Passions of Paradise are your locally owned and family-friendly Great Barrier Reef Tour from Cairns
Offering full-day trips to the Outer Great Barrier Reef, Passions of Paradise offer a fun and educational experience the whole family can enjoy.
Cruise from Cairns at 8am aboard the stylish Passions Catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef
Relax with morning tea, get to know the crew and learn all about or marine eco system
Arrive at our first amazing outer reef location, where you can snorkel, dive, sunbathe, or chill out on the boat
Arrive at our 2nd amazing outer reef location, where you can jump in for a swim, snorkel, dive or relax
Wind down with a cold beverage on the sail back to Cairns for 5pm whilst enjoying afternoon tea
Read our reviews on TripAdvisor & Facebook or leave us one yourself
Passions sail to two unique outer reef locations with a choice of 24 private moorings. Each day we will select the site best suited to the weather conditions to give our guests the best possible experience.
See below the array of activities you can include on your Great Barrier Reef Tour. Whether its diving your interested in or exploring your underwater photography skills, we have you covered.
Included for free on your full day Outer Barrier Reef trip
Join our free eco talk on the way back from the reef following your in-water activities. This fun and lively 30 minute commentary on the coral, fish and unique features of the Great Barrier Reef is a great opportunity to learn more about the ecosystem you have just dived and snorkelled. Highly interactive, marvel at how hard and soft corals co-exist, why reef creatures work together and why Nemo’s father is actually his Mother? Come away appreciating how we can all take a part in protecting the Great Barrier Reef for future generations.
Included for free on your full day outer barrier reef trip
Green turtles, manta rays, clown fish, soft and hard corals – you never know what you will come across when you snorkel in the warm, clear waters on our Great Barrier Reef Tours. A full briefing on how to snorkel, fit the equipment and make the most of your time at the Reef is given. Join a free snorkelling tour for a unique insight into this special World Heritage area. Read more
1st Introductory Scuba Dive $90
2nd Introductory Scuba Dive $60
Introductory scuba diving is a safe and fun Great Barrier Reef adventure that allows you to get up close to turtles, giant clams, clown fish, coral trout, barramundi cod and a variety of colourful corals at our spectacular destinations. All introductory scuba divers start from the safety of the Passions of Paradise catamaran and dive in a calm, shallow lagoon full of marine life. Read more
1st Certified Scuba Dive $75 (Includes all gear hire, dive computer and wetsuit)
2nd Certified Scuba Dive $55
Certified scuba divers have an amazing range of exclusive reefs to dive with a selection of drift dives, wall dives and swim throughs. The Passions of Paradise specially designed glass bottom dive tender will take you to the best locations on the day for a fully guided dive with all your equipment, including wetsuits and computers, provided. Explore the depths of the Great Barrier Reef. Read more
From $60
We do have underwater cameras available on board to hire. These cameras are Intova Sport HD’s and they take micro SD cards which are available on board to buy or you can use your own! Our helpful staff will show you how use these to take cool underwater videos and photos. The crew are also on hand to help take the perfect underwater selfie on our Great barrier Reef Tours.
Our underwater photographer is on board every day to help capture those family memories! Photos are available for purchase on the journey home or can be bought here. Keep an eye out for the photographer in the water and get that postcard perfect picture! See the photo gallery for yourself
There are so many questions we are frequently asked and hopefully, the answer to yours are below, however, if you would like to know more, why not test out our email skills. Contact Us, we’d love to fill in the blanks.
We check in from 7:oo am at our counter at the Cairns Reef Fleet Terminal at the end of Spence Street, Marlin Marina. The boat is located about 50 meters away on the Marlin Jetty and we depart at 8 am.
We return at around 5 pm. We always try to do some genuine sailing on the way home (no motors), and so times can vary either way by 10 or 15 minutes – but generally it is 5 pm.
Yes, at a small extra charge, because we use a bus company to do this for us. We do transfers locally as well as from the Northern Beaches. We do not, unfortunately do transfers from Port Douglas as it is more than one hour away from Cairns. Please see our cost page for latest prices.
Yes you can. Anybody with general good health can enjoy the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef. Please note, all scuba divers must complete a dive medical questionnaire aboard the boat. Some illnesses such as asthma may preclude you from scuba diving. Please check with your doctor or our office if you have any queries.
Yes. Scuba diving for children over 12 years of age is available to book onboard.
Yes, we do. Our friendly photographer is on hand every day to capture those special family memories!
You may be lucky enough to see a little white or black tip reef shark pass you by as small reef sharks are common. However, they are very shy.
Yes! When you arrive on onboard our crew will escort you to your table for the day. All of our tables are in the airconditioned salons, here you can park your belongings for the day and then choose to sunbath outside or stick to the shade indoors! If you are bringing a stroller on board we just ask that you make sure to arrive early to check in so we can get you on board first!
Usually the rain in Cairns tends to stick to the mountains. Cairns is in a valley and attracts fairly high rain falls, being part of the wet tropics environment. However as our reef is 40 km’s off shore, the clouds don’t collect and the rain tends to stay away. If you wake up in the morning in Cairns and it is raining…don’t panic! It will usually be fine out at unique outer reef locations.
Yes, everything. We have snorkel equipment sized for children and parents. Life jackets are available for the little ones and flotation belts for the slightly bigger little ones. We even have dive computers for the certified divers!
If you are prone to seasickness, it is advisable to take something before you go. Check with a chemist. As Passions is a catamaran, it is a lot more stable in rough weather than monohulls and the sails act as a stabiliser. We do sell sea sickness pills on board the boat, but please remember, tablets are a preventative, not a cure, so take them just before we depart.
If you have your log book, bring that with you on the boat. If you have neither, call your certifying agency and get them to fax you a copy of your scuba diving certification. Otherwise, we have a pre-dive check out test you can do with the Instructor on the boat to verify your skill level and current scuba diving knowledge.
Yes we do. We have five different salads, plus one of the two hot dishes is always vegetarian. Other special requests are sometimes possible with notice ….by all means ask….
The Passions of Paradise crew will look after you. The boat has a large range of snorkel vests and buoyancy aids available for you to use, and there are two snorkel stations near our boat for you to hold on to while you build up your confidence. Our crew will also hop in the water with you until you are comfortable.
Passions of Paradise are celebrating 31 years in business and cannot wait to show you and your family why we are one of the top-rated reef trips in Cairns!
