The colours are brighter on Australia's Great Barrier Reef – and it’s not just the fish.

Great Barrier Reef Cruise, departing daily from Cairns for one day or several days.  Come face to face with the most beautiful coloured marine life and coral.

A Great Barrier Reef Cruise is something you will remember forever.

Cairns, North Queensland, The Great Barrier Reef – it’s a place that will stick with you forever.

I still remember my first trip there, the smell of the sea and the warm sunshine.

The first thing that hits you are the colours. Not just in the Great Barrier Reef, but in Cairns and North Queensland in general – it’s something that seems to strike everyone who visits. It’s like the colours are brighter somehow – the blue open sky, the lush green, the white sands. An amazing place to get away, your senses are immediately heightened – the air is warm and you immediately get a smell of salt, eucalyptus, sand, sunscreen. The people are relaxed, vibrant.

And then you get down there – down below. When you’re down there, everything just slows right down, calms itself. Your thoughts, your breathing. You can hear the gentle in and out of your breaths, but that’s about it. Instead your vision takes over – becomes stronger, taking in the almost impossible colours. Bright yellow seahorses humming along with their fins blurring like motors. Coral like bright orange flowers, or blue tipped brains. Even now, there are nights our staff go to bed and they see the colours when they close their eyes.

Nemo is not the only show stopper on the Great Barrier Reef.

He may be a crowd pleaser, but Nemo is not the only fish you’ll meet in the Great Barrier Reef. With 3000 reefs and over 800 islands, the challenge most tourists have when visiting the GBR is not what they’ll see, but where to start. With such a daunting task, it’s lucky people like Reef Encounter are there to assist. Having operated tours in the area for more than 15 years, the staff there count themselves as the lucky few who get to live, work and play in and around this unique Natural Wonder of Australia. A once in a lifetime opportunity, you’ll want to count on someone who knows the area and can get you right to the middle of the action.

Great effort is going into protecting the reef by people like Reef Encounter, ensuring current tourism practices are conducted in a way that has no impact on the coral reef and it’s incredible inhabitants. Alongside organisations such as reef check, the staff work to monitor the health of the reef to ensure future generations can enjoy it. When are you coming to visit? You’ll find it like no other place on earth – the Great Barrier Reef not only brings you face to face with nature, but its colourful and charismatic inhabitants.

The Great Barrier Reef a memory to take with you.

Whether it’s for a couple of days of snorkeling or to get your open water diving license, there is no place better than the Great Barrier Reef. With Reef Encounter you’ll meet passionate and friendly staff, get the opportunity to get up close and personal with the most astounding parts of the reef, and enjoy the convenience of accommodation on board, amazing food and staff eager to guide you.

Come and see clown fish sheltering between coral branches, or turtles lazily cruising by in search of some sea life to munch on. Like our staff, they will be sights that you see when you close your eyes – and memories that you’ll be able to carry with you well into your old age.