Silverswift Dive Sites — Outer Great Barrier Reef
Silverswift holds 19 exclusive moorings across four Outer Great Barrier Reef systems — Flynn, Milln, Thetford and Pellowe Reefs — with Norman and Michaelmas Reefs visited when conditions call for it. Three sites are chosen fresh each day.
19Exclusive sites 3Sites per day 5–30mDepth range 15–20mTypical visibilityFlynn Reef Core Site
One of our most-dived reefs — wall dives, swim-throughs and overhangs to suit everyone from newly certified to very experienced divers.
Rating: Novice–Intermediate | Currents: Mild | Visibility: 15–20m | Depth: 5–30m
Coral Gardens
Max 30m · Vis 15–30mA 30-metre wall with swim-throughs and overhangs. Giant clams and fan corals below, staghorn thickets across the sand, and leopard sharks appearing in the summer months.
Look for: trevally schools, barracuda, reef sharks, rays
Gordon's Mooring
Max 22m · Vis ~15mA cluster of smaller bommies laced with swim-throughs and overhangs, brain and plate corals, and long-established giant clam gardens.
Look for: green, hawksbill & loggerhead turtles, reef sharks
Tracey's Bommie
Max 22m · Vis 15–25mDrops away behind the bommie into deeper water where reef sharks and eagle rays cruise past. Pristine shallow lagoons make it a photographer's favourite.
Look for: Maori wrasse, moray eels, nudibranchs, cuttlefish
Milln Reef Core Site
Resident turtles and white tip reef sharks make Milln one of the most reliable reefs for big-animal encounters.
Rating: Novice–Intermediate | Currents: Mild | Visibility: 15–20m | Depth: 5–30m
Whale Bommie
Max 30m · Vis 15–25mA large isolated bommie and superb wall dive — the pick of the deep dives. Named for the whale-like plume that breaks over its top at low tide.
Look for: resting white tips, bumphead parrotfish, turtles
Petaj Mooring
Max 20m · Vis 15–25mWall dive and swim-through territory, with fan corals and staghorn thickets rising from the sand. Home turf for resident turtles and white tip reef sharks.
Look for: barracuda, batfish, angelfish, the occasional bull ray
Swimming Pools
Max 21m · Vis 15–20mCoral outcrops and small bommies scattered over a sandy seabed, averaging around 10 metres. Loved for the sheer abundance of fish in the shallows.
Look for: banded sweetlips, nudibranchs, turtles, gorgonian fans
Thetford Reef Core Site
A maze of coral bommies offering exciting wall dives and plenty of swim-throughs, rich in both soft and hard corals.
Rating: Novice–Intermediate | Currents: Mild | Visibility: 15–20m | Depth: 5–30m
Blue Lagoon
Max 18m · Vis ~10mA well-protected lagoon ringed by bommies with shallow sandy patches — gentle, colourful diving and one of the best snorkel spots on the reef.
Look for: giant clams, angelfish, parrotfish, black tip reef sharks
Cathedral's
Max 30m · Vis 15–20mCoral outcrops and small bommies over sand with an average depth around 10 metres — deceptively deep at its edges, and thick with fish in the shallows.
Look for: sweetlips, turtles, barracuda, bull rays
Pellowe Reef Core Site
A small, isolated reef near the edge of the continental shelf — big-water excitement when conditions allow a visit. Most diving is between 5 and 20 metres, falling sharply to 30 metres in places.
Rating: Novice–Intermediate | Currents: Mild (stronger at times) | Visibility: 15–20m | Depth: 5–30m
Cucumber Alley
Max 20m · Vis 15–20mAn exciting wall dive with one standout swim-through, close enough to the shelf that big pelagics regularly patrol past.
Look for: giant trevally, chevron barracuda, grey & white tip reef sharks, sea cucumbers everywhere
Norman Reef Conditions Permitting
Calm, clear lagoon diving visited when the weather steers Silverswift north — works beautifully for every level, novice through advanced.
Rating: Novice–Advanced | Currents: Mild | Visibility: 10–20m | Depth: 1–18m
Flat-Top Bommie
Max 18m · Vis 10–20mA large coral outcrop separated from the main reef by a deep channel — undulating reefscapes, swim-throughs and coral canyons for divers, calm shallows for snorkellers.
Look for: reef fish over the sand flats, canyon swim-throughs
First Bommie
Max 15m · Vis 10–15mThe most protected corner of Norman Reef — a natural-aquarium lagoon of white sand and delicate hard corals, with a deeper bommie and swim-throughs for divers wanting more.
Look for: anemonefish, resting turtles, stingrays, giant clams
Michaelmas Reef Conditions Permitting
Forty kilometres from Cairns and home to Michaelmas Cay, one of the Great Barrier Reef's most important seabird nesting sites — up to 20,000 breeding pairs at a time.
Rating: Novice–Intermediate | Currents: Mild | Visibility: 7–10m | Depth: 2–15m
Three Sisters
Max 20m · Vis 15–20mThree isolated bommies rising to the surface like a city skyline behind the reef. Divers circle the Sisters through the deeper habitat while snorkellers drift over some of the best hard coral cover on the GBR.
Look for: sharks, barracuda, trevally, nudibranchs, moray eels
Book the Silverswift Outer Reef Day TripSites are selected daily by the crew based on prevailing conditions.
