Visiting The Great Barrier Reef With Passions of Paradise
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!
with RatPack Travel?
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?!
From our RatPackers
Genuinely saved me a lot of dolla and stress, thank you so much!
Steve and I were incredibly impressed with Reuben's great professionalism and his ability to find us a wonderful deal for our upcoming N.Z holiday in 2024. Reuben was so helpful, informative and gained us a awesome JUCY Campervan package. Thank you so much for all your assistance.🤩 I would highly recommend Rat Pack Travel to all travellers. 😊Lindy Jurd.
Great service from Ben, can’t recommend RatPack enough. Got us a great price over a really busy period and got us the van we wanted. So easy and will definitely use them again in the future.
Gregg was very helpful in helping me plan my trip very last minute! Thanks so much
Jenna was a huge help getting me a camper for my trip up through the East Coast. Availability was tight and I can’t thank Jenna enough for sorting and at a great price. Definitely worth taking the stress out of searching and using these guys.
Seems to good to be true but Ratpack are everything they say and more. Helped me so much to choose a van and made the whole process so easy! Big shout out to Jenna and all her help above and beyond thanks so much!! Highly recommend
Ben from RatPack Travel was amazing!! Highly recommend getting in contact with this company if you’re unsure what kind of vehicle is best suited for your road-trip plans!
Jenna was so helpful and informative. She made the whole process of booking a camper so easy and answered any questions that I had. I would 100% recommend Ratpack travel for booking a campervan trip! Thanks Jenna 😀
Jenna was amazing! She took all the worry and stress out of booking our holiday! She was so helpful and patient, offering so much advice and securing us a lovely discount as well! Congratulations RatPack Travel - you have a winner in Jenna!
Messaged on Instagram and within a few minutes Reuben had replied, he went through every bit of detail to help arrange our east coast trip, providing the specification of the van and the true costings without any pressure. Very excited to start our trip next month, credit to the team for sure
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Just booked a camper through Ratpack Travel with Gregg. He was super professional and talked me through the entire process with constant updates - absolute legend. One of the easiest experiences booking a camper I've had. Would definitely recommend!
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Thanks for sorting out a camper for us Ben! I look forward to the trip and travelling in the RV you found for us
Gregg was fantastic chasing a great price and was extremely responsive - he called when he said he would, chased options immediately and was quick with follow up communication. The process was quick and painless and ended with us getting a great deal.
