Liquid Desire offers private day charters departing Port Douglas to the spectacular Great Barrier Reef.
All charters are professionally catered for by our onboard French and or Asian chef’s. Liquid Desire is also crewed by myself as skipper and an in water guide / deckhand when needed. Day trips to the Barrier Reef are our speciality and there is no better way to fully experience the reef and the magic of the cruising experience, sailing aboard your own private catamaran with up to 5 of your friends and family.
The 2023 rate per day is $3900. The 2024 rate per day is $4200
This includes:
- Morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea
- Non alcoholic refreshments, alcoholic beverages are BYO
- Snorkelling equipment including wetsuits / or stinger suits
- Stand up paddle boarding
- Fishing equipment
- Reef taxes
Day 1 Port to Second Sister reef
This generally takes aprox 3 to 4 hours of sailing with the trolling lines out when we can is a great outer reef anchorage and allows fishing along with some excellent snorkelling. Very few boats go there.
Spend the afternoon exploring the reefs and enjoy the sun setting over the Daintree rainforest mountains.
Day 2 Second Sister to Opal Reef
Opal Reef is located 28 nautical miles offshore on the Outer Barrier Reef. This is approximately a 2 hour sail from second sister and a great opportunity to troll for Mackerel or Tuna along the way.
Opal reef is a premium Outer Reef location, with dozens of snorkel sites available. You can expect to see over 400 species of colourful coral, reef sharks, rays, large fish such as the beautiful Maori Wrasse, and occasional turtles.
Liquid Desire can anchor at Opal reef with a beautiful coral garden directly behind the Yacht. There may be a bit of current here and we often engage in exciting ‘drift snorkels’ using our high speed tender.
You can go stand up paddle boarding, fishing, or simply relax and unwind on the beautiful catamaran. Watch the sun set and be treated to a delicious meal cooked by your personal chef.
Fishing is an option here. Flicking lures , bottom fishing and trawling behind the tender.
View the stars at night from your bed while you gently rock to sleep.
Day 3 Agincourt Reef
After breakfast the following day we travel to Agincourt Reef, 12 nautical miles, about 1.5 hours. ( Green Zone ).
We can do some trolling between Opal Reef and Agincourt. upon arrival to Agincourt we offer a tasty lunch and drop the anchor. Agincourt Reef has many locations worth visiting and we can spend the afternoon drift snorkelling the top and bottom of Agincourt # 1. ‘Triggerfish Point’ is a great drift snorkel, particularly on the incoming tide where we end up starting out on the pass and finish up in the shallows at least 1 to 2 km away. Drift snorkelling is easy with our high speed tender and experienced crew.
‘Whaler’ is another great drift snorkel location on the southern end of Agincourt # 1 , there is a progression of shallow and isolated reefs leading to some deeper edges. It is possible to see large schools of fish, reef sharks, rays, more than 400 species of coral, and the occasional turtle. The waters around the reefs of Agincourt are deep and can attract Minke whales, Pilot whales and even whale sharks.
We would possibly anchor up later in the afternoon at Saint Crispin reef where we can fish and spearfish. Otherwise it is possible to spend the night at Agincourt and have an early morning snorkel before sailing.
Day 4 Mackay Cay</strong
We spend the night at St Crispin / Agincourt reef and all day snorkelling , fishing , trawling , spearing etc. In the afternoon we sail to Mackay Cay, trawling and relaxing on the deck. The San Cay offers everyone a chancy to have a walk around and do their own thing with a fire to sit around and watch the sun go down. Very rare to have any other boats around at sunset and beach fire time.
Day 5 Mackay cay to Undine Cay then on to Snapper Island
Travel the short distance of aprox 8 nm to Undine cay spend the morning exploring the cay which is smaller in size to Mackay and you will most likely have the place to yourself. There are generally lots of birds and if you feel like flicking a lure off the beach you may hook up. Snorkelling is also a good option.
Then sail to Snapper island where we can have and a walk on the beach and explore this beautiful tropical island.
There is some beautiful rainforest and flicking lures off the beach might produce a fish.
Day 6 Snapper Island to Port via Low island
The options here are open. We could sail to Low island for the day as it has a great mangrove island that is amazing for Stand up Paddling where we get in behind the mangroves no matter how strong the wind is and spot turtles and rays in the shallows. Its a really good anchorage for the day and a nice fast Broard reach home to Port in the afternoon. It would be a 10 nm punch from Snapper to Low Island but this is unavoidable.
The other option is to keep things open.
We can cater to all your preferences and have activities such as snorkelling , diving , stand up paddle boarding, fishing, spearfishing and of course sailing.
Diving ( an instructor is required along with all the certified gear / add $860 a day for 2 divers / $1000 a day for 3 divers and $1150 a day for 4 divers / with 2 dives each day / yes a dive compressor is onboard ).
Liquid Desire departure point is right in the heart of Port Douglas from the Public Pontoon, located on Ashford Avenue. There is plenty of free parking available.
A shuttle bus can be arranged for pick up from Port Douglas, Cairns or anywhere on the Northern Beaches. Best if you arrange this yourself or have your accommodation management / travel agent assist.