Experience The Great Barrier Reef At Night On The MV Reef Encounter
There are a number of unique hotels in the world. Most are very special and appeal to a select group of people.
We like to believe that the MV Reef Encounter is special as well, however we appeal to a wide range of people.
The MV Reef Encounter is a diving Liveaboard vessel that calls Cairns it’s home port, however, it is seldom in port and on most days it can be found on one of the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef Park.
You may be wondering about the hotel comment. Most of our guest do not look upon us as a standard Liveaboard vessel.
Since we are built more along the lines of a luxury mega-yacht and have all the comforts of a boutique hotel we are often consider a luxury destination that also offers scuba diving.
Our Heart and Soul is the Great Barrier Reef and the reef is best explored around the clock.
Our Liveaboard experience can bring the experience of the reef to you in a way that no day tour could ever do.
The scuba diver can experience a night dive, where the wonders of the underwater world changes shifts as the sun goes down.
The night lovers come out of hiding and roam the reef for the night, while those that are active in the day time find a cozy place to spend the night.
The process is reversed at sun rise and scuba divers and snorkelers can experience the start of a new day.
Unlike the traditional Liveaboard vessel, Guest aboard the MV Reef Encounter can spend the number of nights that they wish and arrive on the day they choose.
Our sister vessel the MV Reef Experience will bring out guest to us each morning, along with a fresh supply of vegetables and other food stuff for our on-board chef to whip up outstanding meals. The MV Reef Experience is a high speed day dive vessel.
A typical overnight stay with us includes two days of activity out on the outer reefs.
Your experience on the Great Barrier Reef starts with the MV Reef Experience.
After your 7:30 am check in you can sit back in air conditioned comfort or experience the sea air on the open deck as the MV Reef Experience takes you to the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef to meet up with the MV Reef Encounter.
You can enjoy a freshly made BBQ breakfast and after eating can listen in to the on-board Marine biologist who will give some pointer about the reefs.
Depending on the location of the your vessel you will be on board the MV Reef Experience about an hour and a half.
Upon your arrival, you will be given a ship and dive orientation including a safety talk and a orientation of your floating hotel.
Around 10:30 the dive deck will be open for snorkeling. This will give the scuba diver a good chance to get into the water and take a look around.
Snokelers are invited to snorkel as well, for those who have never tried snorkeling the dive staff is on-hand to give you a lesson and to get you started.
Lunch will be served at noon and at 1 pm there are the briefings.
ScubaDivers will receive a separate briefing from non-divers and at about 1:30 the dive deck is open for the first scuba dive of the day.
As mentioned our heart and soul is the reef and the best way to enjoy it underwater is by scuba diving.
We know that once a snorkeler experiences the thrill of scuba they will understand our passion.
We offer all non-divers (some age and medical restrictions may apply) a complementary introduction dive also called a try scuba dive.
It will be on one of the reefs that we use during the day.
Between scuba dives the Captain may elect to change locations to another dive site.
On a typical day, divers will have two or three different reefs to dive on.
Scuba diving if you have not done it for a while and even snorkeling can be tiring, so it is fine if you skip a water session.
As an alternative we have a glass bottom boat so that you can relax and still watch the underwater action.
Dinner is served around 6pm in our dinning area or take your dinner out on the sun deck.
After dinner the divers have the opportunity to do a night dive.
Many divers consider diving at twilight the best dives and we tend to with them.
After diving you can just relax and enjoy the stars, more stars than you can imagine. If you are with that special someone, there is not a more romantic place on earth.
The staterooms on-board is another item that sets us apart from other Liveaboards.
We have 21 luxury staterooms each with en-suite facilities. Your stateroom will have an ocean view.
Descriptions really does not do justice to the rooms and the views, so we will just leave it by reminding you that our previous guest consider us a boutique hotel or a luxury mega-yacht.
You know the saying the customer is always right.
There is an early morning wake up call to experience the sunrise while diving or snorkeling.
The transformation of the reef is amazing. After breakfast and before lunch are two more water sessions.
After lunch you can get in another snorkeling session before heading back to Cairns on the MV Reef Experience.
Come and join us for a unique experience on the Great Barrier Reef