Snorkeling, join us for an amazing experience

Cairns based liveaboard, Reef Encounter offer outstanding snorkeling packages.

The beauty of  Reef Encounter is that it is asmall ship built for comfort at sea yet small enough to be able to position herself close to the coral ideal for her passengers

Reef Encounter has 21 staterooms all with private bathrooms and large picture windows looking over the Great Barrier Reef.

Serviced daily by her sister boat, Reef Experience, Reef Encounter offers great flexibility for her clients allowing them to join her trip on the day that suits them best and stay for as long as they like

Two great accommodation options onboard stateroom packages or upgrade to one of the VIP package Top Deck Club for guests who enjoy a bit more pampering.

There are so many great benefits of doing a liveaboard for snorkelers it means you can jump in for a snorkel several times of the day and there is always lots of marine life activity for you to watch its a great idea to make sure you slip, slop and slap on some sunscreen or better still wear a wetsuit its very easy to plan to jump in for a quick snorkel and find an amazing blue spotted lagoon ray that is totally mesmerising and before you know it you are burnt to a crisp .

About Snorkeling

Snorkeling as a sport or even as a physical exercise gets very little noticed in many parts of the world. A part of the reason is that it is so easy to learn the basics

Our liveaboards offer outstanding snorkeling experiences, our crew are happy to assist all passengers even those who have little of no swimming ability

Companies, around the Great Barrier Reef, take a different approach to snorkeling and recognize that there are many advantages to learning how to snorkel.

What Is Snorkeling

You can look at snorkeling as you would most other sports, there are different skills that can be learn each additional one enhancing and building upon the others.

The equipment is simple and easy to use. There are five basic pieces of gear for the snorkeler: a swim suit, mask, snorkel with a keeper, fins, fins and floatation vest.

• Swim suit is self explanatory, however you also need to consider the force of the sun. Adding a t-shirt is a good suggestion to reduce the risk of a serious sunburn on your back. Some more serious snorkelers will wear a dive skin. A dive skin is a lightweight suit to protect against minor scrapes, many also come with an SPF rating. Using the same scales as sunscreen the higher the SPF the less UV rays hit your covered skin.
• Mask, the purpose of the mask it to provide an air pocket in front of your eyes. Diving mask are made for to perform well under pressures that snorkels normally do not experience.
• Snorkels are simple devices and the majority on the market are simple tubes with a curve. Called a “J” tube because of the shape they allow snorkeler to breath while still remaining face down. A keeper is a small band designed to attach the snorkel to the mask.
• Fins come in three types: snorkeling, scuba diving and free diving. They are also available in two designs open heel and close heel. A snorkelers fins are the simplest of the three types and are design for easy movement at and near the surface.
  Free diving fins are very powerful and long making them difficult to us at the surface and in shallow waters.
  The Diving fin is shorter and broader than the snorkeling fins, they may be used for snorkeling but many will find that it takes more effort to use them. Open heel fins require the user to wear booties, while the close heel, also called slipper type, use just slide your bare foot in.
• Flotation device. Most advance snorkelers wear an inflatable snorkeling vest that allows them to add buoyancy while at the surface but does not interfere when empty and the snorkeler wants to go under water.
• Beginners and those who are not strong swimmers often wear a flotation device that keeps them on the surface. Many snorkelers consider this an option.

While most snorkelers learned by laying flat at the surface, many advanced to more involved methods.

With a little training and practice a snorkeler can drop a few metres under the surface and explore a reef as easily as a scuba diver.

It just takes some basic skills and some practice.