Get close to bat fish with Ocean Spirit Cruises

Cairns dive trips and scuba diving day tours depart Marlin Marina every morning, taking certified divers of all experience levels to explore and enjoy the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is comprised of more than 2,900 individual reef systems. Several are offshore from Cairns and accessible for day tours, including Milln, Moore, Hastings, Saxon, Thetford, Upolu and Michaelmas Reefs to name just a few. Cairns reefs offer excellent diving conditions including warm, clear waters year round, abundant corals and marine life.

Cairns is the closest mainland point to the Great Barrier Reef, which means less travel and more dive time. Some operators will visit up to three different reef sites on one day, spending more than six (6) hours exploring the Great Barrier Reef. Travel time is usually no longer than two (2) hours, generally less, depending who you choose.

Tusa Dive provides daily Cairns dive tours

There are over 16 Cairns dive day tours departing daily. They range in price, destination, boat and inclusions and cater to Open Water Divers and Advanced Divers, from the novice to the experienced diver. It is best to review what is on offer, before making your final decision. Day tour packages can be tailored to suit your preference and may include one, two or three certified dives.

Please note: Dive tour operators will want to see a copy of your dive license, so please ensure you have this with you when booking a Cairns dive day tour. If you have not dived in a while, refresher courses are available on-board, en route to the reef.

Some Cairns dive day tours visit the Outer Great Barrier Reef, others travel to coral and sand cays and tropical islands, while others visit permanently anchored reef pontoons. The diving at all locations is excellent, but conditions may vary: to assist with your decision making, please see the below notes on each type of Cairns dive destination.

Hang out with turtles on Cairns Outer Great Barrier Reef

Cairns’ Outer Great Barrier Reef dive sites offer pristine coral reefs with depths ranging from 2 – 35m. Individual features vary: some have coral caves, walls and drop offs, others have coral towers, bombies and swim throughs. All are home to an amazing diversity of marine and coral life and will not disappoint in their dive conditions. Travel time to Outer Great Barrier Reef sites is a little longer than that to islands and cays. These trips are recommended for strong, confident swimmers and divers.

Cairns dive trips to sand cays and tropical islands, like Michaelmas and Upolu Cay and Green Island, offer shallow, protected waters with vibrant, fringing coral reefs. These trips are ideal for novice and experienced divers. The currents are not as strong here as in the open water sites, and there is an abundance of marine life to be seen including large schools of parrotfish and bat fish, giant clams, turtles, soft corals and more.

Marine World Outer Reef Pontoon

Reef pontoon dive packages are generally the most expensive scuba diving day tours in Cairns. Why? They include all of the pontoon’s other facilities and activities including, but not limited to: freshwater showers and change rooms, undercover decks and sundecks, underwater observatories, semi-submersible and glass bottom boat tours, with dive tenders taking you to excellent dive sites.

All Cairns dive day tours depart relatively early in the morning, boarding around 7.30am, returning in the late afternoon, around 5pm. Standard inclusions are the trip to the reef, tea and coffee, lunch and a glass bottom boat tour. Depending on who you choose, other inclusions may be morning and afternoon tea, marine biologist presentations and perhaps a certified dive or guided dive.

Generally, certified diving is an extra cost and you can tailor your day to your budget and preference. All dive equipment is provided on board and dive masters / instructors provide comprehensive dive briefings en route to the Great Barrier Reef, including equipment and safety refreshers.

For basic comparison, we have prepared the below pricing table which compares the cost for a Cairns Great Barrier Reef scuba diving day tour, including two certified dives. Please note: the Cairns dive trips prices do not include port taxes, which are payable direct to the operator on the day of travel.

Cairns Dive Trips: Price Comparison Table

Cairns dive trips – Scuba Diving Refresher Courses

Refresh your skills before diving Cairns Great Barrier Reef

If it has been a while since you obtained your dive certification / did your last dives, and you are feeling a little nervous about diving again, then a refresher course is highly recommended to put you at ease. A number of Cairns dive operators provide refresher courses, ranging from one hour to two days, depending on your requirements.

To participate in a refresher course, you need to already be a certified diver and you will need to have a copy of your license with you.

Cairns Dive Centre, located on Abbott Street, two minutes from the Cairns Esplanade, provide complimentary refresher courses for their day trips and liveaboard dive tour customers. As a certified SSI Training Centre, Cairns Dive Centre is committed to ensuring their scuba divers are comfortable and confident when exploring the Great Barrier Reef.

Cairns Dive Centre refresher courses take approximately one hour and are conducted the day before your departure. They are also available for divers who are not travelling with them, at a cost of $66.

Pro Dive Cairns, located on Spence Street, a five minute walk from Cairns Central Shopping Centre, offers private refresher courses and theory and pool refresher courses. Pro Dive Cairns are accredited as a PADI 5 Star Training and Instructor Development Centre and will help you get your dive skills and knowledge, back to where you want them to be.

The private refresher course takes 2.5 hours and costs $125 per person. One of Pro Dive Cairns’ dive instructors will refresh you on all of the in-water skills you learnt during your certification, to put you at ease for the dive trip ahead. For anyone booking a Pro Dive Cairns 3 day / 2 night liveaboard trip, the 2 day theory and pool refresher is provided free of charge and includes two theory and in-pool sessions.

Deep Sea Divers Den offer refresher dive courses on a daily basis (subject to availability). They have three refresher courses available.

• A morning pool course (9am – 12pm), where you will be refreshed with using scuba equipment and practising your underwater skills with a PADI Dive Instructor.
• An afternoon course (12.30 – 4.30pm) which covers dive theory including dive planning, dive tables and the latest scuba diving safety guidelines.
• A full day course, combining both of the above with refresher training provided by a qualified PADI Dive Instructor.

Scuba dive refreshers are a great way to remember those skills and signals, prior to taking to the waters of the Great Barrier Reef.

Check out our video on what you might see when you go on Cairns dive trips!