Poseidon Outer Reef Cruises

When in Port Douglas, me and my other half wanted to go to the Outer Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling, diving and free diving. There are a couple of boats available that go to the Agincourt Reefs, but Poseidon seemed to have the best offer, reviews and recommendations, so we decided to go with them. Booking was really easy as we booked on the day (possible only in low season) and jumped on the boat. The crew seemed really young, but still confident and knowledgeable. Just after leaving the marina, we were introduced to everybody and got handed our forms to fill out and I decided to do Intro Dives again (even though I have done that before, but I just haven’t gotten around to do my licence yet).
After the introduction, people are divided into three groups — snorkeler, diver and intro divers and were given a brief refresher etc. We were 4 Intro Divers which was quite nice as I thought this is going to be more relaxed. Our instructor was really friendly but in my opinion not experienced enough herself. She pulled jokes after jokes (maybe because she was nervous?), but I found it was a bit unnecessary. We then went onto the deck and selected our equipment and basically started getting prepared. After all the people left into the water they helped us getting comfortable and ready to jump in. Once in the water the instructor will go through a couple of tasks you need to be able to do under water, such as changing your mouthpiece, getting rid of water in your goggles and also to be able to pressure equalize. The instructor was quite hectic at this point, so that 2 of us were panicking a bit for a moment. She didn’t leave you enough room to do things in our time. Once we all were settled we were going down about 9m holding on to the anchor robe. When at the bottom I couldn’t believe that the instructor was actually holding all our hands and pulling us through the water. This meant that we all were shoulder on shoulder, the tanks were bumping into each other and it was just uncomfortable. (My first intro dive was at the Whitsundays, we were 7 people and one instructor and we could swim freely but he would always make sue we stay together, but not shoulder on shoulder). Another thing– probably every minute she made us show her the tank reader, which was unnecessary as we were only supposed to dive for 20 minutes and we had a full tank to begin with. Of course, precaution is good, but it was hectic all the way.
The first site was a bit disappointing in terms of visibility and variety of fish etc. so I decided I won’t do a dive at the second site. The second site at the reef where I snorkeled was probably my favorite, it was beautiful visibility, absolutely amazing colors of the reef itself and I personally enjoyed the snorkeling way more.
When back on the boat I was talking to the rest of the people that were doing intro dives and they said that they were allowed to swim more freely the second time around and they loved it. because of that I decided that I would do another dive at the last stop. Well, how often do you come to the Great Barrier Reef?
But unfortunately we had to stay sometimes so close that it was hard to not have a hand in your face cause you couldn’t even do any movement without touching the person next to you.
Nevertheless, I went up again and snorkeled for the rest of the time, which was as said before my favorite. At the last stop they also served lunch, however, if you wanted to make the most of it in the water, you were not served anything anymore.
I would think also with coffee and cakes they could have been a bit more generous as they quickly ran out of things.
On the way back we were handed some ipads, where we could look at the pictured the photographer took. He really took some nice pictures, but the price was absolutely ridiculous. I think it was $ 12 for one printed picture and if you wanted to have it digitally you’d have to pay another $ 12 to get ONE picture on a CD.
All in all I had 2 dives and 2 snorkels and I absolutely enjoyed the time in the water and at the reef! The Great Barrier Reef is absolutely amazing and I would love to come back! In terms of the Poseidon, I do think it could have gone better, but then again it was your typical tourist boat.

My husband and I were recommended Poseidon by the tourist information at Port Douglas… This recommendation was spot on!!! Amazing and knowledgeable staff, great boat and equipment. The reef was amazing, Lunch was great. Couldn’t fault our day at all. Thanks for making our trip out such a great experience.

I was forced to take Poseidon since the Silver Sonic ran into something the day before and broke down.
I was promised 3 scuba dives and 2 snorkeling, but after 2 scubas, I was informed I could only do 3 scubas or give up a scuba I had already paid for to do a snorkeling swim.
The whole day was very rushed and not very enjoyable. The reef sucked. Bali and Thailand are WAY better.
I wish I would have skipped this trip with this terrible company who lied to me about what I was going to get for my money. I never would have paid for 3 dives if I knew I wasn’t going to get to snorkel with my friend at all.

It’s really tough to screw this up. It’s a boat ride out to the best snorkeling on the planet. Some of the crew really could give a shit and you could tell their smiles were wearing thin. Others were great, especially the captain and biologist. Food was ok. You’re really happy for anything. In true local style, you pay for nearly everything else. This is an excursion well worth doing.

This is a smaller Great Barrier Reef tour that offers scuba and snorkeling. I did snorkeling. We stopped at 3 places and they were all amazing. I think this might be the most interesting thing I have done in my whole life. They also serve food and snacks almost constantly, which was nice. The tour was from about 8:30am to 4:30pm and was totally worth the money!!! I would do this again!

Went with Poseidon out to the Great Barrier Reef — excellent operation.
I noticed many operators who claim to cater to the experienced diver as well as novice divers, but I can say for sure Poseidon has it down solid. During the 1 hour run out to the outer reef, they gave a thorough boat and site briefing as well as taking the time to explain gear to the certified diver group. I brought my own gear, but all those renting for the day had their regulators and computer displays reviewed individually with the divemaster. The certified divers are briefed separately and did separate sites than the introductory diver group. Since everyone was comfortable on the first dive, we did two negative drop live boat entries which contributed to some more bottom time.
Diving was consistent and fantastic… would go back with them again if I’m back in North Queensland!

It’s the great barrier reef! Wow!
Our adventure began on a cloudy and windy day. Not a great start but in spite of the poor weather we had great time! First the Poseidon staff was terrific. They knew what they were going to be up against with regards to weather and highly recommended the purchase of motion sickness medications. We took their advise, took the meds and had no problems.
It was about an hour and a half out to the first sight. FYI, we are snorkelers not divers. They supplied us with nicely fitting equipment. In and out of the water was easy.
As this is an all day adventure, lunch was served. It was quite good. The day we went they served three salads — green, pasta and potato. They had rolls, sliced chicken, roast beef and ham plus a pile of prawns. Rounding out the meal was fruit.
They had a photographer on board to take pictures of you. Usually I don’t like those photos much and figure they are just a tourist trap but this guy was really good and when else are you going to have a photo of yourself in the water at the Great Barrier Reef?!

I signed up for the introductory dive and my experience was beyond bad. The dive instructor «Danny» was short-​tempered, rude and unprofessional. After speeding through some gear and skill info we arrived at the first dive site where he informed the two of us who had booked his time in advance that we would have to wait for the second site. He chose to take the four walk-​ons first and there were not enough instructors for six students. We said ok and did some snorkeling. Unfortunately that meant waiting two hours to recall the instruction we’d been given, such as it was. When we reached the second site I was to go first. I got in the water and swam to the rope as instructed however my heel came out of the fin in the process. Danny was barking an order at me as I reached down to fix it but I couldn’t tell him so with the regulator in my mouth. It only took a couple of seconds to fix but that was all it took to make him angry. When I couldn’t hear/​understand the next thing he said he yelled «get up the stairs!», grabbed my feet and yanked the fins off of them. No diving for me. He was angry as if I had wasted his time (about 30 seconds total in the water) but it was my time that was wasted along with hundreds of dollars and my one opportunity to see the Great Barrier Reef. I couldn’t even enjoy snorkeling at that point, I was so upset I just turned around and came back to the boat to wait for the trip to be over. I don’t know if he was trying to get the class down to a manageable size or if he is just short-​tempered all of the time but it was inappropriate either way. The company needs to find someone who can teach, will appreciate the value of the experience for the individuals, and will be courteous and professional with clients. Until then don’t let these folks ruin your vacation.
In all fairness there was one positive. The photographer on board did an excellent job. At one point while I was snorkeling at the first site he swam up, handed me an amazing, enormous sea creature to hold and snapped some nice photos which I was pleased to take home. He was the only highlight.

Having done the push-​and-​shove reef tour that is Quicksilver in the past and had a very mediocre experience we were recommended Poseidon by Sally at Jam Jar Car Rentals and we were not disappointed. Not only is it a much smaller group of people but the cruise visits three very different locations on the reef during the day, proving you with variety and a different experience at each locale.
My partner and I opted to the do the Introductory Dive course and after doing the required ‘theory’ were suited up, tanks on our backs and took the plunge!
The dive instructors were very helpful and guided us down decent rope and then took us on tours of the reef. It was an absolutely amazing experience and reaffirmed my desire to come back and do a full open water dive certification later in the year. The onboard photographer was great and at no time did they try and push or upsell the purchase of photos to you.
The best part of the trip was that it was a combined certified diving, intro diving and snorkelling trip so if you do want to do the intro diving course and then decide that it isn’t for you, you can still enjoy a day snorkelling on the reef.
I will definitely be back later in the year to do my open water dive cert with these guys. Great, family run business and one I encourage you to support if you are in town.

This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! Obviously Poseidon is not responsible for all of the natural wonder I got to experience, but they are absolutely responsible for having provided a very comfortable and supportive environment for the exploration. I recommend them highly for this adventure.
There are several options for going out to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. Several guide books had recommended Poseidon highly especially regarding the size of its groups. We decided we’d rather be one of 80 than one of 200 so we picked this company. (We got lucky as there were only about 40 of us on board that day so we had a fantastic staff to visitor ratio.) Staff members were always available to help with questions and with instructions about how to dive and howe to snorkel. We also got information about the wildlife we were experiencing in between the dive and snorkel sessions.
The ride out took about an hour and a half. We had high winds, but thanks to the sea sickness tablets we were offered, no one seemed to get sick. (Note though that I think they should roll the price of those pills into the overall price rather than nickel-​and-​diming folks for $ 3 on board.)
We stopped in three locations for snorkeling and diving. I had never snorkeled before and was only one of two such people on board. The staff explained in detail what it entailed and all went well. They were super attentive and helpful in helping people in and out of the water. They were also nearby as we swam around. But there weren’t so many of us as to be bumping into people all the time, which was nice.
They offer waterproof digital cameras for rent on board. I had remembered to buy some disposable ones before the trip so I used those, but digital ones would’ve been nice to have. (Waterproof disposable cameras are marked up like crazy in town so try to remember to bring them with you from home.)
The food options were helpful, I never felt hungry during the trip.
A young man I sat near on the ride mentioned that he didn’t know how to swim and wasn’t planning on going out on the waters. The staff encouraged him in a friendly manner to give it a try. He ended up putting on a wet suit and the staff helped him in the water and he got to experience snorkeling. The crew is there to make sure everyone has a fantastic experience.

I just came back from my first trip to the Great Barrier Reef, but definitely not my last!!! I chose Poseidon Cruises because they came highly recommended by so many different people and hostels around Cairns and Port Douglas and they were all right on! I was very impressed!!! From the time we met the entire crew on the dock before boarding, to the time we got off, everyone was friendly, professional knowledgeable, and did everything they could to make sure everyone had a great experience! The boat was clean, there was plenty of equipment and all was well– maintained, and the ratio of staff to clients was perfect! The snacks and lunch were refreshing and to complete the trip, the marine biologist did a wonderful job of educating us on the reef and all the marine life! Besides my unfriendly encounter with a fish (yes, a fish… a not so nice one, but it was a fish! LOL… after the fact), my experience with Poseidon was truly an unforgettable one and I would recommend the company to anyone!
I did have one complaint, which would not deter me from recommending the company, but I do think is an important thing to take into consideration if you’re any level diver, but especially the intro/​new divers! I had made all my reservations on line from the states to do a introductory dive. Everything was set, or so I thought, until I got on the boat and they had us fill out a medical form. I was honest and included medical information (which was not related to any cardiac or respiratory issue) that essentially caused them to tell me that I would not be able to dive! They told me that the medication I was taking may be affected by the change in pressure and the doctor would need to see me first and release me to dive (mind you, there isn’t a doctor on-​board). I was very frustrated at the time b/​c I did not understand why this was not brought to my attention before I got on the boat! I snorkeled instead and had an amazing experience, but I’m adamant that the company needs to ask all medical questions during the time people are making their reservations so it does not become an issue when the client gets on the boat! It’ll save the company from any hassle and the clients will be a lot happier!
Like I said though, I would still recommend this company to anyone! Poseidon truly made my reef experience amazing!
Ps… thank you to Jeff Thompson, one of the staff members, who was a great guide, and extremely helpful with my little run in with Nemo :)