I leave for a holiday in Palm Cove on Wednesday 14 th June and wondered if anyone knows if there is a seaplane service from PC / Cairns or elsewhere ( but not too far away)that does tours to the Barrier Reef ? Long ago and much further South at Hamilton Island I did such a tour in a 6 seater plane which flew over wonderful seascape , landed adjacent to part of the reef, transferred you by dighy to where you could get out paddle / snorkel / swim . It provided reef shoes / flippers and drinks only and took about 3 hours .It was not cheap but I loved it .We will have a hire car and so can easily drive to a pickup point . If not who do you think does the best boat trips from Palm Cove please ?

JF

Hi JF,

You might think about Daintree Air. They have a day trip to Lizard Island that is out of this world!! They will pick you up in Palm Cove, fly you to Lizard Island where you can snorkel. It also includes a great lunch. Greg the Owner/Pilot/Guide is great fun as well. I don't think that there is anyone who knows Lizard Island as well as he does. They also provide snorkels and flippers too. It was pricey, but well worth the money.

Their web address is www.DaintreeAir.com.au

DKW

We are with dkw, We did the Daintree Air day out to Lizard.

You see so much of Australia in one day it's a little difficult to digest all the info. We stayed at the Outrigger beach club at PC. We had our own car as well. We drove to the airport in Cairns to the Daintree Air office. The drive will take you around 20 minutes. Ask Greg to give you directions to the crystal cascades.

The cascades are a beautiful serine place just a few minutes drive from Cairns. The rivers were very high when we were there due to all the rain but that did not stop us from having a perfect day in the rainforest.

Bette.

Thak Goodness, Bette, someone on Fodors has actually gone to Crystal Cascades, just out of Redlynch, a northern suburb of Cairns. I often rabbit on about it here and glad to hear Greg, another local, is recommending it to visitors. You do need a car as no tourist bus, or come to think of it, public bus goes there, its like Mossman Gorge without the busloads of tourists. Especially good in summer when its too hot for beach and stingers anyway, lovely clear, clean, cool water cascading down from mountain.

Wonderful suggestions and thank you so much dkw, Bette and Pat. Daintree Air sounds perfect .And we will certainly go to the Cascades on the strength of your rave reviews .

John