T5 – DAY TRIPS TO THE REEFS OFF CAIRNS

Over the last twenty years we have visited Cairns many times and have used it as a jump off point to explore the Ribbon Reefs, Coral Sea and Far Northern Reefs. But in all our trips we have never allowed extra time to explore the local reefs off Cairns . This was mainly because we had heard a few negative comments about the local dive sites accessible by the day boats. So on a recent visit to Cairns we decided to finally explore these local reefs for ourselves and we were pleasantly surprised by what we found.
    We booked two days of diving with Tusa Dive that have been operating in the Cairns area for twenty years. Tusa Dive runs the very comfortable catamaran T5, which is 24.5m long, 8m wide, and powers out to the reef at 20 knots.
    Picked up from our hotel at 7.20am, we were soon onboard T5 and meeting the crew, signing waiver forms and checking out the facilities on this spacious dive boat. Surveyed for 90, and with seating for 120 people, T5 carries a maximum of 60 passengers for comfort. This may sound like a lot of people to be sharing a dive boat with, but we found most people onboard were not qualified divers, out for a day of snorkelling or doing an intro dive, in fact there were only a dozen divers to share the dive sites with. T5 has a large air-conditioned lounge with flat screen TV showing videos and photos, a very spacious dive deck with hydraulically lowered duck board, a sundeck, upstairs lounge room and four toilets and showers.
    After setting up our gear we were underway by 8am and heading to Milln Reef, about 90 minutes away. Conditions couldn’t have been better, calm seas, no wind and no swell. With such lovely conditions Dean, the skipper, headed out to one of his favourite dive sites, The Oasis.
    We were soon moored at Milln Reef and ready to dive. After a dive site brief we were allowed to do our own thing – no guides – although the bottom time was limited to 45 minutes to allow three dives to be fit into the day. The Oasis is a lovely dive site with coral gardens in the shallows and large bommies rising from the sand in deeper water. With a tip from the crew we headed out into deeper water to explore the bommies. The visibility was 15m, and the water was boiling at 29°C. These bommies rise from 25m to around 6m and are coated in lush hard corals, plus quite a few sea whips, gorgonians and soft corals. A good population of reef fish reside on the bommies, but we were most impressed by a large barracuda hovering near the bottom and getting serviced by two cleaner wrasse. While exploring the bommies we found sweetlips, mackerel, giant clams, nudies, anemones and a commensal shrimp sitting on a sea whip. Back under the boat was actually the fishiest spot with snapper, red bass, trevally and a large Maori wrasse hanging around.
    After a thirty minute surface interval we were back in the water to explore more of The Oasis, this time staying in the shallows on the coral gardens and sandy patches. On the sand were blue spotted stingrays, grubfish and a spotted eagle ray, while we saw rock cod, coral trout, batfish, snapper and a giant moray eel in the coral gardens.
    Lunch was then provided and this smorgasbord was one of the highlights of the day, a wonderful spread of cold meats and salad. We then moved to nearby Thetford Reef for our final dive at The Horseshoe.
    The visibility was a little cloudy here, only 10m, but we still enjoyed an interesting dive as we explored the coral canyons at the site, seeing a school of squid and a range of reef fish. The highlight was a pack of giant trevally cruising under the boat which were very entertaining to watch. With everyone back on board, and dive logs signed, we were soon heading back to Cairns Harbour , tying up to the wharf by 4pm.
    Our second day on T5 the conditions were even better, if that was possible, the seas now mirror calm, except for the mass of fish and birds feeding on the surface. Our first dive site was at Flynn Reef, at the public mooring.
    The visibility today was superb, 30m, allowing us a great view as we explored the gutters and bommies at this site. We encountered schools of snapper, sweetlips, fusiliers, parrotfish, giant trevally, mackerel and many other reef fish. Our second dive was even better. Investigating more of the bommies we found a forest of sea whips, two white tip reef sharks, several titan triggerfish, fortunately not nesting, trevally and two Maori wrasse. After another wonderful lunch it was back to Milln Reef to dive the Three Sisters.
    This dive was the highlight of our Cairns trip and equal to some of the best sites we have dived on the Ribbon Reefs. Consisting of three main bommies rising from 30m to 6m, we started on the deepest bommie and worked our way back. This first bommie was surrounded by a halo of fish – schools of fusiliers, sweetlips, trevally and silver drummer.
    We dropped to its base, finding lovely gorgonians, black coral trees home to long-nose hawkfish and a green turtle. As we swam around this bommie we also encountered white tip reef sharks, nudibranchs and a large barracuda. Moving to the second bommie there were more colourful corals and a school of sweetlips lined up on the bottom. We also found numerous ledges overflowing with baitfish.
    On the next bommie were more wonderful gorgonians, a school of trevally and a snub-nose dart. On all these bommies there were also masses of reef fish and invertebrates. Just before surfacing we found a canyon lined with incredible gorgonians and the top of one bommie was packed with sweetlips. It would take a dozen dives to explore this brilliant dive site.
    As we headed back to Cairns we reflected on the dives we had sampled and we must say we were pleasantly surprised at how good they were, especially considering the volume of divers these reefs see. For the visiting diver with a young family or non-diving partner a day trip or two off Cairns will expose you to some very nice diving, on reefs packed with a good variety of marine life, and we found T5 the perfect boat to explore these reefs.

More information contact – Tusa Dive

Article appeared in Dive Log No.265 August 2010