Cairns or Port Douglas

[ScubaSloan]

I will be in Australia in July and will be in Cairns for a few days. I will be diving the first two days and would like to do a rain forest tour or another land activity on the third day. I have heard that Cairns is rather touristy, but wanted to get thoughts as to whether it is worth the added travel to make Port Douglas the base of operations. Either way are their dive sites/operators that people would recommend?
Thanks,
Sloan

 

[bracko]

honestly it's not hard to do one day at each place if you're keen to do so. Cairns is a bit touristy but it has more restaurants (if that's your thing) and obviously more accommodation options.

Cairns does live up to its reputation for being a fun town though, there are a few bars and more than a few backpackers however you just need to find a hotel probably only 50m or so away from the large backpacker hostels to get a good night's sleep if it's not your thing.

Can't speak for the diving as I've only ever done the cod hole / ribbon reef's and the outer reefs (day trips) from Cairns. If you decide Cairns I have used and quite like the Tusa boat. Fast, reasonable lunch and while there are a lot of snorkelers as well they do cater quite well for divers. we even had a tender drops at the 3 sisters site which was nice of them.

 

[Cnz Diver]

I think Cairns had a bad rep it does not deserve, it has heaps of backpacker accommodation but over time this has moved a little out of town rather than on the foreshore where it used to be mainly based. Cairns also has some great hotels and dinnig options. I run a small independant dive website and have done pretty much every boat that departs Cairns, overall I find Tusa T6 the best, it is fast, the equipment is good, and you get to do 3 dives that can add up to around 3 hours underwater, they are not the cheapest but many of the cheaper boats only allow 2 dives and have small tanks and you may only find yourself diving for around an hour. It is quite a long day getting to the reef and I prefer doing as much diving as possible when I get to the reef.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

Port is a sleepy little place with good beaches and one street of restaurants, couple of bars and shops. Thats it. Nice place to relax and nicer scenery within short drive.

Not so many operators out of Port dive wise. Only Poseidon (best of the day trips there from my point of view) Silverswift and the very commercial Quicksilver which goes to a pontoon. More for families and snorkelers.

More night life in Cairns and lot more to choose from restaurant and shopping wise. Also a lot more to chose from diving related. Cnz Diver had it right with Tusa T6. I would rate that as one of the best day trips. But others to suit different budgets.

But dont forget there are 2 day 1 night options if you want to pack a lot more dives in, and compared to 2 day trips and accomodation, food etc, the live aboard option is better. Taka or Kangaroo Explorer offer 2 day 1 night options.

Why not do what Bracko suggested and do some diving out of Cairns and spend a day or 2 relaxing at Port? The tours for land based activites (few sugestions here) can be done from either place as Cairns is about 70km south.

 

[CajunDiva]

I think you would miss out if you didn't spend some time in Port Douglas...it is a FANTASTIC place to visit and a GREAT base of operations to explore the incredible surrounding areas.

We researched far north Queensland at length before booking our trip a few years ago. We were intrigued because this is the spot where three World Heritage areas meet...The Great Barrier Reef, The Daintree Rainforest, and The Outback all converge in this area. Since we were undertaking quite a journey to get there, we didn't want to miss any of it.

We started out in Cairns, where we spent a couple of days before undertaking a three day liveaboard experience aboard the Spirit of Freedom. We took advantage of the opportunity to visit a couple of the attractions in the area before our dive adventure. Cairns was nice, but it had more of a city feel. We enjoyed the things we did, but then we were ready to move along. (Important to note...our focus is on nature and diving - not fine dining and partying, so our perspective may be different) When our dive trip concluded it was time to move along to Port Douglas, which became our base of operations for the next ten days.

We absolutely fell in love with Port. It is a friendly village where you can stroll around and feel perfectly safe and happy. Four Mile Beach is one of the loveliest beaches in the world, but watch out for the stinging jellies! We also enjoyed Anzac Park and the Marina Mirage. There are plenty of shops to explore. The best of all is the ice cream shop! We made a stop at "Wicked" for ice cream part of our daily routine.

While in Port, we did our diving with Calypso Charters Port Douglas Cruises,Great Barrier Reef Tours,Snorkel Dive Trips - not one of the charters mentioned in a previous post. They didn't tie up to any pontoons, but went directly to dive sites and offered us three dives per day. I would recommend them highly. We thoroughly enjoyed the diving out of Port Douglas.

During our non-dive days we took advantage of the opportunity to visit the other World Heritage areas. We had a private tour with David Armbrust Ecotourism - Port Douglas North Queensland Australia which turned out to be the highlight of our entire trip! It was absolutely phenomenal. David took us up to Mt. Lewis and even over to the other side to sample a bit of the outback. But the best part was the stroll through "Thylogale", his personal property, which has been cultivated to attract and support amazing flora and fauna. David is like a modern day "Dr. Doolittle"...he can talk to the animals...and they respond! We had such a wonderful time and interacting with him reinforced our love of nature even more.

We also booked another tour with a different company, although less personal and more touristy, up to the Daintree Rainforest. On this tour we crossed the Daintree River by ferry and explored even farther north. We saw some beautiful sights along the way and had a great day.

These are experiences we would not have had the opportunity to try had we been based in Cairns for our vacation. At the very least, I would suggest that you split your time between the two locations. There is so much to enjoy in far north Queensland!

 

[tdaniels]

My wife and i were in port Douglas in march and loved it we had two dive days on the Poseidon and found they were very professional and we had a lot of fun with them.
Its true port Douglas is more laid back than cairns but its nice just to relax and unwind.

 

[AdamBorzy]

Hi Sloan,

With all the great information from our mates, have you decided yet?

Cairns is more crowded, touristy, and a lot noisier at night (with night life) than Port Douglas (that means Port Douglas is quieter at night).

But wherever you choose to stay, I’m sure you will have a great time.

Cheers!

 

[covediver]

Another option is to stay in Cairns and take a shuttle bus up to Port Douglas to dive off Poseidon. This is the approach that was recommended to me when I was out that way in October. I just ran out of time after being out on the reef with Mike Ball expeditions and doing more terrestrial endeavors. I think Poseidon can help make those arrangements if I am not mistaken. I was five days in Cairns staying outside of the CBD and had a wonderful time. Bus system and shuttles pretty much took me where I wanted to go. Did not want to rent a car as I have not gotten the hang of right hand driving.