They have 16 exclusive dive sites on 4 different outer reef locations and they visit a selection of these sites on every trip. These sites have been selected for their variety and quality of both coral and marine life as well as great visibility. You will rarely dive the same site more than twice.
The 3 premium, purpose built, multi million dollar dive vessels provide the ideal way to stay out and experience what the reef has to offer. These vessels are 25 metres (80 feet) in length and feature 14 twin share and 2 double cabins with private amenities for every 2 cabins. The vessels are centrally air-conditioned, light and airy. There are 2 large decks, one for gear and one strictly for sun tanning and relaxing. These vessels are the only purpose built outer reef liveaboards operating in the area.
This trip departs every day of the week except Tuesday, with German speaking staff onboard on the Sunday and Thursday departures. Japanese speaking staff are available on Saturday departures.
Trip Itinerary
Night Before Departure
If you have time we suggest you drop into our retail shop, located on the corner of Shields & Grafton Streets, where you can arrange your dive equipment for the trip (this means you won’t have to do it at 6:00am on the morning of your trip!). As an option, you may wish to learn about the reef and fish you will meet by visiting 'Reef Teach' - a 2.5hr marine biology presentation (additional cost).
Day 1: Diving The Outer Great Barrier Reef
5:45am - Complimentary hotel transfer - available from Cairns City & Northern Beaches accommodation
6:15am - Check in at Pro Dive retail shop - corner Shields & Grafton Streets
7:00am - Depart Cairns for 3 days & 2 nights of fantastic diving/snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. A light breakfast is served onboard
11:30am - Your first dive is before lunch. This dive will be offered as a guided dive with an instructor, for those divers who have not dived in a little while
12:45pm - Lunch is served - hearty soup with an array of fresh salads, cold meats & bread rolls
2:30pm - Your second dive - head off & discover more underwater delights. Once you have completed your dive the vessel moves on to the next site
4:30pm - After an afternoon of snorkelling/relaxing its time for your third dive of the trip
6:00pm - Dinner - the menu changes each trip however it will be wholesome, hot & of course lots of it!
7:30pm - The night dive! We generally try to do the night dive at the same site as the afternoon dive, as this way you are familiar with your surroundings. Keep a close eye out for our sleeping turtles, crustaceans & the occasional reef shark!
8:30pm - Dessert is served!
Day 2: Experience More Fantastic Diving On The Outer Great Barrier Reef
7:00am - The vessel moves for an early morning dive. Look out for splendid gorgonian fans, giant clams and bump-headed parrotfish
8:00am - Enjoy a hearty breakfast of cereal, fresh fruit, bacon and eggs as well as toast & spreads
10:30am - After breakfast the vessel moves on for the second dive of the day
12:00pm - Lunch on the second day is hot pasta with a variety of fresh salads
3:00pm - After lunch & a snorkel its time for your third dive
6:00pm - A hot dinner is served before your second night dive
7:30pm - Night dive!
8:30pm - Dessert is served!
Day 3: Morning Dives And Return To Cairns
6:30am - Your first dive of the day
7:30am - A hot breakfast accompanied with fresh fruit salad, cereals and toast
9:00am - After breakfast, the vessel makes its last site of the trip, where you will do your second dive of the day
11:00am - Your last dive! When you surface freshly made sandwiches are served as the vessel heads home
4:00pm - Complimentary accommodation transfers - Cairns city & Northern Beaches
7:30pm - Join fellow passengers & crew at a local restaurant for a farewell dinner if you wish.
Advanced Dive Course
The prerequisite for this course is a PADI Open Water certificate or equivalent from another training agency. There are no formal classroom sessions involved, but students will need to read through the PADI Advanced Open Water manual and answer the relevant knowledge review questions for each training dive. Our course is designed to have minimal intrusion on the enjoyment of your liveaboard experience with ample time set aside to complete the knowledge reviews throughout the trip.
Our PADI Advanced Open Water course offers 11 dives with access to a selection of 19 outer reef dive sites on four magnificent reefs: Flynn,Thetford, Milln and Pellowe Reef. Diving at different times throughout the day, you will be able to encounter an amazing diversity of marine life including giant clams, sea turtles, stingrays, reef sharks, an incredible variety of tropical fish, spectacular coral formations with consistent underwater visibility. Night diving will introduce a whole new dimension of nocturnal life.
The Advanced certification requires the completion of three core dives: deep dive, underwater navigation, and night dive. You must also complete two elective dives, which can include nitrox, underwater naturalist, peak performance buoyancy, boat. Other elective options may be available which you can discuss with your instructor.
Please note, the above itinerary is a guide only, and the order of sites may change. The captain will always adapt the itinerary to the prevailing weather, tides and currents.
Meals may vary slightly depending on availability of seasonal fruit and vegetables. Please advise if you are a vegetarian and we will do our best to make sure we cater for you.
Our Vessels
We operate three multi-million dollar, fully equipped dive vessels. All vessels are used in conjunction with trainingand liveaboard operations. The 3 vessels were specifically designed to handle all the varying weather conditions inherent to The Great Barrier Reef, and offer a smooth, safe and comfortable ride. Over three deck levels, each vessel features 14 twin share bunk bed cabins, 2 double bed cabins with shared bathrooms, central air conditioning, plenty of cabin space, access to natural light, a large sun deck and a large dive deck.
Please note that no alcohol is available for purchase onboard, however you are free to bring along your own (BYO).
Dive Sites
Pellowe Reef
Pellowe Reef is a small isolated reef located close to the edge of the continental shelf. For this reason, access to the reef is weather dependent and best visited on fine weather days. The reef drops away to 30 metres very quickly in places, providing some spectacular diving.
This reef offers divers an exciting wall dive and swim throughs. The majority of the dives will be in depths between 5 to 30 metres. Being closer to the continental shelf increases the possibility of large pelagic fish species along with the more regular sightings of chevron barracuda and nudibranchs.
Milln Reef
Milln Reef offers a number of exciting dive sites such as Whale Bommie, Petaj Mooring, Swimming Pools I, Swimming Pools II and Fish Town to name a few. Our dive site at Petaj is home to resident turtles and white tip reef sharks. At the Swimming Pools you can expect to see schools of diagonally banded sweetlips and nudibranchs.
Milln Reef offers excellent wall dives, pinnacles and swim throughs. Milln is great for night diving. Some of the walls are full of sleeping parrot fish in their mucus sacks, turtles and barracudas and the occasional bull ray. Whale Bommie provides good diving with depths exceeding 20 metres. A great site to dive at night where you can expect to see sleeping turtles, reef crabs, painted lobsters, soft corals and gorgonian fans.
Thetford Reef
Thetford Reef is made up of numerous coral bommies where you can experience some very exciting wall dives and many swim throughs. The depth and exposure of Thetford Reef makes it suitable to visit during mild weather conditions.
Cathedral and Blue Lagoon are our two favourites. This reef is home to many soft and hard corals like boulder and plate corals with an abundance of marine life. Look for the giant clams, butterflyfish, damsels and angelfish.
Flynn Reef
Flynn Reef is one of our most popular reefs to dive and offers excellent diving for novice to very experienced divers. We have a number of dive sites at Flynn reef such as Tracy's Bommie, Gordon's Mooring, Tennis Court and Coral Gardens.
These sites offer excellent wall dives, swim throughs, overhangs and maze like structures. Expect to see an abundance of marine life combined with plenty of hard corals such as finger, table, plate and boulder corals as well as many species of soft corals.
Dive Equipment
Guests are welcome to bring your own dive gear, but if not don't worry, we have the following gear on board.
- Technisub stratus full foot fins
- Tusa Liberator Masks
- Aqualung Wave BCDs
- Aqualung Calypso regs with compass and Suunto Zoop computers
- 5mm long arms & ¾ legs Neptune Australia wetsuits
- 3mm Neptune/Aqualung hoods (seasonal)
- dive light: Aqualung lumen HD or Princeton Tec Torrent LED
- GoBe500 Torch
Flying After Diving: We recommend that you do not fly for at least 24 hours after diving. This means that the earliest you should fly is 12 pm (midday) on the day after your dive course ends
Referral Course customers only - Some medical conditions may prevent you from diving. You will be required to obtain a dive medical certificate if you answer “yes” to any of the questions on the attached medical declaration – the dive medical must be done prior to starting the course and must be valid within 90 days of commencing the course. If the customer answers ‘No’ to all of the questions, they will not require a dive medical at all (click here for the Medical Declaration).