Weather
 

What kind of weather can I expect in the Port Douglas area from about Jan 10-15.
Thinking of staying in PD and doing reef trip and cape trib tours from there-- will I be able to do these?
Is this a popular time?

Should I have back-up plans in case of bad weather?

Thank you!!!

Anwhere beyween fine/warm to hot/humid stormy/wet cyclonoc/floods!

What you'll be able to do will depend on weather and any associated flooding and/or road landslides - it's the season for all that but you could be lucky as sometimes the worse weather can be a bit later - no guarantees and a back up plan thought at least may not be wasted.

Other than an assurance that weather will be hot and humid in January (its high summer and PD is in tropics) no-one can give you an answer, amsimon. I can tell you that I've taken dozens of reef trips in January, sometimes in glorious weather, sometimes not so great. But then again the very worst reef trip I ever took was out of Port Douglas in August, cold and windy with rough seas.

So far, since beginning of Nov, reef conditions have been perfect, by far the best all year, hopefully this will stretch into January, but no guarantees.

amsimom,

Just in case you're a little confused now, the reality is that "wet" or "cyclone" season weather is very unpredictable just as Floridians and Gulf people know and you can certainly get fine hot weather in between stormy periods - luck of the draw!

So it is commonsense to appreciate that a bad day in August [when you can also get rougher seas] is going to be worse than some days in January.

But looking at it the other way, there is a much greater likelihood of GBR trips being cancelled altogether in January because of weather than there would be in August and I do not really understand why it was raised.

The other thing you will need to be extremely wary of when snorkelling is sunburn as your back and back of legs will be exposed for quite a time unless you cover up. Most boats will have "stinger" suits available for hire and though they are not essential against stingers they can serve as a sunburn protector or otherwise where a Tshirt at least.
The

Take heed to Bushranger's advice about sunburn. We tried very hard to avoid sunburn, but we ended up getting a little burned despite our best efforts. The sun is extremely harsh!

GBR trips are cancelled depending on the forecasted conditions of the day & are also dependant on the size & design of the boat.
eg; a large catamaran will be able to travel on days that smaller mono hulled boats cancel.
I know for a fact that no boats will travel if there is a forecasted strong wind warning, including the large catamarans. And on average, these cancellations are more prevalent in the months outside of the wet season.
amsimon the reef conditions at the moment are outstanding with excellent underwater visibility & calm seas.
The rainforests are best at this time of year also.
Have fun!