Mission Beach is the absolute Mecca for backpackers. There are lots of campsites and hostels and it is a perfect location to meet people and hang around at the endless beaches. It is not the easiest spot to find, since it is located off the main roads, but there are ways of getting there by public transport. It is a very tranquil place, were life seems to go by almost in slow motion. Mission Beach is surrounded by rainforests and hosts a lot of special wildlife, such as the rare large Kassuari birds.

Mission Beach Dive Charters

From Mission Beach you can make dive trips to the outer barrier reef. We went diving with Mission Beach Dive Charters in September 2004, but this dive school does no longer exist. Another larger dive school there is called Calypso Dive and offers the same kind of trips. Mission Beach Dive Charters did have a very nice shop and we decided to go with them, because everything seemed very professional.

The next morning we were early at the shop, where we had to wait for ages before we went to the Marina in an old car. A tiny little boat brought us to the dive boat, which was a rental, because their original boat was out for reparations. The dive leader had great difficulties handling this boat and needed no less than five attempts to park it alongside the pier of Dunk Island to pick up other divers.

There seemed to be very little gear and at one point we were considering to abandon the dive, because we did not feel very secure. We waited for the briefing and got our confidence back, so we decided to give it a try. Truly, this dive leader was so much better at diving than at handling a boat.

Due to all the delays we arrived back in Mission Beach when it was already dark. There are many wallabies around, so take care when you are driving around in the evening or at night; they are hard to spot from a distance. The dives were great though, and the reefs are absolutely stunning and teeming with marine life.

Outer Barrier Reef

The outer barrier reefs are usually more unspoilt than the reefs closer to the coastline, because they are less vulnerable for direct pollution from the land, for the impact of people and storms and run less of a risk of drying out when the sea level lowers. The waters here are warm year round, about 23-24 degrees Celsius. The visibility is about 10 metres. On the way over you can spot bottlenose dolphins jumping high out of the water. Those dolphins will keep you occupied during the 2 hour boat trip you make in order to reach the outer barrier reefs.

Murries Ridge

The first dive site we visited here is called Murries Ridge, named after a Morgan cod that is over a metre long and lives there. We were lucky enough to meet Murrie as well as real clownfish, yellow boxfish, seal faced puffers, black saddled toby, harlequin tusk fish, coral groupers, bicoloured angelfish and anemone fish.

The site has a maximum depth of 20 metres, but you can cruise around a long time in the shallower waters, where the reefs have abundant colours and a wide variety of marine life.

Breaking Bommie

The second dive was at a shallow dive site (depth of about 13 metres) called Breaking Bommie. Navigation around these reefs is fairly easy, and therefore even relatively inexperienced divers can dive without a guide here.

You can find many species at this site, such as bicoloured angelfish, six-banded angelfish, beaked coral fish, seal faced puffers, white cheek surgeon fish, and flag tail triggerfish. The funniest creatures here are the quite aggressive white damselfish that will try to attack you despite the fact that they are only about 12 centimetres long.