The Great Barrier Reef is on every backpackers east coast bucket list, and once you visit you will see why. This place is E P I C and one of our faves when it comes to exploring the underwater world. We’re talking turtles, sharks, coral for days and a ridiculous amount of fish!When it comes to visiting the Great Barrier Reef you have many different options of boats, we’ve tried and tested many of these and selected the best ones when you combine experience and fits in to that all important backpacker budget! Passions of Paradise is a beaut new catamaran that goes out each and every day to the outer section {aka the beautiful part} of the reef.
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Why Passions?
Passions is an epic option for those who want to snorkel or dive on the Great Barrier Reef, this super chill awesome catamaran is one of our favourites for sure as not only does it go to the premium part of the reef but it’s also great value for money, it’s a perfect in between those budget trips and the pricey all singing all dancing trips that you’ll find the oldies on {soz mum}.
This catamaran is unreal for heavy chills after a long day of snorkelling/scuba, they have the BEST spot for just that, so kick back with a bevvy and take in those views! Expect from this trip – epic food {trust us, this buffet is a good un}, a day getting up close and personal with marine life that you’ll never forget, scuba dive for the first time and you’ll meet onboard legends who will take photos, give you snorkel tips and are on hand all day to make sure you have an epic time!
The itinerary
Where does it start?
This trip starts from Reef Fleet Terminal, you’ll need to check in between 7 and 7:30am {so you might want to think twice about that night out at woolshed before!}.
From the major hostels aka Giligans and Mad Monkey we say allow 15 mins to walk there.
What does the day look like?
- 8am – Safety Briefing & tea/coffee!
- 10-12 – Snorkel stop number 1
- 12-1 – Lunch yewwwwww
- 1-3 – Snorkel stop number 2
- 3-4:30 – Snack, bevvy and chill time
- 4:30pm – Arrive back in Cairns!
What should you bring?
- Sunscreen {trust us, those UV rays yoooo}
- Water
- Hat/cover up
- Swimmers
- Go Pro with a wrist strap {don’t learn the hard way haha}
- A hoodie for the way back
- $20 for your national park fee
Fancy a scuba?
With these guys you have two choices on how you want to see the Great Barrier Reef, you can choose to snorkel or scuba dive! If you have never scuba dived before and fancy trying it out for the first time then where better to start!
Pre book the dive option before you go – they will provide all the equipment and tuition – an intro dive will give you 20 – 30 mins to discover the reef & you’ll go to a maximum depth of 10 metres! You do not need any prior experience so it’s perfect for first timers. We get this on a special BackPacker rate >> $45 yewwww > hit us up if you fancy it?!
About the Author: Sammy
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I had a call with Ryan who was super nice, knowledgable and made me feel really at ease with making my decision. He asked me all about what I want to do and achieve on my trip, although I didn’t really want to pack too much in… nor gave much detail on what I want to do, he gave options and ideas for me to look into. He used his own experience as an example which was really helpful to hear and made me feel like I’m right at home with RatPack, I knew then I was making the right choice by talking to him. He answered any questions I had, even if they seemed like silly questions to ask. The booking process is really easy and straight forward, they do all the hard parts for you. Once Ryan talked me through my options, I made my selection and all I had to do was enter my card details for the deposit and I was done! Thanks to Ryan’s detailed and calm approach I knew I was booking with the right company/team. I can’t wait for the next step!!
George has been amazing. He put together the costings for our trip, and then I changed the dates completely and he redid everything and said it wasn’t a problem. I felt that he worked hard to get me the best deal, advised me which pickup town was the best deal, when was the best time to travel, and how I could save money by adding a day to our trip (yes, it was cheaper to go for 21 days than go for 20!). George sent through mountains of advice on travel destinations, camping sites etc. I would definitely recommend RatPack Travel and George.
The Ratpack team and specifically Ryan f were great for booking our dream New Zealand campervan trip. Ryan worked hard over several days trying to find the best possible deals for us and the communication was great with updates regularly. He was able to get us 2 vans that out did any other quotes that we received and we are really looking forward to our trip with Ratpack being by our side. Thanks a lot Ryan F!
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I am so stoked with the service I received from Ryan at RatPack Travel. He was so proactive and on the ball to help me with all my questions and variations. He gave me several options and gave me other things to look at to make sure I had all that I needed. Ryan did all the legwork in following up the availability of the type of van I wanted. If you are wanting to go on a Campervan holiday no matter how long or short, I would recommend RatPack Travel! They will be you support in every step of the process, in the lead up and while on the road. Thanks Ryan! You're a legend! They are a one stop shop when it comes to sourcing campervans and motorhomes from different providers! I nearly forgot to say - he got me a great deal on a newer model. ;)
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Ben was super helpful, easy to deal with and always got back to all my questions nice and quickly, with all the campervan options out there we really didn’t know what one to go with but Ben did all the searching for us and made the whole process really simple.
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