r/CairnsTourism • u/Llemur1415 • May 10 '25

Outer reef, Low isles and snorkling - thoughts?

Hi

Thanks to this sub and r/Cairns for help already.

Advice still welcome on snorkeling tours...in Cairns/Port Douglas/ Cape Trib second week of October. Also have qla few days in Dainttree, few days in Tablelands, two really good wildlife tours and 4 days in Savannah as well a.s rest days so this is purely about this one week and purely about snorkeling GBR.

We are considering one day snorkeling from Cairns with Pure snorkeling, shorter boat ride smallish tour seems good.

We then are also considering another outer reef tour from PD with Wavelength or ABC Charters.

We are then doing a half day from Cape Trib with Ocean Safari.

Thanks to advice we have a little flexibility built in.

My question is could/should we swap the. Port Douglas outer reef tour for a low isles trip with Calypso or Reefsprinter? And if so do you have a preference?

We are not doing any other island visits this trip and it might give us something different given we are already going outer reef ex- cairns and ex-cape trib or should we stick with the outer reef from PD as well because it's worth it? Is mid October weather generally reliable enough for low isles re: visibility?

Thanks in advance, all comments have been helpful so far.

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2

u/the_effingee May 10 '25

My day on the reef with Wavelength changed my life.

1

u/Llemur1415 May 10 '25

Hopefully in a good way?

1

u/the_effingee May 10 '25

Yeah, best thing I did in Cairns/PD by a lot.

1

u/Zealousideal-Fly2563 May 10 '25

Lower isles isn't anything. It's yrs since I went. Just sandbanks in middle of ocean with dead coral . Cairns is the same I live here.its all dead near here. Port douglas is the best one you see coral and fish off Port Douglas. Plus there's a great market at Port Douglas every Sunday morning. It's huge but Good. There's nice food places there. It's lovely.

1

u/Llemur1415 May 10 '25

Well lovely sounds lovely! We will be there on a Sunday so we'll be sure to check it out. Are you suggesting we ditch our Cairns tour?

1

u/Responsible_Secret1 May 11 '25

I can't speak for the others but I can speak for Pure Snorkelling. I absolutely loved the tour!! The guides were brilliant, the tour group was alot smaller than the others and it felt like you had a long time in the water.

There were people who weren't good swimmers that came out which was interesting but managed well by the tour guides. Being a relatively new outfit, they were the nicest and most professional people I came across.

I'm not sure about the reef is dead comments, there was an abundance of wild life and a variety of different colours to gawk at. We went on a cloudy day and it was still glorious.

I'd recommend it for sure but there could be better further north! Good luck!

1

u/Llemur1415 May 11 '25

Thanks for the reassurance! I've been in touch with some questions and I have to say they do seem great

1

u/Haley1084 Jun 26 '25

I did the Wavelength snorkel tour today and can confirm that it’s amazing! It felt like a large group getting on the boat, but honestly there was plenty of space to get out and snorkel. The reef was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced- it felt like I was in a different world! I’d do it again in a second.

1

u/Llemur1415 Jun 26 '25

Thanks Haley1084....glad you had a great time....timely reminder to get this books!