All our day and overnight trips visit the Outer Great Barrier Reef. The outer reefs are the sections furthest from the coast.

These reefs have fewer crowds and benefit from flowing nutrients distributed by the vast Coral Sea. Here, good climate conditions and clear water bring out the best in the coral colours and the incredibly diverse marine life.

With more than 18 sites from Cairns, Divers Den has the most choice of outer reef locations of all the local operators. On our day trips we visit two sites per day, based on weather and visibility conditions, to ensure you have the best possible dive or snorkel experience.

The Great Barrier Reef is home to a huge range of marine life. During your day or overnight trip, you’re likely to see colourful corals and a variety of tropical and pelagic (ocean) fish – plus sharks, rays, turtles and more! Find out more about the reef and view the marine wildlife guide.

We try to not predict the weather any more than a couple of days ahead, but you can find out more on our weather page about the general conditions for Cairns, Tropical North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef across the year, including temperatures and estimated rainfall.

In Cairns and the rest of the tropical north, the weather is warm year-round, so you can enjoy a trip to the Great Barrier Reef in any season! Our weather page will give you more information.

As long as you’re comfortable in the water, you should be able to snorkel or even do an intro dive. Before you enter the water you will fill out a form that includes information on your level of competence in the water and any medical conditions. Depending on your response, we may require that you use a flotation device while snorkeling.

Our friendly instructors will talk you through using all the equipment. If you’re unsure, feel free to contact us to discuss.

Some medical conditions can prevent you from scuba diving. Please read our Can I Dive page carefully and contact us if you have any questions.

You will also be asked to fill out an assessment form before snorkeling. If you are assessed as an at-risk snorkeler you may be required to wear a flotation device while snorkeling.

Yes! For most of our day trips and overnight trips, you’ll be travelling on the same vessel as all our other passengers – so if you or your travel partners are certified divers and others in your group are not, you’ll share your journey out on the reef together and complete your dives/snorkel experiences at the same sites.

Our locals discount applies to Cairns locals only (persons whose primary place of residence is between Innisfail, Cape Tribulation and the Tablelands).

For day trips, overnight trips, dive courses and Scuba Kids, you can save up to 20% off. Please call or email us to book.

A driver’s license is adequate proof – management must approve any other form of identification.

These discounts are not available for visiting friends and families of locals. Language students and people on working holiday visas are not considered locals. Discounts are not available on public holidays.

Yes, we offer a 25% discount for staff and volunteers of selected defence forces and emergency services organisations. Find out about defence and emergency discounts.

Child snorkel age is 4-14. Please see below for learn to dive age restrictions. There is no minimum age restriction for travelling on vessels when accompanied by a parent or guardian, but children must remain supervised at all times if they are not undertaking a course.

• Introductory diving: 12 years or over
• Open Water dive courses: 10 years or over, but must be accompanied by guardians and a private instructor if under 12 years. If the diver is under 12 years we must be informed before the course starts.
• You must be aged 18 or over to travel unaccompanied on our day or overnight trips. Anyone younger than this must be supervised by an adult at all times.
• Please note snorkeling is not suitable for children under 4 years old

Yes, we can accommodate people who don’t wish to snorkel or dive. Each of our vessels has outdoor viewing decks and air-conditioned spaces indoors.

Your lunch on board our day trips will be a fresh tropical buffet lunch with hot and cold options. If you have special dietary requirements, please advise us at time of booking.

Meals on board OceanQuest are chef-prepared. As long as we are advised at time of booking we can cater to most dietary requests. Please contact us for further queries.

You can hire an Olympus TG5 camera on our day trips. Our photographer will also capture your incredible day underwater so there will be a USB stick of photographs for purchase. Please note, camera hire and photo purchasing is subject to availability.

You can visit our online photo store here to purchase photographs from your Great Barrier Reef snorkel or dive trip.

All our vessels are catamarans, which offer greater stability and a smoother ride than monohull vessels.

If you are prone to motion sickness, we recommend buying natural ginger tablets, available at all local chemists. We also have some available for sale on board.

We strongly recommend travel insurance to cover you if your snorkel or dive trip is cancelled due to illness, poor weather, travel delays, lost luggage and legal costs. Travel insurance may not cover diving accidents and/or treatment/evacuation. For that we recommend separate insurance – see our Can I Dive page for more information.

Box jellyfish, also known as ‘stingers’, are pale blue, transparent jellyfish. They can measure up to 20 cm along each side of their cube-shaped bodies, and their tentacles can reach up to 3 metres long. Their sting can be very painful, and even fatal in some cases.

Box jellyfish live in the warmer coastal areas sheltered by the Great Barrier Reef, and are most numerous between November and May. We provide protective lycra suits during these months to protect all snorkellers and divers.

Yes, we offer complimentary accommodation transfers on our dive courses and overnight trips to and from selected Cairns CBD hotels.

We don’t offer accommodation packages, but we offer overnight dive and snorkel experiences with accommodation on our liveaboard vessel OceanQuest.