meet travelers, and share experiences with the TravBuddy travel community.
Well set-up but pricey.
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 a 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.
