Ocean Freedom: Great Barrier Reef Stylish Snorkel, Dive Reef Tour
Description
Enjoy the most guest-oriented Great Barrier Reef tour aboard a fast travelling stylish and comfortable catamaran from Cairns! A "barefoot luxury" and stylish snorkel and dive experience, visiting 2 very different and unique Great Barrier Reef Sites. "Wonder Wall" on the outer edge Upolu Reef and Upolu Cay reef area - an aquarium style coral garden with the most beautiful clear blue azure waters. Spend six hours (more than any other reef tour) to snorkel or scuba dive (see options below) these Green Zone Marine Park highly protected areas. Absolutely no rush in the day. Enjoy complimentary Glass- Bottom Boat tour (subject to sea conditions) and Adventure Drift Snorkel tours with your onboard marine naturalist. This cruise is limited to 75 guests, ensuring quality customer service and passenger comfort. An all day "feel good" reef tour - come and experience our hospitality - we would love the opportunity for you to travel with our local family reef tours!
Tour Options
Itinerary
After check-in board the vessel, grab a coffee, a Danish pastry, fresh fruit & settle in. After just over an hour we arrive at our first Great Barrier Reef destination - the beautiful "Wonder Wall " on the outer edge of Upolu reef. Snorkel, SCUBA (extra) this stunning Great Barrier Reef site teaming with fish and marine life. Experience an informative complimentary Glass Bottom Boat & Adventure Drift Snorkel tour with our very attentive guides. After a morning of activities enjoy a large scrumptious lunch as we cruise to Upolu Cay. Snorkel this "coral garden" tropical oasis - look out for turtles & sting rays! When conditions allow you can even land on this glistening white coral Cay! Enjoy six hours of snorkelling, relaxing between these 2 uniquely different reef sites. After a magical day we return to Cairns serving fresh fruit, cheese and crackers and cake arriving back in Cairns by around 4.15 pm . We are thrilled to now have you as part of our ever growing Ocean Freedom family!
Our Marine Guides will enthrall you on a reef and marine life discovery on an a highly informative and engaging Adventure Snorkel Tour and Glass Bottom Boat Tour at our two unique Upolu Reef sites - "Wonder Wall" on the Outer Edge Upolu Reef and our "Aquarium" coral garden reef site amongst the beautiful shallow, azure coloured waters of Upolu Cay Reef. These sites are in Marine Park highly protected zones where no fishing is allowed, hence the abundance of fish and marine life. Come and find your favourite Hollywood Nemo character! With 6 hrs of actual un-rushed reef time you have plenty of time to do both complimentary activities and continue exploring yourself under the guidance of our attentive crew!
Ocean Freedom travels to two Great Barrier Reef sites - "Wonder Wall" on the Outer Edge of Upolu reef (a truly magnificent snorkel and dive site) and Upolu Cay Reef - a beautiful shallow turquoise coral garden site. Upolu Cay site is truly magnificent - picture a coral garden reef with lots of colourful reef fish darting in and out of the staghorn coral as you snorkel in these crystal clear shallow waters surrounding Upolu Cay. Look out for turtles popping to the surface for a breath of air, stingrays eagerly scouring the bottom for food. Sometimes you can stand thigh deep on the Cay in the middle of the ocean, other days we can land on this glistening white beautiful coral cay - each day a little mystery of nature but always we have the stunning turquoise waters to snorkel in and around this magnificent Great Barrier Reef area. Make sure you have your camera ready for this truly picturesque site!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- A maximum of 75 people ensures a unique and personalized experience
- The order in which the snorkeling and dive sites are visited may changes as it is dependent on the conditions on the day
- Guests come from many countries and many only have a small opportunity to visit the reef. The vessel will operate in all weather conditions (apart from gale force and severe weather warnings) and has extra procedures to make the day the best possible. If you are concerned about the weather, please visit www.bom.gov.au cairns coastal report - it will give you a 4 day forecast. 10-20 knots is a normal good day. Date of travel can be changed subject to availability and also full refund if cancelling with minimum 24hrs notice. Our vessels are open air with good boat movement so less likely to suffer seasickness than some other closed vessels however, if prone to motion sickness we recommend taking travel sickness tablets 20 minutes before boarding the vessel.
- The operation of the Glass-Bottom Boat Tour is subject to weather conditions and may not operate in rough seas.
- If intending to take part in diving all divers (whether certified or introductory diver) will be required to fill out a diving medical questionnaire on board. If diving is an important option for you, please advise if you have any medical issues (past or present) or taking any medications so we can advise if any QLD diving medical clearance is required prior to day of travel . Some medical conditions and medication may preclude you from diving. It is imperative for your safety that you answer the questions on the form truthfully.
Reviews(1,997)
I booked this tour for my husband & son who wanted to SCUBA for this excursion. They had gone on another vessel the day before for SCUBA and they thought Ocean Freedom was by far a better experience. Larger more comfortable boat, shorter boat ride, and scuba staff that let them explore more. They were worried about being on a bigger boat and having it be crowded with people but there was plenty of room to spread out.
Absolutely fantastic day out with the best crew on a cracker of a boat. Quality snorkelling gear and wetsuits to use for the day. Honestly we were all fed very well with great lunch, cake, fruit and cheese and crackers. The day out had 2 stops with plenty of time to enjoy the water and the reef and a tour on a glass bottomed boat which was fabulous. I recommend highly. Just do it!
I recently had time in Cairns and took several trips to the reef. This was the standout best trip. Ocean Freedom doesn't have the facilities of the pontoon owning companies but they have the best crew - knowledgeable, friendly, so helpful. Everything is made easy - some other trips there were assumptions that visitors knew what to do, knew where everything was etc. Ocean Freedom's crew make sure everyone can get the most from their day. They have two fantastic sites for seeing the coral. The drift snorkel tour with one of the crew was brilliant. I enjoyed this day so much that I cancelled what I had planned the following day to go out with Ocean Freedom again.
Wonderful experience! The crew members are exceptional! My husband who can't swim was specifically taken out for the ocean snorkelling by this wonderful lady crew. My husband is 78 years old & he said he never dreamt that he could be able to swim in the Pacific Ocean! I won't hesitate to recommend this tour.
A great experience. We were well looked after by Bruce and his crew.
We had an awesome time on this trip. My Mum snorkeled, my partner did his first discovery scuba dive, and I did 2 certified dives, and we all had a great time. The 2 spots are both lovely with a lot of sea life to see. We saw a reef shark, an octopus, a sting ray and a lot of fish. Staff were attentive, friendly and professional. Lunch was great. Just an awesome day trip, highly recommend!
Incredible dive instructor and whole staff helpful! Food was great the weather was perfect. This was our best outing in cairns
Our day on the Great Barrier Reef was without a doubt one of the absolute highlights of our trip to Australia. From the moment we stepped on board, everything was exceptionally well organised and we felt genuinely looked after. A special thank you to Hugo from France, who guided our first snorkelling safari. He was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, making everyone feel comfortable and ensuring we had a fantastic experience. We were also very impressed by how much the crew cared about everyone’s wellbeing. Seasickness tablets were offered before departure, and throughout the day the crew kept checking on everyone to make sure they were feeling well. That level of care really stood out. The underwater world was simply breathtaking. We were lucky enough to see sea turtles, clownfish, colourful parrotfish, stunning coral in every colour imaginable and beautiful sea stars. Another guest even spotted a stingray and a whitetip reef shark that quickly swam away. Around our boat, a huge school of what I think were fusilier fish swam around us, which was an unforgettable sight. We would also like to mention Anna and another crew member whose name we unfortunately can’t remember. Both were incredibly kind, enthusiastic and always happy to help. Their passion for the reef and for making sure everyone had a wonderful day was obvious. Finally, we loved learning that this is the last family-owned reef tour company in Cairns. That makes choosing this company even more special, and we truly hope many more people will support them. Thank you to the entire team for an unforgettable experience. If you’re looking for the perfect Great Barrier Reef tour, look no further. We would recommend this company to everyone without hesitation!
The staff is friendly, attentive and very knowledgeable. They made us all feel comfortable and made sure we all had an incredible time exploring the Great Barrier Reef and discovering the amazing sea creatures! Very grateful for their attentiveness to help all different levels of swimmers in the water to insure it was an unforgettable holiday.
As a travel agent, I would not recommend this tour. Childhood dream of scuba diving in the reef. Get there and told I can’t because of an injury from years ago. The whole reason I came to Cairns was to do this tour. Asked before we even left if I could just get a refund. They said no and I decided to stick it out and not waste the money already spent. After doing it, I should have just wasted the money and not wasted my time and a vacation day. Snorkeled in one spot the whole day.
Hi Nicholas, We are genuinely sorry that you were unable to complete your introductory dive, particularly as it was something you had wanted to experience for many years. However, we must correct the impression that our crew simply refused your dive because of an "injury years ago" . Queensland law requires every non-certified diver to complete an approved medical declaration before diving. The information disclosed on your completed declaration raised a few medical considerations relating to diving. Under Queensland recreational diving safety requirements and PADI safety standards, our qualified dive crew could not approve an introductory dive without appropriate medical assessment and clearance. This was not an arbitrary or commercial decision. SCUBA diving involves breathing compressed air under pressure, and the medical history you reported on the day must be properly assessed for the diver’s safety. No responsible operator should disregard these disclosures simply to avoid disappointing a guest. The full cost of your dive was immediately refunded. Our booking information, confirmation and diving waiver prior to day of travel clearly ask guests intending to dive to tell us in advance about any past or present medical conditions or medication. This allows us to advise before the day whether medical clearance may be required. You had also enquired about diving weeks before travelling and were advised that an onboard medical declaration would need to be completed. Unfortunately, the relevant medical history was not provided to us beforehand, so we had no opportunity to raise the need for clearance earlier. Regarding the reef itinerary. The vessel did travel to and assess the planned second site. The skipper determined that conditions there were unsuitable for a safe and enjoyable experience and returned to the first site, where conditions were better. Reef-site decisions are always subject to the conditions on the day. Guests still received six hours at the reef, with opportunities for snorkelling, a Glass Bottom Boat tour and guided Adventure Drift Snorkel tours exploring different sections of the reef. You chose not to participate in the offered drift snorkel experiences in the afternoon. Our crew also suggested you could obtain a local dive medical that day and, subject to medical clearance and availability, return with us the following day. You declined that opportunity. We sincerely understand your disappointment, but our crew followed the safety procedures required of them. We stand firmly behind their decision and will never compromise a guest’s health or safety and would expect that as a Travel Agent these procedures would be understood to ensure correct traveller safety information. We sincerely hope you obtain the appropriate dive medical and can safely fulfil your long-held wish to SCUBA dive in the future.
