February Customer Satisfaction Ratings

Our latest independent customer satisfaction scores for February have been returned. Thanks go out again to our great staff and guests for making our trips fun and enjoyable for everyone.

Received value for money: 90%
Would recommend the trip: 100%
Mean satisfaction score: 8.90 / 10

Every Day has Earth Hour on New Horizon Boats

This Saturday is Earth Hour and we encourage everybody to conserve energy every day as well as this Saturday. By choosing a New Horizon sailing vessel to explore the Great Barrier Reef, you are making an environmental choice. We do not run our generators consistently thus avoiding the constant pollution emission. By using stored energy, you get to enjoy the peace and quiet of the reef, waves and birds, broken only by conversation and laughter.
If you're at home this weekend, and not lucky enough to be joining us out on the reef, show your support for the environment and switch off your lights.

Every Airline Jumping on Board - Cathay Pacific Specials from Hong Kong to Cairns

Cathay Pacific are also discounting airline tickets to Cairns from Hong Kong from HK$3740. Check the airline for more details.
Book Your Australian Great Barrier Reef Experience Here

Qantas Specials from Frankfurt to Cairns

Here's a sample of the great deals on offer in Economy Class, for travel from 13 April until 23 June 2009. Hurry, offer ends 26 March 2009!
Frankfurt to Cairns return from EUR802 Book Now and further details can be found here.
Book Your Australia Charter Here

Qantas Specials from Canada to Cairns

If you live in Canada and are interested in visiting the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, now is the time to take advantage of this offer. The following Australia fare sale is valid for outbound travel departing between now and 8 June 2009. This fare sale expires at midnight Pacific Time (PT) on Tuesday, 31 March 2009!

All prices are quoted in Canadian Dollars (CAD).
Vancouver to Cairns Round trip from $1198 Book Now
Toronto to Cairns Round trip from $1698 Book Now

See more of Australia with a Qantas Aussie AirPass from $1199 that gives you 4 cities for one low price!
Hurry, the Qantas Aussie AirPass expires on Tuesday, 31 March 2009. Book Now

Don't Forget to Book Your Trip to the Great Barrier Reef as well. Book Now
As per usual see the airlines website for all the details.

What Does the UV Index Mean?

A lot of of our guests hear on the local radio and TV reference to a UV index and ask what it means. UV is what gives Aussies our tanned, rugged, good looks and, like everything in life, everything in moderation. So we have included the table here for a reference for travellers to the region.

Anything above 3 can cause damage in the sun. In the tropics around the world the average reading is often much higher then this. So sun protection on the Great Barrier Reef and in the rainforest is just common sense and will help you enjoy your trip much more. These easy steps above will help protect you and make your experiences that much better, and remember drink lots of water.
The current index can be found on the BoM Website.

Reefcheck Australia Training Courses

Reefcheck Australia are now seeking Volunteer Coral Reef Surveyors.
• Become part of the community of coral reef surveyors.
• Learn how to monitor coral reef health.
• Improve your underwater knowledge and skills.
• Build your diving experience, log lots of dives.
• Some training costs are involved, but once qualified, you can participate in survey expeditions!!
More details on training can be found at their website
For expressions of interest please email or call !
Contact support@reefcheckaustralia.org or call (07) 4724 3950 for more information (including timetables for each course).

Lion Fish - Species of the Reef

The lionfish blends very well into it's environment. The photo above was taken by one of our guests, Hans Knudsen, trying to capture the ravine and beautiful fans. He was surprised to see a lion fish in the front right of the picture when he got home and looked at his photos from the trip.

A Lionfish is any of several species of venomous but not aggressive marine fish in the genera Pterois, Parapterois, Brachypterois, Ebosia or Dendrochirus, of the family Scorpaenidae. The lionfish is also known as the Turkey Fish, Dragon Fish, Scorpion or Fire Fish. They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines, and have a generally striped appearance, red, green, navy green, brown, orange, yellow, black, maroon, or white.
The lionfish is native to the tropical Indo-Pacific region of the world, but various species can be found worldwide. Due to a recent introduction, the lionfish has recently been spotted in the warmer coral regions of the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Lionfish are an invasive species in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea regions. Successful breeding of the lionfish in captivity has not been reported. In early 2009, the Lionfish was spotted in the Florida Keys, seemingly increasing its range.
There are many types of lionfish that vary in size. The common lionfish generally reaches a size of 30-35cm, while smaller lionfish, like the Fuzzy Dwarf, are typically the size of a tennis ball, not including fins.
We encourage everyone (divers and fishermen) to be extremely cautious and avoid contact with the venomous spines of the lionfish. Although they are not deadly, they are very painful. Lionfish are not aggressive toward humans and will almost always keep their distance when given the opportunity, so they pose a relatively low risk.
The lionfish is one of the most venomous fish on the ocean bottom floor. Lionfish have venomous dorsal spines that are used purely for defense. When threatened, the fish often faces its attacker in a head-down posture which brings its spines to bear. However, a lionfish's sting is usually not fatal to humans.
Lionfish are voracious predators. When hunting, they corner prey using their large fins and then use their quick reflexes to swallow the prey whole. In captivity, lionfish can be trained to eat frozen brine shrimp, mysis, and krill.
However the lionfish have very few natural predators, but the grouper and other lionfish have been found with lionfish remains in their stomachs.

Tawny Nurse Shark - Species of the Reef

The tawny nurse shark or giant sleepy shark is found in the tropical Indo-Pacific oceans between latitudes 31° N and 24° S, and reaches a length of 3.2 m.

The tawny nurse shark is a large, bulky species with a small mouth and small comb-like teeth, and with angular fins. The caudal fin is short, much less than half the length of body, and there are no ridges on the side of the body. The pectoral fins are sickle-shaped, and the spiracles are much smaller than the eye.

It is found on continental and insular shelves, from the intertidal zone down to a depth of at least 70 m. It occurs on or near the bottom in lagoons or along the outer edges of coral and rocky reefs, sandy areas near reefs and off sandy beaches. Primarily nocturnal, but may be active during the day. It prefers crevices and caves on reefs but may be found hiding in more exposed areas, forming resting aggregations, and often seen piled across or on top of one another.

It feeds on a wide variety of bottom invertebrates, small fish, crustaceans and sea urchins. It has a docile nature and has been known to allow itself to be touched, but as always it is best not to touch creatures in the wild.

Reproduction is ovoviviparous (producing eggs that are hatched within the body, so that the young are born alive but without placental attachment.) with 4 or more pups being born per litter. It survives in captivity.

The flesh is marketed fresh and dried-salted, the fins dried for the oriental sharkfin trade, and the liver is processed for vitamins and oil. The offal is processed for fishmeal, and the hide is potentially valuable for leather.

Colouration is brown dorsally, paler ventrally, with the fins slightly dusky. Nebrius ferrugineus, is a nurse shark in the family Ginglymostomatidae, the only member of the genus Nebrius.

Everyone Has a Stimulus Package

And now Qantas have added theirs to the mix with some great prices to Australia from the United States. At the moment they are not offering specials to Cairns directly, but maybe the Qantas management can step up to the plate and offer some packages including Cairns. If not here are several airlines such as Virgin Blue and Jetstar that fly into Cairns, so booking a cheap connecting flight should not be a hassle.
So here are the latest Qantas specials.
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Can't Miss Airfares from $299* each way!

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We're proud to announce the release of our "travel stimulus" offer! For a limited time, you can save up to 60%** off flights from Los Angeles or San Francisco and up to 55%** off flights from New York (JFK). So if you need to get away and Australia or New Zealand have been calling you, it's time to answer... but don't wait too long, this sale ends at midnight U.S. Pacific Time (PT) on Friday, 20 March 2009. Don't wait, book today!

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Australia & New Zealand Travel Stimulus Offers ================================================

Travel is valid for departures between 15 March 2009 and 24 October 2009 unless otherwise noted.

Fares listed are each way based on roundtrip purchase.

All prices are quoted in US Dollars (USD).

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Los Angeles to:

Sydney Each way from $299*

Brisbane Each way from $299*

Melbourne Each way from $299*

Auckland Each way from $299*

Book Now:

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San Francisco to:

Sydney Each way from $299*

Brisbane Each way from $299*

Melbourne Each way from $299*

Auckland Each way from $299*

Book Now

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New York (Newark) to:

Sydney Each way from $449*

Brisbane Each way from $449*

Melbourne Each way from $449*

Auckland Each way from $449*

Book Now

Quick Facts About The Great Barrier Reef

Quick Facts About The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure built by living organisms on the Earth today.
The Great Barrier Reef region is the world’s largest group of coral reefs.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park covers an area of 345 400 sq. km or 133 360 sq. miles.
It stretches 2300 km (1430 miles) along the Queensland coast.
There are three main types of reefs found on the Great Barrier Reef: Ribbon, Platform, and Fringing reefs.

• Fringing reefs are coral structures that are attached to the mainland or to continental islands. In the Great Barrier Reef most fringing reefs are found around islands. Fringing reefs are probably the reef type most commonly seen by visitors.
• Platform reefs are also known as patch reefs and are scattered in the calm, shallow waters between the mainland and edge of the continental shelf. They are usually round or oval patches and often tend to be broken up.
• Ribbon reefs only occur in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef. They form along the edge of the continental shelf and can grow so high they form narrow walls.

Tiny masses of coral polyps are responsible for building coral reefs.
Reefs are masses of limestone made from skeletons of millions upon millions of tiny marine animals and plants.

It is not one long continuous reef, but a complex system of various marine habitats with more than:

• 2900 coral reefs
• 600 continental islands
• 300 coral cays

The Great Barrier Reef is home to approximately:

• 1,500 species of fish
• 360 species of hard coral
• one third of the world’s soft corals
• 4,000 species of molluscs (eg. shells)
• 800 species of echinoderm (eg. starfish, sea urchins etc)
• 24 species of seabirds that live and breed on the islands
• More than 30 species of marine mammals including whales, dolphins and dugongs
• 14,000 dugong (Australia’s entire dugong population is about 100,000)
• 6 species of marine turtles, all listed as threatened.

• Main threats to coral reefs include climate change, pollutants, coral bleaching and crown-of-thorn starfish outbreaks.

Reef Health Surveys for 2009

Ever wondered how they do surveys to determine health of the Great Barrier Reef? Want to experience and learn from the experts? The monitoring is part of Reef Checks global survey. You can view their methodology and what the surveys entail here.
This years reef surveys for our sites are scheduled on the Santa Maria 3 day trip departing Monday the 13th April 2009. If you want to join the cruise and watch the surveys in progress come and join us. You can reserve your place by booking online or contact us for more information.

News From the Great Barrier Reef on Twitter

To bring the Great Barrier Reef directly to you we have added twitter service to the boats. So now you can get realtime updates on what our guests are seeing, doing on the reef in realtime. Be amongst the first to follow us just click on the twitter link and add us to your twitter account.

Where Do Our Guests Come From?

A couple of questions we always get from people are where are your guests from and what sort of people come on your trip. I can tell you we have singles, couples, friends, father/son, mother/ daughter, as well as full families from all age groups, and people from all walks of life. So our demographics are very distributed. We do recommend that children younger than 5 do not come on the cruise.
Now where are they from? This map is a general overview of where our guests have come from in the past. So you can see that we get people from everywhere, maybe from your home town. All I can say is our guests are fun people and out to have a fantastic time on the Great Barrier Reef.

Great Barrier Reef E-Cards

Are you a past guest on Santa Maria or Coral Sea Dreaming?
Thinking of coming on a trip with us shortly?
Trying to talk your friends or family members on coming on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef?
Then have a look at our new e-card, slideshow and photo albums. Past guests can upload photos of their trip and send e-cards to their family and friends.
If you are just browsing you can also send e-cards to whom you choose with a few clicks of the button. Try it out and we hope to see you at the reef shortly.

Autumn (Fall) in Australia and the Great Barrier Reef

With Autumn starting here in Australia, we have immediately felt the cool weather break the summer months. This is great news environmentally as what, at the beginning of the summer, looked like it could have been a year where we see a lot of coral bleaching on the Cairns reefs. Mother nature has once again shown us that she is well on top of her game, and a lot smarter then the rest of us. Early seasonal monsoon rains gave cooling relief in the afternoons and kept the oceans cool and the reef in it's full spectacular colours.
Whale migration will be starting in the next few months, with whale numbers increasing year of year this year promises to be another spectacular year. It will be hard to beat the experiences and encounters our guests had with whales last year but as the whale population returns to normal and with their playful spirit we are sure that it will just keep getting better.
It's that time again when we start ramping up for a busy season and spots on the boats fill up months in advance. So if you are planning to visit the Great Barrier Reef this year make sure that you start planning your Australian sailing and diving trip early and book now to get the best trips and accommodation. Remember we only take 10 guests at a time for that unique experience so space is limited.