Cairns - The Basics
Cairns has become Australia's premier
scuba diving destination and a 'must do' for divers
from all over the world. Not only is Cairns a great
stepping off point for Great Barrier Reef scuba diving,
it is also a friendly, clean and vibrant city offering
all that can be expected of a popular international
holiday destination.
Cairns is the capital of Tropical
North Queensland providing an ideal base for
exploring the rich and diverse natural attractions
of this region. Tropical North Queensland is a vast
region that includes reefs and islands as well as
coastal wetlands, mountains, tablelands, rainforest
and grassland.
The northern beaches of Cairns stretch for 25km
along a beautiful coastline. The region is an idyllic
tropical paradise with warm seas, watersports
and miles of sandy beaches. Mountainous virgin rainforests
provide the backdrop for this modern spacious city
where the pace of life is that of a large country
town.
Cairns - Destination for Scuba Diving
Australia's northern tropical city, Cairns,
is the gateway for two of the world's greatest
diving destinations, the Great Barrier Reef and Coral
Sea . The Great Barrier Reef is a broad
chain of 2,900 individual reefs and is the Earth's
largest structure built by living organisms and
one of the few natural structures clearly visible
from outer space. It is an ecosystem of unsurpassed
marine diversity presenting the diver
with a vision of exquisite and incomparable natural
beauty.
Beyond
the continental shelf that contains the Great
Barrier Reef are the isolated reef systems and crystal
clear waters of Australia's Coral Sea. This is the
domain of incredible schools of pelagic fish and
sharks in an undersea world of mountains, drop-offs,
pinnacles and sheer walls laced with gorgonian fan
corals rising from thousands of feet below.
