Tender arrival locations - Port Douglas and Airlie Beach

[sequincruiser]

Hi all. I'm due on a GBR cruise in November stopping off at both Port Douglas and Airlie Beach. As these are both tender ports can anyone advise where exactly we are likely to arrive on shore (so that I can see on google maps). I'm trying to establish whether we will have time to arrange our own non-ship trips and it's difficult when I don't know how far we will be from some of the attractions.

 

I'm thinking of - 

Airlie - jet skiing, glass bottom boat tour round reefs etc. Are these available to book on arrival at all?

Port Douglas - going to Hartleys crocodile adventures or the Wildlife habitat. Not sure if we'll be able to make it on our own using public transport or through Viator etc

[beatleman]

Airlie Beach will be the Port of Airlie, and Port Douglas at the Jetty. Be very careful of arrival and departure times and remember it is about 20 minutes Tender time from ship to shore. The GBR is a 70 to 90 minute boat trip. 

[possum52]

8 hours ago, sequincruiser said:

Hi all. I'm due on a GBR cruise in November stopping off at both Port Douglas and Airlie Beach. As these are both tender ports can anyone advise where exactly we are likely to arrive on shore (so that I can see on google maps). I'm trying to establish whether we will have time to arrange our own non-ship trips and it's difficult when I don't know how far we will be from some of the attractions.

 

I'm thinking of - 

Airlie - jet skiing, glass bottom boat tour round reefs etc. Are these available to book on arrival at all?

Port Douglas - going to Hartleys crocodile adventures or the Wildlife habitat. Not sure if we'll be able to make it on our own using public transport or through Viator etc

At Airlie Beach, I would suggest a ship's tour if wanting to do anything around the reef as these tours usually pick up directly from the ship and return you to ship so you skip having to line up for tenders and the time it takes to tender in to Airlie port. Viator has a glass boat tour which starts from Shute Harbour about 12 kms from Airlie Beach and also has a jetski trip as well. Perhaps check these out. 

 

Hartley's Crocodile Adventures -  on their website are suggestions for getting there - 

Hartley's Crocodile Adventures - getting there.

 

[sequincruiser]

Thank you for your replies. Think I will have to stick with ship tours as it's too tight time wise for trying to arrange independently.

[Yehootu]

On 9/16/2022 at 6:37 PM, possum52 said:

At Airlie Beach, I would suggest a ship's tour if wanting to do anything around the reef as these tours usually pick up directly from the ship and return you to ship so you skip having to line up for tenders and the time it takes to tender in to Airlie port. Viator has a glass boat tour which starts from Shute Harbour about 12 kms from Airlie Beach and also has a jetski trip as well. Perhaps check these out. 

 

Hartley's Crocodile Adventures -  on their website are suggestions for getting there - 

Hartley's Crocodile Adventures - getting there.

 

We will be on a Princess cruise in March 2024 that stops at both Arlie Beach and Port Douglas. Do you know if Quicksilver is the contracted company for the GBR excursions? Arlie is 2hrs transit and says 90 mins from Port Douglas. Any thoughts on what stop would be better to go to GBR. We might even go twice. Being raised in the water in Hawaii, we can't wait to visit this wonder.

   Mahalo

[possum52]

17 hours ago, Yehootu said:

We will be on a Princess cruise in March 2024 that stops at both Arlie Beach and Port Douglas. Do you know if Quicksilver is the contracted company for the GBR excursions? Arlie is 2hrs transit and says 90 mins from Port Douglas. Any thoughts on what stop would be better to go to GBR. We might even go twice. Being raised in the water in Hawaii, we can't wait to visit this wonder.

   Mahalo

We were in Cairns recently for 10 days and spent a day at Green Island which is about 40 minutes from Cairns marina. Quiksilver were the company we used and they do a few other tours as well. But there are other companies too. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

One thing to consider is that some of the local big catamarans are used as tenders at both Airlie Beach and Port Douglas. This may reduce the availability of private tours.